Want a Warmer Home? Try adding some Honeycomb!

I think you would agree, most of us in North America find our homes to cold on occasion. So what is the biggest reason for this, besides the fact that our significant other won't turn up the heat? Windows! Your home loses more heat energy out your windows than any other area in your home.

So what can you do to help keep the heat in your home? Like I have said in the past, most of you have, or know, what a honeycomb, or cellular window covering are. I however will dive a little deeper into this today. So a cellular shade is a fabric shade that is folded and glued into many different pockets that run horizontally across your window. When pulled up the pockets collapse and fold into a very neat small stack at the top of your window. Because they are fabric they are normally very light so easy for most people to raise and lower, even on large windows. They have hundreds of colors fabrics and styles as well as quite a few different lifting systems including; Literise (cordless), Ultrglide (ratcheting) , Easyrise (cord loop), Power Rise ( Battery Operated), and Motorized (wired). You can also get these shades to open from the top as well as from the bottom. This option can give you privacy in your room at the bottom, as well as the ability to allow light and view in from the top.

So back to that pocket, in this picture it shows a basic single cell shade. 

Now I recommend that this style shade be mounted inside your window casings as this is how you get your best efficiency. When it is mounted correctly the air inside that cell does not move very well, when air does not move it is harder for it to change temperatures. So the cold air comes into your home through the window and it runs up against this shade. the cold air begins to cool the shade. Meanwhile the warm air inside the home tries to keep the shade warm. the air in the center of the cells is equaling each of the temperatures out slowly. The best cell shades don't allow much air to flow trough them. So what would make this shade more efficient? 

How about a cell inside of another cell. So now you have three sections for the temperature to even out on. The cell closest to the window will be the coldest, but warmer than the air coming in, the one to the inside is the warmest and so the center cell is warmer than the single cell shown previously. These "Architella" shades from Hunter Douglas are currently the most efficient window coverings on the market. On the last picture you notice the shade on the left has a fabric cell in the center and the one on the right has a Mylar type of center cell. that is the room darkening feature to stop all light entering through the shade.  

Now how about the air that comes around the side of the shade. That is just about all that is left. if we can stop the air from moving around it we have done our job. up until a few years ago there was very few options to stop this air flow around the shade. So Hunter Douglas has come up with an answer. Not only will this stop the air from escaping around the shade but if you really want to stop the light in a room for maybe a theatre room or some other reason this works wonderfully. It is called a Duette trim kit. Here is a picture to help explain how it works.

One other thing that most people are not thinking about this time of year is that these shades also help keep the heat out during the hot summer months as well.

Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope I was able to give you some knowledge that you were looking for.

Jim



Screen Shades

I have had many customers come to me and ask for a shade that will cut down on glare, and reduce heat gain. They have a view property and do not want to have anything covering their view so they want tinting. Well we live in the Pacific north west and if you tint to reduce glare and heat gain you will have an even more grey view than normal. This picture is from a tinting company in Savannah showing you why you should tint your windows. Really! That is permanent, it is grey here 8 out of 10 days, just about.

So what is the solution you ask? Screen shades! You can get the benefit of tinting your windows. You can mount screen shades on the inside or the outside of your building. They can be motorized, or typically they have a corded chain loop. They are used in residential and commercial applications. This video from 3 Blind Mice in San Diego shows a great example of what a screen shades does for your view, glare reduction, and look at the direct sun on the floor in the room.

What a difference! This is actually mounted outside which is done mostly in the Southwest US because it stops even more heat gain. in The NW we don't care about the heat gain nearly as much. So most of the shades are mounted inside as they will last longer this way. The other amazing thing about that shade is that it is one piece!

These shades come in many different colors and textures. I have found that the darker the shade the easier it is to see out of it. They come in differing opacity's which changes the look dramatically. 

 Please let me know if you have any questions.

Energy Smart Style!

 

So here I am again posting. I know I am not very good at posting on a regular basis and I apologize for this. Why I can not get into a groove with this is beyond me, anyway I want to tell you about what is going on right now in my window covering world.

Hunter Douglas is having a great rebate sale right now with rebates ranging from $25 per shade up to $300 per shade, depending on what style and type you get.  Here is the ad for it.

