Exterior Window Shades

Exterior window shades are window treatments that are usually hanged or attached to the exterior of the window. They are usually quite large to cover up multiple windows or at least cover a large area that will serve as protection from the heat of the sun. An external shade or awning can offer shelter for kids to play outdoors. They can be on open air and still be shaded from direct sunlight.

Shades Using Awnings

Awnings are much more effective at keeping heat out of the house than curtains or internal shadings, mainly because they stop rays before they even pass through the window. Studies show that it can be as much as 20 Celsius cooler under one than on the Sun, but it takes no college degree to realize that shade is better to stay in than the raging sun at 1 PM in the middle of the summer.

Shapes, Sizes and Types

Exterior shades come in all shapes and sizes, they can be manually operated or electric motor driven but every one of them serves one purpose; they keep your rooms cooler and indirectly electric bills lower. During the summer you can stay under them during a quick rain.

Manually operated models need to be retracted when winds get too strong, motorized variations may pull the fabric back if they detect that certain circumstances are not in favor of its longevity.

Not all shades are awnings; you can keep it simple and easy. External shades act like one with the only difference that they are parallel to the window they are on. This solution has its benefits over an awning. These advantages include less time spent on maintenance and a more reasonable space consumption.

The window shades are also available in manually operated and motorized variations that mainly differ in their price and the ease with which they can be operated. The motorized shades are usually advised to be installed in hard to get to windows like large windows that are hanged in the second floor. There is nothing more convenient that an exterior window shade that knows when to go up or down, or one that can be controlled from the comfort of your couch.

Materials

Exterior window shades are usually manufactured using strong fabrics that are weather resistant and durable. The old traditional window protections use wood but with new technologies, the most popular material used to manufacture these shades are vinyl. They are durable, easy to maintain and provides great protection from the sun. Sunscreen panels are also quite popular and shades that have multiple layers of fabric as protection.

Fire rated windows is also one of the protection used for house windows.