Can Plantation Shutters Help To Cool Homes During Heatwaves?

Whilst primarily installed for privacy purposes, as well as the fact that they look fantastic, plantation shutters have a remarkable number of additional benefits when they are fitted in the home, especially during hot weather.

This is perhaps understandable, given that louvred shutters are believed to trace back to Ancient Greece where hot summers and heatwaves would have likely been relatively common.

Here are three ways plantation shutters keep homes cool during hot summer days and heatwaves.

Plantation Shutters Are A Solid Barrier

An adjustable louvre shutter system is much thicker than curtains, blinds and other soft window dressings.

This means that it is much harder for ultraviolet rays to penetrate into the home and generate heat, as it cannot easily pass through the shutter the same way it can pass through a window. 

This effect is maximised if your windows have a UV-resistant coating.

Plantation Shutters Reflect Heat Away

Added to this is that most plantation shutters are painted white or a particularly light shade, which improves their ability to reflect light away from the room.

Whilst white shutters are typically the result of tradition rather than necessarily practicality, they do provide an additional benefit in the same way a white roof does.

You can even adjust the reflective properties by tilting the louvres; whilst keeping them completely shut will bounce UV rays away, pointing them at an angle can also reflect them upwards and away or towards the upper part of your room if you want greater control of the heat in your room.

Plantation Shutters Create A Thermal Barrier

What makes plantation shutters unlike other forms of blinds or shutters is that they form a solid barrier between your window and the rest of your room, and when closed entirely, create a barrier that hot air struggles to penetrate.

It works in the same way double glazing works, stopping air movement and thus breaking the convection cycle.