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I'm looking into creating a temporary external shade system for south facing windows, just to stop the sun beating down on the glass all day.
Need a strong rigid board that is lightweight, ideally cheap. Plan is the board would slot into an upper and lower channel, so can't be flimsy to the point it would give and fall out.
So far Google has returned Correx, which looks to be the stuff estate agent signs are made from.
Any printer types got better suggestions, or advice on thickness required for Correx please?
Have a look at 3mm hardboard as well. White-painted is a bit more expensive
Correx folds very easily in one direction IME
Yeah I wondered if 2 sheets of Correx attached at different orientations would help that?
Also, insulation board an option?
See if you can find an opaque version of the fluted polycarbonate (or clear and put some sign makers vinyl on it) used for conservatory roofs - very light and very rigid.
You might find useful size offcuts on Facebook marketplace (or call round a few conservatory installers maybe) as it tends to be sold in massive sheets
Actuality ‘foamex’ PVC (it’s a foam board but not that you’d notice as the bubbles are microscopic and the outer faces are smooth) as used by sign makers would good too. Not as light or as rigid as fluted polycarbonate but quite robust and something a local sign company will have lots of off-cuts of
Yes foamex would be a good option but tends to be a bit pricey from initial searches, hence the Correx idea. But could be that it's thicker and more rigid than Correx.
Good thing about both is they're easily cut to shape.
If you're using Correx and slotting in top and bottom, then just make sure it's orientated vertically. Will only fold sideways then and should be plenty rigid enough.
I've made plenty of portable A1/A0 display boards out of it over the years. You can also score along and through one layer along the corrugations to make it foldable and easier to store.
Don't go too thin with the correx, we have site safety signs printed on it and the thin ones barely last for a job but the thicker ones get used for multiple jobs until they have faded too much. Our good signs are probably on 8mm.
Alternatively could search for insulation leftovers and offcuts on market place, usually cheap as a pain to recycle.
Some really useful comments, thanks all. Current plan is 10mm fluted polypropylene sheet (Correx) sliding in to some 12mm wide PVC 'U' profile strip.
Might need to explore ideas for attaching the PVC U profile to window frames, as don't want to drill and tape feels a bit temporary.
Might need to explore ideas for attaching the PVC U profile to window frames
If the window are recessed in the brickwork cut two timbers that are the width of the opening and wedge in two uprights to hold them in place (once wedged probably put some screws in the corners incase the timber shrinks a bit) but that'll give you a frame thats a friction fit in the window opening without fixing or gluing to anything - then you can screw your other elements to that
Just get an awning, something like this?
Foamex is excellent stuff for things like that, but it is completely opaque*, Correx, if it’s the stuff I think it is, is translucent, so would at least keep the interior light.
*I worked for a sign and promotional materials company for a while, there were always offcuts of foamex around, I’ve got some I use for writing on, or small crafting projects.
Awning or get some fabric roll each end round a wooden dowel.
Hook wooden dowel on to whatever you want. Hooks in the frame or onto a permanent or wedged in battens.
Take off roll up then they are safe and reusable. Foamex and stuff will at best get tatty woth repeated installation then you have to store it. Storing flat thin sheets is a pain.
When it was 40 degrees i just draped a blanket over the south facing windows and held it up with the top lights.
I think we're rapidly approaching the sort of climate that would be good with external shutters.
Our windows have shutters but the front door which has a window doesn't so I made this out of an old and holed quilt cover doubled. It keeps most of the heat out but lets a little light in. I used nylon tape for the loops which has rotted in the sun hence the peg on the right. Yes, the grass needs cutting.
Surely an awning makes more sense and would look a bit less like a 3rd world shanty encampment?
Thinking of how to make it with off the shelf bits and minimal skill I reckon use PVC conduit as battens and arms (assuming PVC windows), one box section across the top, then use 20mm round conduit at the other end of the fabric, some 90deg bends to make a rectangular frame, some saddles/clips under the windowsill to hinge it. Then some chord from that end batten down to the ground with some pegs or weights to keep it taught?
Or, this is pretty much what you're asking for, but off the shelf.
Get a UV solar shade, tuck it in the windows or if you are feeling like it you can fit hard mounts to the walls. They work fantastically well
When the sun is low in the sky in the morning and evening that awning in the link will do nothing. My pic was taken at 9h30 at 43°N, note how little the 1m+ awning protects.
If you think that looks shanty town you should see the cover I've made for the non-street side of the house. 🙂
Note the white painted walls too, that makes a huge difference.
I've got some left over over white render I'll be covering some black tarmac with to stop the ground getting hot and the strategically placed trees are growing nicely.
If you think that looks shanty town you should see the cover I've made for the non-street side of the house.
Haha, sorry I was referring to the OP's idea of bits of offcut insulation board and estate agents signs taped together.
Our current conservatory, hopefully soon to be proper extension (complete with the seemingly mandatory huge expanse of bi-fold doors) is south facing and is a bit of as nightmare in summer (brilliant in autumn and spring though, the heating barely comes on). I'm trying to figure out how to keep the ohh-so-middle-class suburban aesthetic without turning the house into a cooker.
Hoping it wont be too bad as it'll have a mostly solid roof and the trees in the garden provide some low down early morning shade in summer.
I caculated the roof over hang of our south-facing extension so that the 2 x 2.4m window gets no sun on it for a month or so either side of the Summer solstice but 85% of the glass is exposed to the sun for solar gain at the Winter solstice.
Have you considered painting yoghurt on the windows?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg4rg3nqq7go
Mirrored solar film would look much better and presumably it's cheap enough to rip off each autumn. Also less work to install and you just need to clean the window and squeegee it on, and looking out it's just like slightly tinted sunglasses.