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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: boarder42 on November 01, 2016, 02:39:09 PM

Title: Exterior shades -
Post by: boarder42 on November 01, 2016, 02:39:09 PM
Anyone installed exterior shades on their house?  i have a wall of windows and back to a lake.  which creates great solar gain in the winter, so i dont want to add film that will decrease the cold weather gains.  i was thinking something like these.

https://blinds.homedepot.com/p/coolaroo-exterior-solar-shade/205177061

Its a 14' x 14' wall of windows. 

i've been trying to find estimates of ROI but cant seem to find any
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: 405programmer on November 01, 2016, 05:25:55 PM
I don't know if I can offer any math on the ROI but I can offer an anecdote.

I have a 6X6 window in my current bedroom that gets a lot of evening sun and I tried using one of the cheaper versions like this over the summer and it worked great!
My only caution is that you should double check your fastening system especially in the event of a wind / rain storm. My exterior shade ripped itself apart even with plenty of screws and paracord around the bottom. Then again I only remember it being around $20 and much uglier than the one in question. It made my room drastically more comfortable in the evening and I'm sure it saved some energy too. Although for a lasting solution I would not recommend the roll up shade I had.

Here it is if you're curious. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lewis-Hyman-Tan-Woodgrain-Interior-Exterior-Roll-Up-Patio-Sun-Shade-96-in-W-x-72-in-L-0322087/204477120 (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lewis-Hyman-Tan-Woodgrain-Interior-Exterior-Roll-Up-Patio-Sun-Shade-96-in-W-x-72-in-L-0322087/204477120)

Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: mustachianteacher on November 01, 2016, 05:49:57 PM
What about something like this?  http://www.ersshading.com/rolling-exterior-shutters

These are very common in northern Europe to help insulate against cold weather, but I imagine they'd work just as well against heat.
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: boarder42 on November 01, 2016, 06:32:20 PM
Yes something of that nature.
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: boarder42 on November 02, 2016, 08:58:18 AM
anyone else have any insight.  really dont want to spend 500 bucks on this and it not do its job or be destroyed by wind.
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: TexasRunner on November 02, 2016, 09:04:05 AM
Why not this:  http://sunshadeawning.com/retractable/ (http://sunshadeawning.com/retractable/)
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: Uturn on November 02, 2016, 09:10:28 AM
I don't know the cost, but I saw these all over Germany.

http://rolladenlv.com/
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: Fishindude on November 02, 2016, 09:24:46 AM
I've got one of those electric, retractable awnings on the lake house.
It's real nice to gain a little additional shade on a hot day.
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: boarder42 on November 02, 2016, 09:38:44 AM
I've got one of those electric, retractable awnings on the lake house.
It's real nice to gain a little additional shade on a hot day.

yeah the awning was the other thought, but how do they hold up to wind and to get above my top smaller square windows it would be over 15' off the ground so im not sure how well it would shade the deck.
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: boarder42 on November 02, 2016, 09:40:34 AM
the awnings also appear to be over 4x the price.  and woudnt block the reflection off the lake. 
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: J_Stache on November 02, 2016, 10:35:35 AM
My parents installed a SunSetter outside of a 6 foot wide patio door 10-15 years ago.  It makes a huge difference in the Summer.  Not sure if it will ever pay for itself in decreased energy bills, but quality of life (reading the newspaper in the morning without being blinded by the sun) is definitely improved.

http://www.sunsetter.com/motorized_easyshades?Content2=motorized
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: boarder42 on November 02, 2016, 10:40:01 AM
My parents installed a SunSetter outside of a 6 foot wide patio door 10-15 years ago.  It makes a huge difference in the Summer.  Not sure if it will ever pay for itself in decreased energy bills, but quality of life (reading the newspaper in the morning without being blinded by the sun) is definitely improved.

http://www.sunsetter.com/motorized_easyshades?Content2=motorized

i think it probably does pay for itself... now i just need to find a motorized one thats 14' long and 14' wide for that 700 dollar price tag. 
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: Gimesalot on November 02, 2016, 02:44:38 PM
Do the windows have screens or is it just a glass wall?  If you have screens, you can easily use this material http://www.homedepot.com/p/Phifer-60-in-x-96-in-Black-SunTex-90-3025979/202176185 (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Phifer-60-in-x-96-in-Black-SunTex-90-3025979/202176185) to replace the screen and save some money.  We spent about $200 to make new screens for our house and we have noticed that it is a lot cooler in the summer.  In the winter, we take the screens down to let the sun heat the house.
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: boarder42 on November 02, 2016, 03:00:42 PM
Do the windows have screens or is it just a glass wall?  If you have screens, you can easily use this material http://www.homedepot.com/p/Phifer-60-in-x-96-in-Black-SunTex-90-3025979/202176185 (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Phifer-60-in-x-96-in-Black-SunTex-90-3025979/202176185) to replace the screen and save some money.  We spent about $200 to make new screens for our house and we have noticed that it is a lot cooler in the summer.  In the winter, we take the screens down to let the sun heat the house.

no screens just glass
Title: Re: Exterior shades -
Post by: ersshading on November 22, 2016, 07:20:03 PM
Hello,

This is Ann from European Rolling Shutters. Our company and website was mentioned in this thread.

There have been a couple independent studies that estimate savings from exterior rolling shutters or shades (screens). The savings vary depending on the price, quality, type of window, type of window attachment and so on.

PAMA did a study that found exterior solar shades can reduce annual cooling energy costs up to 86% for homes in San Francisco.

Here is the excerpt from that study for San Francisco (sorry, can't find the entire study at the moment):
http://www.ersshading.com/images/news/solar-shades-study-CA_San_Francisco_PAMA.pdf
 (http://www.ersshading.com/images/news/solar-shades-study-CA_San_Francisco_PAMA.pdf)

The AERC (Attachments Energy Rating Council) also recently published this utility study very recently that covers blinds, cellular shades, roller shades, solar screens and storm windows.
http://aercnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/UtilityInfo.pdf
 (http://aercnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/UtilityInfo.pdf)

And you can REALLY geek out over stats in this Berkeley Labs study done for Energy.gov where they ran 16,848 energy simulations for 12 climate zones, four house types, three baseline windows, 11 window attachment categories, four attachment qualities and varying number of deployment positions.

http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/11/f5/energy_savings_from_windows_attachments.pdf (http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/11/f5/energy_savings_from_windows_attachments.pdf)

Hope that helps!