my husband covered almost all the windows in my house with tin foil. i feel totally like white trash. i don’t live in a great neighborhood and really don’t care what my neighbors think, but i don’t like looking at it. is there anything else out there that is cheap to use but not so tacky, or should i just deal with it?? need something really cheap to cover them with that’s not so noticeable to me.
we’re covering them for privacy and saving on electricity during summer. i live in louisiana, so it gets warm here.
we’re covering them for privacy and saving on electricity during summer. i live in louisiana, so it gets warm here.
21 Answers
Regardless of the comment from some others here, reflective foil is a very efficient way to insulate. I spent many years living on a ketch and it gets very hot below decks in the tropics, but once I did the same thing, cover all glass with reflective foil, the temperature dropped quite dramatically.
You husband sound quite innovative. You might want to consider canvas exterior blinds to make the foil less obvious and further improve the heat reducing properties of your home.
L-O-L!!!!
HAHAHAHAH!!!
OK, this question made me laugh out loud, literally! Thank you for that 🙂
Anyway, let me just say this much… anyone passing by and seeing your windows covered in aluminum foil will have a similar reaction; unless, of course, they are the type to ALSO cover their windows with foil.
I can’t imagine your husband would be very open to alternatives, because if he were, he’d surely never put foil over your windows in the first place. But for starters, there are any number of highly reflective blinds you can get which will be not only private and cooling but aesthetic as well. There are also a number of low-transmission films you can get for the windows or, better yet, low-e glass.
Anything is better than tin foil on the windows – which is worse than a wire coat hanger for a car antenna or duct tape to cover holes in your sofa!
No to mention you can’t see OUT either…
Thanks again for the laugh 🙂
It depends on what type of glass is used in the window. If there are many cathedral types then of couse you will see any type of lighting and bulb. If you can’t see through the glass then a safe way would be fluorescent lighting. You don’t want something to create too much heat either. The best way would to be able to find some source of natural light, being in a basement you might have a window just at ground level to bring some light behind it.
are you covering them up just for the sake of privacy?
if so, you can go to Walmart or a fabric store. buy the cheapest fabric you can find (or whatever one you can afford), take it home and nail it above the window
it’s not fancy, but will look better than the tinfoil
IF you need the tin foil to stay up for whatever reason, you could still put the fabric up so that you don’t see it from the inside
hope that helps
I live in south Texas where the damn son comes up at 7 am and will heat up your house right away.and foil is so trashy so on the windows that i never open..i use Black plastic..from the out side you cant see it..and if you never open your curtains on that window..then your curtain will hide it…it really works…and you can sleep past 7am
It sounds a little odd to put tin foil on the windows. If it’s for privacy, mini blinds are cheap at Wal-mart.
Some cheaper curtains (Walmart has some very cheap curtains) or you could buy some material and sew some curtains yourself. They also make tinted window stuff that sticks to your windows.
I have also heard of getting white posterboard type product and cutting it to fit size of windows. That runs mabye 50cents-$1.00 per sheet.
All these ideas would look fine 🙂
Not sure where you live but I used to live in Colorado and there is a plastic film thing that you can use instead of foil.
Aluminum foil?
The absolute best thing to do would be to plant a tree there — but that may be a bit too expensive for your purposes.
Tin Foil Blackout