Solar Screens

Have you ever heard of solar screens (aka sunscreens)? If you don’t live in a place that gets as hot as…um, hell then you probably haven’t. I’d never heard of them until I moved to Phoenix.

The concept is simple: Windows account for almost half of the heat gain in your house. Adding solar screens to the windows keeps your house cooler because they absorb the heat before it hits the glass or frame.

(source)

I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I had solar screens added to some of my windows. It all started with the master bedroom. It faces the south, so it gets hit by sunlight and heat most of the day. Oh, and the pool is right there, so it gets that reflection too. Needless to say, that room is an oven by the afternoon. Especially since we have to keep the door closed to keep Abby out (puppy + carpet = accident waiting to happen).

My boyfriend’s sister-in-law had solar screens put on their house awhile ago and they love them. She brought over some samples that the company had left her…and then I let them sit on the dining room table for a few months. Procrastination at its finest!  Am I the only one that hates calling people to set up appointments or get estimates?

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I finally called and set up an appointment to get an estimate. I was planning to only get the 3 master bedroom windows done and I was hoping this would only be about a $200 project. The estimate was very reasonable, so I ended up getting the 3 kitchen windows done too. Total price? $262 for all six windows…but wait! Our power company offers a rebate per square foot on solar screens. So with my $49 rebate, the whole project only cost me $213. That’s not even considering the energy savings.

You can see the difference here:

I forgot to take a before picture of the bedroom and kitchen windows, so this is a picture of the office window. Different window, same idea (except the bedroom/kitchen windows don’t have the cross bar things in the panes).

This is how the bedroom windows look now:

And this is how the kitchen windows look:

It’s not necessarily a pretty change, but it is a functional one.

You can definitely feel the difference in temperature. The master bedroom is now one of the coolest rooms in the house. And in the bedroom, we got the darkest screens you can get, so it’s also nice and dark. Um, I see a lot more naps in my future…

We’ve only had them for about a week, but we both think they were worth the money.

If you are in the Phoenix area and are interested in solar screens, let me know. I was really happy with the company I used and would be happy to share their contact info.

I should note that this is NOT a sponsored post. I just really like my new solar screens =)

On a completely unrelated note, Ringo finally decided that he wanted to swim with us! Now I have 2 dogs that I can’t keep out of the pool!