Decorate

Study reveals best blinds for keeping your home warm this winter

These blinds hold in heat better than any kind of curtain.

For those who live in the coldest states of Australia, such as Tasmania and Victoria, winter-proofing your home to ensure the expensive heating doesn’t go to waste is important. Up to 35% of the heat in your home can disappear via windows, doors and draughts, so insulating your home against heat loss can help reduce your power bill and keep your home warm. While you might think stocking up on blankets, door snakes, hot water bottles and heavy curtains will be enough to keep you feeling snug as a bug in a rug, new research has discovered that there’s only one kind of window treatment that truly keeps the heat inside.

Tested against Roman blinds, roller blinds, heavily-lined curtains and everything inbetween, one type of window treatment came out on top: honeycomb blinds. These blinds managed to retain 60% more heat than an uncovered window, while Roman blinds retained just 30% more than an uncovered window and lined, full-length curtains retained just 25% of heat escaping via windows.

The testing was undertaken by Consumer New Zealand, and it discovered that the effectiveness of window furnishings comes down to the right balance of the product’s ability to create a seal around the window, and the thickness of the material it is made from. Honeycomb blinds proved to have the best of both worlds.

To get the most out of honeycomb blinds in your home, ensure that they are snugly fitted to your window inside the frame, and try to minimize gaps at the top, bottom and sides.  

While we don’t recommend going out and replacing all your existing window furnishings right now for window, the research does suggest that, should you be in the market for new blinds, you may get the best value for money from honeycomb blinds.

Are your windows in need of some love? Let Adam teach you some tips on window maintenance.

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