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Imo: curtains much better than slatted shutters for keeping heat in.
DIY "secondary glazing" film is very very cheap and easy to apply and effective. The stuff that's heat shrink clingfilm plus double sided sticky tape. Main problem is the easiest thing to do to block draughts is to go over the whole window to the outer frame and that means you can't open the sash. You can just do each part of the window in combination with stuffing draught excluding strips where you can between the frames, that's also quite effective. You can buy this stuff in any diy shop for a few quid. You need a hair dryer and a pair of scissors.Shutters are good for shade in the summer. But they're not going to stop draughts, they're full of gaps.
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Unrealistic options:
Replace all the windows with a double-glazewhy is this unrealistic?
a wood burning stove
might as well drive a diesel car and fly everywhere!
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An option I'd be looking at is having your existing sash windows overhauled. It's not that pricey if they're in ok condition and it will hugely cut down on draughts.
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Create more heat with a wood burning stove
Presumably you have a heating system already?
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For us, curtains have been fine*.
It's probably possible to fairly accurately estimate how much energy is lost through the current windows and therefore how much you'd save per year with double-glazing.
I did a crude evaluation instead - given that our gas bill is currently ~£900 a year, even at 100% saving it would take 21 years to make back the outlay on our lowest quote for a complete re-glaze. Refurbing would take 10 years to recoup at 100% saving, so is more of an option but we will probably do on a window-by-window case as they require it. We would still need curtains after this anyway!*Our average room temps are not tropical and there is a large wood burner for our most-used living space.
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hoefla
amey
aggi
Howard
Dramatic_Hammer
@Velocio
How effective are plantation style shutters at heat insulation?
I'm thinking of the coming Winter here, we have single glaze sash windows that don't seal great and let the draught through.
Realistic options are:
Semi-realistic options:
Unrealistic options:
Of those... shutters seems to be the best for semi-affordable, potentially good in Winter to minimise draughts and heat loss whilst good in the Summer to keep spaces cool.