Can blinds keep heat in?

Can blinds keep heat in your home and stop or lessen the degree to which it escapes out of the windows? Yes, all blinds help to keep the warmth on the inside (assuming that the issue is heat loss from the windows rather than generally poor insulation) but some types of blinds are much better at this than others.

This is due to what they’re made of, and also how they’re fitted; so if you’re wondering which blinds will keep heat in most effectively and which aren’t so good for this, read on and I will tell you.

Which blinds will keep heat in most effectively?

So, which blinds will keep heat in most effectively overall?

• Probably the best blinds to keep the heat in overall are Roman blinds; the good quality lined type. These are made of a very thick material, and are one solid piece of fabric without any gaps for air to get through. They’ll be even more efficient at insulating if they come with a thermal blackout lining.
• Roller blinds made with a thermally efficient blackout coating or lining come in second place, as they’re once more made of one piece of fabric that is reasonably thick when you add the lining, albeit they’re not quite in the same league as Roman blinds.
• Third place goes to real wood and faux-wood Venetian blinds; both wood and faux-wood are thick materials that themselves serve as excellent insulators, even more so than fabrics.
  But because these types of blinds are comprised of slats, the tiny gaps between the slats (even when they’re closed) will allow warm air to escape to a degree, although if you ensure they’re tightly closed, the impact of this will be negligible.

Which blinds will keep the cold out to a lesser degree?

As I said in the intro, all blinds will have some impact in terms of improving your room’s insulation and reducing heat loss via the windows, but the ones mentioned above are the types you should pick if this is really important to you. Here’s my ranking of which blinds will keep the cold out to a rather lesser degree than those mentioned above:

• Vertical blinds. These are made of many individual vertical fabric strips called louvres, which by nature, result in room for air to get between them even when they’re closed. With a blackout fabric they will be more thermally efficient as this makes the louvres a bit more sturdy, and ensuring that they’re closed snugly will help too.
• Aluminium Venetian blinds are made of thin metal slats (not a great insulator), and they also have narrower slats than other types of Venetian blinds, meaning more gaps for your warm air to escape through.
• Day and night blinds are probably the worst blinds for keeping the heat in, as half of their stripes are fine, sheer mesh or voile, which pretty much does nothing to insulate in and of itself!

Can blinds keep heat in more effectively if you fit them in a certain way?

Yes, definitely. Fitting your blinds inside of the window recess rather than over it increases the extent to which they will keep warm air in and cold air out.

Also, your blinds have to be the correct fit for the window; blinds that don’t quite fit or that leave gaps won’t serve as much of a barrier to heat loss, so take care when measuring up!