Keep your house cooler by putting trash bags on sliding doors when it is hot and sunny outside. My sliding door lets a huge amount of sun and heat in in the morning. I use those large black yard waste trash bags to block the sun and heat. Painters tape will hold the bag. I only need two pieces at the top.
By ann from Saint Peters, MO
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They make reflective plastic that is just for patio doors. It is not expensive and reflects all heat. It looks like a mirror from the outside but you can see out from the inside.
Great Idea, but, at Walmart in the camping area, is a light weight blanket that is made of some type of NASA material. It is like the size of a deck of cards, costs about $2.00. and I put it on windows and you can hold your hand up to it and it keeps the inside cool. You can also see through it, so, it stays in place and don't have to guess on what's on the other side of that door. I saw this idea on another thrift site about a year ago, so decided to check it out. Plus, at the end of summer, you can take it down, carefully, and fold it up and reuse at least 1 year, I think more, just have not tried yet! I also put up those $1 windshield coolers, with the aluminum on, in rooms that are not used and smaller windows. They all work at keeping it cooler inside.
We had a house in FL with a very large family room, thus very large windows & patio doors. I bought Window Tint at Home Depot by the roll. It's like what they tint car windows with.
Wow, you must have some really intense direct sun that the indoor sliding door window treatments don't keep the heat from the sun out :-o Good tip for those who need to take extra measures! :-)
Black trash bags are also good to use over the windows when you need to make the room very dark for someone that works at night and sleeps during the daytime. Self sticking velcro works well to hold it up since you will be putting it up and taking it down often.
Its too hot to even think about the opposite problem, but my kitchen sliding door is very large and lets in a lot of cold in the winter. I put a nail in each top corner and hang a king size sheet to cover it when it gets cold.
Great thrifty idea. I'll try this one. Thanks for sharing.
Black plastic will attract the heat. True, it blocks the light, but it does attract more heat to the window. I would suggest a white plastic or, what I have seen people do, is use sheets of aluminum foil.
I will agree that this is a good idea, but I like being able to see outside through the plastic. I use the plstic film that is sold to use on car windows. I know it's expensive so I have been buying a roll or two a month until I got enough to cover all my windows and glass doors. Took a while, but now all my windows and doors are covered and it's a lot cooler in here, without blocking my view.
Also at the end of the season, I take a lot of cheap wax paper and scotch tape it to the plastic. Then I take a long paper towel roll (I tape sevveral together to make the lengths I need) and roll the wax paper and plastic around the roll.
Request for suedobbins: Would it be possible please for you to provide the brand name for the lightweight blanket that you found in the Walmart camping section?
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