Speaking about different options how many of you readers have either mini blinds or two inch wood or faux wood blinds? I would venture a guess and say 75% of you have these horizontal type of blind. If you don't have these blinds then chances are you have some sort of pleated shade of Honeycomb shade. If you do not have either of these you are in a huge minority. I really do like 2" blinds and the honeycomb shades are great for insulating, but I want to be in the minority here! That is unless being in the minority means having no coverings or sheets on my windows. There are so many choices for new window coverings. There is sheers, shutters, roman shades, drapes, and everything else in between. I would like to educate more people about the different products that are available.Why would we need anything other than "blinds" right? Well there are many reasons, so I guess this is my chance to blog more often as I want to focus on different types or window treatments on each blog.

Found A New Home

I am absolutely enthralled to tell you that I am back in Washington doing what I love to do, window coverings. I am happy to announce that I am now working with Cascade Flooring America ( www.cascadefa.com ), as their Window Coverings Specialist. Cascade has had window treatments available for some time, however, they have not been serious about it until now. I am here to tell you that we are going to be a leader in window treatments sales and service in the Portland Metro area. I am so happy with the reception that I have received from the crew here. The floor covering specialists were not interested in window coverings and so now they can tell their clients they have a Certified Professional to help them. Needless to say I am very excited. Please e-mail me if you have questions or concerns regarding any type of window covering and or floor covering. No, I do not have knowledge on floor coverings (yet) however I do have quite a few people that I can get you in touch with.
    My plan is to start blogging more so if you haven't heard from me in a while please poke me to send out another.
    Right now I can help you get your federal tax credit ( up to $1500 ) with energy efficient  window coverings.


Jim

What am I doing?

I am wondering why I decided to start this business in shuch a volitile economy. Then I think it was doing fine in the beginning so, maybe it is me that is ruining this business. I think I am doing what it takes to be sucessfull but maybe I am not. Is it normal to have doubts when in business, even if you think your doing what it takes to be a sucess.
I am very proud of myself I just modified a 20 year old pleated shade to work with a modern day cord lock. It took some modification but I helped the owner of the shade save a few hundred dollars and that is one of the reasons I am doing what I do. It should last at least two years before needing to be fixed again. Hopefully they will have budgeted in some money for new shades by then.
It is amazing how few people budget for window coverings even when they buy a home that has no window treatments at all. Then they want the cheapest blinds they can get and they say " we will get new ones in a few years" then they keep these "temporary" blinds forever. That is why I am repairing some mini blinds 15 years later for the 10th time. Most people do not realize they can put the cost of new blinds into their home mortgage that way they can get the quality they want up front.
Hopefull things will pick up here soon. Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you I know you have a damaged shade in your home, and yes I can repair it!

Great Trip

It was a great time relaxing in San Diego over the weekend with our friends Mitch and Mary Martin from Colorado. The weather was perfect, 85 and sunny. We stopped by my favorite little greasy spoon called "The Night and Day Cafe" on Saturday morning. It is in Coronado on orange avenue and they have the best food, in my humble opinion. 

On Sunday it was sad leaving San Diego and our friends however I was going down south for training, so we drove over to Phoenix (5 hrs), and stayed there while I attended class. Kristi stayed at the Hotel by the pool mostly while I was in class. She did walk over and do some shopping at a local mall, anyway I digress.

The first two days of training were for the Master shutter installer. It was very cool I feel much more confident in ordering and installing specialty shape shutters. you know like circles, arches, angle tops etc... These can be very overwhelming and most sales people tell there clients to leave the arch open because it looks better, but in reallity they just are afraid to install shuch an odd shape. Specialty shaped shutters are one of the most lucrative window shades there is. I can't wait to go out and sell some of these. 

Day three was for motorization and home automation. This class was really cool too. At this point I can install ther shade and wire it to a home automation system which then can tell the shade what to do. So in reality, right now you could be reading this article and remember you left your shades up in the family room  log onto your home automation system from the internet and lower your shades. I can set up a light sensor so the shades go down when the sun comes up. It is really cool stuff. 

These are the two areas that I am trying to become an expert in. I feel anyone can install a blind but not anyone wants to install these as it takes much more skill to do so. 

I will be back soon God Bless!

 

Master Shutter Installer

Tomorrow I leave for San Diego. Kristi and I are going for the weekend, we then drive over to Arizona. While in Arizona I will attend Master Shutter installer training along with motorization training for Hunter Douglas. These classes will make me one of the most knowledgeable window coverings expert in the Northwest. At this point if I can not repair it or install it I don't know many people who can! Wish me luck in my class. Hopefully I will be back on here as soon as I get back!

Jim