Shutters - why?

[Member786488]

The house down the road from me has shutters in every room. And they’re always, and I mean always, 99% closed.

this is SE England, not France, and obviously they’re inside not out.

I can’t help think that it must be so dark in every room in their house.

I know the couple, they’re fine, I’m not interested in their lives in any way.

if you have shutters, does this mean that you live your life in the dark?

I just can’t understand why anyone in this part of the world would want them, light is everything…

enlighten me…

I love mine, they can be slightly open and let in so much light. Theyve redyced the cobdensation and therefore moyld massively and are easy to clean. If I could afford it I'd put them in every room.

Heat travels via radiation and convection. Due to the location, shape and material of internal louvred shutters, they are worse than curtains for keeping heat out in summer and heat in during winter. Curtains or solid shutters on the interior are much better for the UK temperature climate (which is why they are traditional UK window coverings). Louvred shutters on the outside of windows are better for a hot climate.

We have them. I think they look good - the rooms look finished and neat with shutters - I’m afraid I find curtains very fussy looking, especially on an old house, which ours is (ish).

You can also angle them so as to have privacy but it’s still light inside

Why? They do an incredible job of regulating teperature. In the winter we keep them angled in the day and firmly closed before it gets dark. We barely have to have the heating on. It traps a layer of air between the back of the shutters and the window. If you put your hand in its like putting your hand into a fridge, even though the house is nice and warm.

In the summer we keep them open at a slanted angle which lets in plenty of light but keeps the house really cool as no direct glare through the glass.

They're also great on the back of the house which is south facing, as the lounge used to get boiling before we got them and you couldn't see the TV screen for the glare.

We put ours in when we moved in 15 years ago and I wouldnt have any other type of window covering now. They are way, way, way better than any blinds or curtains I've ever had and incredibly practical and flexible. I really dont get why anyone thinks they adversely affect light or thermodynamics in a house.

This is totally and utterly the opposite of my experience.

Why is there any significant radiation caused internally from white shutters? Air is insulating isnt it so convection is reduced by having them internally not directly on the window?

We had solid original Victorian ones in our previous house - although I suspect those aren't the type you are meaning. We only had the bottom half shut as the windows were next to the pavement. It wasn't dark as all those rooms had windows or French doors to the rear too and light flooded in through those.

Over a hundred years ago a fantastic invention hit the shelves - the humble light bulb.
They mitigate the whole ‘dark room’ thing pretty well

We have them on our annexe but it was compulsory (Listed Buildings). We only close them when we go away. They're more of a nuisance as they've come free of their fixings a couple of times in high winds and made little dents in the bonnet of my electric car (it has to be close to the building as the pod point is on it).

But having the lights on during the day seems a bit silly. I hate artificial light and only ever use lamps and only put those on when it is too dark to see.

I want as much natural light in my rooms as possible. Most of my neighbours must either have their lights on almost all the time or live in gloomy dark rooms

Im in my living room right now with the shutters closed (havent got arpund to opening them halfway yet) and the blinds on the patio doors open with the lights off and its perfectly light, Im typing without my reading glasses on as there's plenty of natural light. Where are all these dark and gloomy places?

They are vampires 🧛‍♂️🧛‍♀️🧛

We've just stayed in a holiday home that had shutters on all the windows, downstairs and upstairs. I absolutely loathed them.

They don't block the light so we were woken up every morning at 4am (no curtains).

Unless you actually open them properly, you're just peeking through the slats to look outside for the weather, the view, or whatever.

Completely pointless and annoying.

We had shutters and a toddler in Southern California and they blocked the light just fine.

Anyone got any ideas on improving the blackout on shutters?
We have some and I love them, but this year its been waking me up early in the morning in our bedroom.
Curtains as well would obvs help, but I don't have the spare money for that at the min!

Parents have them in on their holiday home in SW France. One because it can get very hot so keeps house cool, they also have curtains and mosquito grids up at windows. And also it’s in a remote hamlet so for security reasons too.

I don’t see the point in them so haven’t got them.

We found this out in parents holiday home. Previous owners we weren’t sure if they had curtains too but my DP’s got them fitted as well as blinds.

Fast forward a few years and farmers who are NDNs have got a cockerel (it is the countryside though!) so if that doesn’t wake you up at least you won’t be woken by daylight.