Keeping flat cool / blocking the sun

[SavvyWavvy]

We have thick blackout lined curtains and a flat with windows facing due east on one side, and due west on the other. The sunshine is relentless and our flat gets extremely hot. Closing the curtains helps a bit but the gap between the curtains and the glass becomes extremely hot. I want to put something in the windows to reflect the sun before it starts to warm up my flat. What I think I want is something like the silver reflective things that people put in their car windscreens but such a thing doesn’t seem to exist for houses. What can I use?

You can get silver reflective film to put over the whole window (you can still see out). It's cheap - less than ten quid a roll - and you can easily apply it (and remove it if it doesn't float your boat) so maybe give that a go?

Last summer when it got really hot I just cut some cardboard to size to cover the windows. One a couple of them I wrapped an emergency reflective blanket. It did a really good job.

I bought blackout curtain linings from Amazon last week that you manually add on yourself (versus already having them on pre made curtains) with curtain rings, and they have done an exceptional job at making my bedroom the coolest room in the house, even in the last two days at 30 degrees. I wonder if mine are made of different material and do a better job than yours?

Hachette BLACKOUT THERMAL CURTAIN... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N4DRKUB?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

My home gets very warm in the summer as well. I found that fitting a thermal roller blind behind the blackout curtains really seemed to help. Mine are fitted inside the window recess as close to the window pane as possible. They are the same colour that the walls are painted so don't really notice them when they're rolled up. If I'm not there during the day I keep the curtains and blinds closed all day, and then open everything up to let the cool air in in the evening.