Should You Switch Window Treatments in the Summer?

Window treatments on your windows are an important part in protecting your privacy, as well as keeping your home energy efficient. They prevent your home from feeling like a fishbowl where everyone can see into your home to see your belongings and what you are doing. They also increase energy efficiency by acting as a barrier at your window to keep the cold weather out in the winter and the hot weather out in the summer.So now that summer has reached Louisville and you will change from trying to keep your home warm to trying to keep it cool, should you also change your window treatments?Window Treatments Switch?If you use decent window treatments that work well to keep your home comfortable, there really is no reason to change them just because it is summer. If they already work well to keep your home warm in the winter and give you privacy, they will still protect your privacy in the summer and will keep your home cool.The only reason you would really need to change your window treatments is to replace treatments that maybe don’t work very well to keep the sun out. In the summer the sun causes problems in two ways. First, the sun is out longer in the summer so it throws our sleep patterns off. Window treatments that fail to keep the sun out will allow the sun to wake you up earlier than you intended to wake up, and prevent you from falling asleep when you want to at night.Second, the sun is hotter in Louisville in the summer, and without a good window treatment to block the sun out of your home the sun will heat up the inside of your home.Better Than Switching Window TreatmentsAnother action you can take to keep your home cooler in the summer without changing your window treatments is to have energy-efficient windows installed. Energy-efficient windows are created to act as a barrier to keep the sun and heat out of your home during the summer and the cold air out during the winter, just like a window treatment.Energy-efficient windows can also be tinted to decrease the light that comes in your home from the sun.For maximum benefit, match a good window treatment with energy-efficient windows and you will be amazed at how much more comfortable your home is and the affect it has on your energy bill each month.