Sunday 27 January 2008

WINDOWS

Why don't we have shutters on windows?

2 comments:

just Gai said...

I love shutters - brightly painted with cut-out hearts. There's something incredibly joyous in throwing open the shutters and letting in the fresh air in the morning.

But our windows aren't designed for shutters, are they?

Susan Harwood said...

Gareth . . .

I lived in Switzerland for a while and had just those kind of shutters - cut-out hearts and all.

But the trouble with those is that they are on the outside - so you have to open the window to get at them and that lets the heat out. (You also need sash windows or casements that open inwards.)

No, I was meaning the less flamboyant, old fashioned British shutters that are on the inside. When not in use, they fold back, concertina-wise, against the wall on either side of the sill.

(Sometimes, there's even a space for them to fold into, within the wall cavity.)

I don't see why they couldn't be fitted for use with ready existing windows . . . but wouldn't it also make sense to fit them as 'standard' when new houses are built?

Susan