Thermal Curtains: A Guide To Insulating Your Home In Style

Thermal curtains, also known as Double, Lined or Blockout Curtains, are a great way of providing insulation and maintaining a stable temperature in a room. Perfect if you don’t have the budget for expensive double-glazed windows, curtains with thermal properties improve the energy efficiency in your home, thereby reducing your carbon footprint and your power bills.

How do thermal curtains work?

Thermal curtains are usually made with between two and four layers of fabric, such as our Double, Lined and Blockout Curtains. When a well-fitted curtain covers a window, it traps a layer of air between the glass and the fabric. This protects and maintains optimal room temperature. In other words, it keeps the room warmer in winter and cooler in summer.

Why should I use thermal curtains?

• Flexible insulation: They help keep your house cool in summer, retain heat in winter and make your space more comfortable.

• Dramatically reduce energy costs: Thermal curtains, including Double, Lined or Blockout Curtains, reduce the need for heating and cooling, and as a result reduce your carbon footprint and power bills.

• Reduce noise: These window coverings act as a barrier to outside noise and help absorb internal sounds for better acoustics in your home.

• Great in different rooms: Thermal curtains are ideal in any room with big windows, or anywhere you want to keep a steady temperature. They’re perfect in both adults' and kids’ bedrooms, living spaces, home offices and media rooms.

Are there different types of thermal curtains?

At DIYblinds™, we offer three different types of thermal curtains:

• Double curtains - These are made from a sheer curtain and a blockout curtain that come with two curtain tracks. Curtains are installed on individual tracks to operate independently. They are excellent at providing insulation, and also allow for flexibility, as you can move each curtain separately.

• Lined curtains - These are made from a sheer curtain fabric, which is sewn at the top with blockout fabric at the rear. Both fabrics are hung on the same track. They have good insulation properties.

• Blockout curtains -These are a single blockout fabric and come on a single curtain track. All our blockout curtain fabrics have silicone or three layers of acrylic coating, which offer good thermal insulation.

How should I install thermal curtains?

Lined and double floor-to-ceiling curtains are the most effective way to provide insulation as they prevent air from escaping into the room from the top or bottom of the window. Running your curtains wall-to-wall will minimise any gaps and help create maximum insulation.

If you can’t install curtains floor to ceiling, face-fit curtains with a pelmet (the covering which sits on top of a set of curtains) will stop hot air escaping through the top of the curtain. All DIYblinds™ curtains are made to order, so you can get the perfect fit for your space. We even have curved curtains to run around corner windows.

What other window coverings will insulate my home?

Thermal curtains are brilliant, but they're not the only way to keep the warmth in. Whether you're after something sleeker, want to layer up for serious insulation, or just need to dress a window where curtains aren't practical, there are a few other DIY Blinds products worth knowing about.

Honeycomb blinds are something of a hidden gem. Their unique cellular structure traps air in individual pockets, a bit like a down jacket for your windows, keeping warmth in during winter and heat out in summer. They sit neatly inside the window recess, look incredibly clean and minimal, and are one of the most thermally efficient window coverings available.

Double roller blinds give you two layers of protection on a single bracket, a light filtering blind for daytime softness and a blockout blind to seal everything in at night. Sleek, modern and seriously hardworking.

If you already have sheer curtains, one of the easiest wins is adding a blockout roller blind behind them. It sits discreetly in the recess, insulates beautifully, and lets your sheers do all the decorative heavy lifting.

And if you really want to set and forget, motorised curtains and blinds can open and close automatically based on the temperature outside - so your home stays comfortable whether you're there or not. You can even retrofit motorisation onto your existing roller blinds without an electrician.

Motorisation for thermal curtains

Don’t wait until you’re home to pull the curtains. Motorised curtains can close or open automatically when the outside temperature reaches a certain point. You can install battery-operated blinds yourself at home, whereas an electrician is required for wired motorisation. Both options can be operated using a Somfy remote control, Smoove wall switch or integrated with voice assistants such as Alexa, Google Home & IFTTT by pairing your motorised curtains with Bond Bridge wifi hub. Learn more here.

The DIYBlinds Way

We partner with Somfy motorisation, the best motorisation provider available, to provide a smooth and quiet system at the best market price. Somfy motorisation paired with a Bond Bridge or Connexoon Hub allows for voice control or scheduled timing that automatically open and close your curtains or blinds.

All our Somfy motorised curtains work with a Somfy remote control. Read more here about connection options for motorised blinds and curtains.