Today’s home has all kinds of components that come together to form a complete structure, from the walls to the roof to the doors and windows, and the plumbing and electric wires in the walls. Owning a home today means proper inspection, maintenance, and repair of all kinds of parts, and this will definitely include the windows, which can be either an attractive and energy-efficient part of the house, or they could be a source of wasted heating and cooling or even a safety liability. Window coverings can help prevent many of the potential issues of a house’s windows, and in many ways they are a great investment and can pay for themselves over time. Window coverings and their inclusion may involve installing blinds, custom made window treatments, and other innovative products like motorized screens can remake any window of the home into something safe, efficient, and attractive, something that any homeowner would want. Window coverings can be found at a local hardware store or home improvement store, or even with online catalogs. What kinds of window coverings might a homeowner want?
Why Window Coverings?
Newer homeowners may be surprised to hear that windows can waste a lot of money per year because they interfere with the home’s heating and cooling systems, and this can show up on the electric bill as a nasty surprise. Why is this? Just over 54% of the energy going into the average American house today is used by the heating and air conditioning, and this means that if the heating and cooling system, the HVAC system, is being overworked, then that uses up a lot more expensive electricity. Some American homes today have poor insulation in their walls or attics, or their windows are drafty or uncovered, and this means that a lot of warm air can escape in winter, and cool air leaks out in summer. This constant change in air temperature forces the HVAC system to keep compensating for this loss, and that adds up fast on the electric bill. An old window can easily cause this problem. Estimates show that a window 15 years old or older will probably be drafty, or it may stick badly in the frame, and that works against internal climate control.
Other issues may present themselves. An uncovered window allows anyone to see inside the house, and at best, this interferes with privacy, and at worst, this makes it easy for burglars to locate expensive items in a house and know which rooms to break into for a robbery. Overall, uncovered or old windows are a threat to the electric bill, privacy, and security alike. For this reason, window coverings are widely available for all customers and homeowners.
Find the Right Blinds and Screens
Owning a home is common among adults today, and for this reason, the market for house-related items like window coverings is also large. To put a number on it, anywhere from 150 million to 225 million interior residential window coverings get shipped across the United States every year, and by the year 2022, the world’s market for blinds and shades may climb as high as $16.7 billion according to some estimates. Any homeowner who has drafty or exposed windows may want to visit the catalogs and hardware stores for their own blinds and screens.
A motorized window screen is a great option for large windows, and people who would have trouble controlling these large screens by hand will really appreciate them. With a remote control, a person can raise and lower these screens, which serve two functions: keep out hot sunlight that would overheat a house, and block outsiders’ view of the home’s interior. For smaller windows, wooden or plastic blind can better regulate the home’s climate control, and they can also block other people’s view of the home interior and can also look attractive, serving as part of the home’s interior decor. Drapes are also an attractive part of home decoration, and they will not only block outsiders’ view of the house’s interior but are also great at keeping warm air in the home during cold weather. They are fire hazards, though, and should be kept away from open flames or exposed electric wires.