Everybody wants to enjoy plenty of natural light at home. Watching the sun streaming through your windows and feeling its warmth can have impressive health benefits. Sunlight has the power to strengthen your immune system, improve your sleep pattern and lift your mood. No wonder Ideal Home magazine suggests that optimising natural light levels can add value to properties and make them easier to sell. People love bright, airy spaces.
However, nobody wants their enjoyment of sitting by a window on a sunny day to be undermined by solar glare. Intense bright light coming through windows can dazzle you, create visual disturbances and lead to pain around your eyes. Glare from the sun makes everyday activities such as watching TV or reading the newspaper difficult. What’s more, it can damage skin, overheat rooms and fade furnishings.
This is such a widespread issue that the International Well Building Institute, which looks at how buildings affect our wellbeing, asserts that solar glare control should be an important consideration for architects.
Glare is Worst When the Sun is Low
You’re most likely to experience solar glare in the early morning or late afternoon. That’s when the sun is nearest the horizon – and therefore in the right position to catch your eye and impair your vision.
Although it’s a year-round problem, glare is most noticeable on bright summer days, as well as in the colder months when the sun is lower in the sky.
Tips for Tackling Solar Glare
Solar glare is a common problem, but you don’t have to put up with it. Here are five ways to reduce glare while still reaping the benefits of natural light.
1. Avoid Dark Décor
This tip may sound counterintuitive, but it works. You see, dark décor actually makes solar glare worse because of the stark contrast it creates between your rooms and the intense light streaming through your windows. Decorate with neutral or earth tones instead to take the sting out of solar glare’s tail.
Another anti-glare approach to decorating is to use satin-finish paints for wooden elements. They’ll reduce solar glare, unlike more reflective, high-gloss paints.
2. Move Shiny Objects
If intense sunlight is reflected by shiny objects, such as silverware or a glass-topped coffee table, solar glare problems will be exacerbated. So it’s important to move those objects out of the path of direct sunlight. You could always put non-reflective items in their place.
3. Swap Standard Blinds for Solar Shades
How about replacing your existing window blinds with solar shades made from special, open-weave fabric? Because they’re not completely opaque, they’ll diffuse bright light without making rooms too dark or obscuring the scenery.
Each solar shade has an openness rating from 1-15%, with 15% being the least opaque. So you should be able to find solar shades that strike the right balance for your needs between glare control and privacy.
4. Plant Evergreen Trees
You can reduce the amount of intense light that enters your home all year round by planting evergreen trees, such as bay trees, a short distance from your windows. Rather like the solar shades we’ve just discussed, the leaves will soften the sun’s rays without blocking out too much light.
If your outdoor space is very limited, try placing tall houseplants – parlour palms, for example – in your rooms, close to the windows. They’ll enjoy the sun and you’ll enjoy their anti-glare effect!
5. Install Tinted Glass
As experienced Devon window fitters serving Newton Abbot and beyond, we work in what Stay in Devon calls ‘one of the sunniest places in the UK’. So we know how vital it is to help homeowners minimise solar glare.
An excellent option is tinted glazing – think of it as being like designer sunglasses for your windows! It ensures your home still receives plenty of sunlight while softening harsh rays. We can fit superb, blue-tint performance glass to reduce solar glare by an amazing 44% throughout the year compared to standard double glazing. Another glare-minimising option is beautiful bronze-tint glazing.
Tinted glass could be ideal for your brightest rooms. It’s particularly popular among customers who ask us to install Devon conservatories.
First-Class Devon Window Installation
At The Window Centre, we’d love to help you choose the right windows for your home. Why not visit our Newton Abbot showsite for a friendly chat about our fantastic windows range?
For your peace of mind, all the windows we supply and fit are A-Rated and come with a 10-year guarantee.
Any questions or need a quote? Simply contact us for prompt assistance.