Anyone got shutters on their sash windows?

[Zeeky]

If so, do you use them instead of having curtains/blinds?

yes

Are they efficient at keeping out draughts & cold & keeping in heat?

We've just found some original vertical sliding shutters below the sash windows in one of our rooms, and I would love to get them operational and get rid of the curtains, curtain pole and roman blinds that our currently hiding the beautiful window surrounds. I was just worried that the blinds wouldn't be as efficient at the curtains, as it is a pretty cold, draughty room at the best of times!

We don't have vertical ones and they are original so don't fit perfectly. I wish we still had the shutters in our bedroom too!

I find they are good at keeping the heat in. Why don't you try it and if you find they aren't quite enough in the winter you could put curtains up too

We also had all our sash windows draught proofed and it made a huge difference

Just had 2 windows draught proofed. We'll work our way around the house gradually. We're doing the bedrooms first though, as they are in the worst state - either blowing a gale through the big gaps, or painted/nailed shut so couldn't open them when it was hot the other week. The ones with the shutters are downstairs, so probably won't get done until next year, so would have to go through another winter with them the way they are now!

Well I think the shutters work well and you can put curtains up too.

The first winter we were in before draught proofing we sealed all the top sashes with bathroom sealant. Worked really well and was easy to remove and didn't damage the wood/paint

Great tip! Will definitely be using some bathroom sealant on the windows this winter. Didn't want to damage the windows, so just put up with the draughts during Jan/Feb (moved in Jan).

Good luck! I love my sashes but 100 year old windows are not the most energy efficient!

Our shutters work quite well, even though they don't fit well anymore! They're in the kitchen, the only ones left and one set have warped/dropped so badly that there is a massive gap - 2 ins at the bottom - but even so it does keep the worst of the draught out.

We have vertical and folding solid shutters, I find the folding ones are best for keeping in the warmth. The sliding shutters are heavy and we dont bother to use both to cover the whole window as its hard to reach the top.

We have no curtains with the folding shutters but do have lined curtains with the pull up ones.

If you get a roman blind fixed on/in the recess then you wont cover up the architrave.

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