Many homeowners are unaware of the amount of solar heat that enters through their windows. Yet with the annual cooling cost adding up to a stunning number of $11 billion, it is difficult for even the most ignored homeowners to miss the reality. A leaky window creates a leaky wallet, and homeowners are fighting back to keep their cooling bills down without compromising the comfort of their home. While sealing your windows by using weatherstrips and other tools will reduce energy loss, installing your home with shutters is in itself, a smart energy-saving and cost-effective investment.
Window Treatment with Shutters
Shutters have long enhanced the beauty of the home. In addition to creating the open feeling in the house, most homeowners appreciate shutters for their easy upkeep and aesthetic appeal. However, very few homeowners realize that shutters can also give their energy expenditure a generous deduction! For those of you who are thrilled about this idea, here are 3 reasons why window shutters will help you to beat the heat and keep your energy bill in check:
1. Shutters Offer Excellent Solar Heat Control
Shutters serve as an extra layer of protection that keeps your home from direct solar heat exposure. According to a report from Building Conservation, traditional shutters on their own can reduce heat loss by 51 percent. By closing your shutter louvers in the dog days of summer, homeowners can effectively control the amount of solar heat that is being transmitted into their homes.
2. Shutters Offers Superior Cool Air Control
While thick curtains also keep summer heat from coming through your home, pulling together your curtains also entails the complete blocking of fresh air. Having fresh air flow is important for keeping the home ventilated, not to mention that most of the curtain materials tend to trap rather than reflect heat. Thankfully, the large shutter louvers will prevent solar heat from penetrating the house and allowing your air conditioning to do its job with better efficiency.
3. Shutters Offers Great Lighting Control
Cloaking your homes in darkness with heavy curtains also means that you will need to turn on lamps and other lighting devices. Lighting creates heat. Although you may be using the most energy-efficient light bulbs for your home, nothing beats the natural sun rays that come freely through your windows. As a result, using shutters to control the amount of light that enters your home by tilting or adjusting the louvers is a convenient and economic way to reduce solar heat while enjoying great lighting.
Beat the Heat with French Brothers Custom Shutters
Shutters are a great window treatment option that helps homeowners to strike a healthy balance between beauty and heating control. Aside from its energy efficient benefits, shutters also require less upkeep and collect far less dust than curtains.
Decorating a home can be difficult. Everything from the floor to the ceiling and to the walls are expected to harmonize and capture the “exact feel” you want. The type of materials, colors, along with many factors are carefully considered so that there will be no clashing in patterns, and the entire home will be designed “just perfectly.” Unfortunately, the task of home decoration gets no easier when it comes to window treatment.
Window Treatment
For anyone who has decorated a home in the past, picking the right window treatment is more than buying curtains. After you have evaluated the face of the window, lighting issues, and privacy concerns, you are still left with the three most common options of drapes, blinds, and shutters.
While drapes and blinds have been popular choices in the past, their lack of lighting and aesthetic appeal has allowed shutters to gain great consumer attention. Shutters are the preferred choice, especially for those who want to create an open feeling in their homes!
The Advantage of Shutters
One of the many concerns homeowners have when it comes to curtains is that it creates a heavy and sometimes gloomy atmosphere in the house. Although luxurious in appearance, the thick and heavy materials of the curtain not only create a weighty feeling around the house, but also keep the rooms of the house cloaked in darkness. Needless to say, gloominess and darkness are not atmospheres homeowners like you want to generate.
Thankfully to shutters, homeowners are finding an alternative window treatment that will satisfy their desire for privacy and natural light filtration. Unlike curtains which are large and weighty in appearance, shutters have a relatively light proportion that makes it to float perfectly over windows. Shutters add a soft touch to your home. The variety of colors and materials you may choose from can also give your home a stylish twist.
For these reasons, homeowners are finding shutters with large louvers the perfect solution to their window treatment. Not only do these shutters offer the perfect blend of privacy, sun, and ventilation control, they also create an “open feeling” by integrating bits and pieces of the outside setting into the interior environment. Homeowners are happy with shutters because they are no longer covered up and disconnected from the beautiful landscape or seascape outside their homes.
Attention Residents in Southern California
If you are someone who lives in Southern California, you should seriously consider opening up your home to the beauty of nature by choosing high quality and customized shutters from the French Bros Custom Shutters, Inc. Founded in 1977, the French Bros Custom Shutters, Inc. is committed to creating the “open feeling” you have always dreamed for your home. We are a proud family-owned company currently serving any residents in San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Imperial County.
Kiss the heavy drapes good-bye. Uninstall the visually unappealing blinds. It is time to let the sun in and embrace the world with the beautiful and soft-looking shutters.
Did you know that the history of shutters dates all the way back to the ancient Greek civilization? They made the use of shutters for shields which protected them from the sun. They also protected their homes from intruders, rodents, bugs and other animals. These ancient barriers from Greece were not made of the wood as they are today, in fact, they were made of marble, being replaced with wood once they became more popular throughout Europe as means of practicality.
The look of the shutters evolved once again after the invention of glass in the 1500's. At this time glass was a very expensive commodity. Therefore, in an effort to be economical, only the top portion of the windows were covered in glass, leaving only the lower portion of the window openings needing to be covered with shutters. As these shutters, were only half the height of traditional shutters, they were given the name café shutters.
Throughout the ages, as glass windows became more common place, shutters became objects of decoration rather than items needed for functionality. Shutters were now placed on the outside of homes for decoration, rather than on the inside, as they once were for functionality.
Even though numerous inventions have fulfilled the need of protecting one from the sun such as shades, curtains, and blinds, the traditional beauty and necessity for shutters in the home have not faded. Rather, they are seen as beautiful additions of architecture and design which give much needed flair to the average home. There is even a demand for indoor shutters again, which are available in soft fabric and Plantation wood designs.
No matter what type of shutters you desire, our team can custom design the perfect shutters for your home and lifestyle. We offer a wide variety of samples, designs and materials to craft the perfect unique shutters right for your home.