Bedroom hotter than Hades

[sunnyinthesummertime]

Not in the good sense, unfortunately!

We have a west-facing upstairs bedroom that gets full sun all afternoon. It's in a small block of flats so is very high up, no shade whatsoever. In a warm summer the room is as good as unusable. We have an interior blackout blind but it can only do so much in full sun on a hot day.

What is the best type of exterior blind that will keep the room as cool as possible, while still being (relatively) affordable? There just seem to be so many options and I'm not sure what the most effective one is. I've spent half an hour searching online and I'm feeling even more lost than before!

It doesn't need to be particularly attractive as the window cannot be seen from our property and is also not overlooked by anyone else. So I really don't care what it looks like. The price:quality ratio and of course the effectiveness are the only considerations.

Any tips?

I'd get a window aircon unit.

That would also be good - we have one in another room - but we need to reduce the amount of sun coming in as well. It's beating down on the window for around 8 hours on hot days. I think the amount of electricity that would save would pay for the blind within 2 or 3 years (to say nothing of the environmental cost).

Exterior shutters are lovely.

Rather than a/c I'm a 'fan' of using multiple window fans to draw air from other parts of the house. You put an 'out' fan in the bedroom window and an 'in' fan in the downstairs wherever is coolest. Can make a lot of difference and is much cheaper and better for the environment than a/c.

If it doesn't matter how it looks from the outside then start with that reflective mirror film on the inside of the windows, to bounce the rays back out. Then get some white heavy A1 cardstock or thin plywood and paint it white, and cut it to fit perfectly inside the window frames . If it's card you should be able to tape it, ply could do with some hinges or wedging in. You lose light but you gain a usable room with a sensible temperature.

My third floor bedroom was unusable for 4 weeks every summer. I've just downgraded to a tiny solid washed stone cottage and I'm looking forward to cooler summers!

Shutters?

Pardon my stupidity but what would exterior shutters look like? I'm only familiar with the decorative type, and seeing as nobody can really see the window (we can only see it by craning our necks, it's hard to explain but the flat is cleverly designed to have a lot of privacy), that part would be a bit wasted.

(The fan trick is brilliant when it's cooler outdoors than in, but at other times it would just make the rest of the house really hot. Seriously, it can get to 35-40 degrees in there after a few stinking hot days!)

Disappointed. I was anticipating a boast about someone's online dating success.

Chance'd be a fine thing 😭

I would get the roller shutters you find in French homes - you can roll them down as shutters and also push them out at the bottom as an awning.

If you’re in a flat are you able to attach external blinds/shutters? We can’t do anything to the outsides of our flats as we’re leasehold including fixing the leaking roof

I feel your pain though, one half of our flat is baking.

Fortunately we can, yes (or at least we'll beg forgiveness rather than ask permission). Nobody can see it so I don't know how they'd know anyway ;-)

We're also not meant to have satellite dishes. I can see that our neighbour has one, but I'm not bothered. Nobody else can see it.