Has anyone here found that using thermal or heavy drapes has helped cut A/C costs in the summer?

Question

Would you recommend that as a way to save energy costs, and to keep a newer mobile home from overheating during hot Southern summers? I thought it might help, since all I have now is the blinds that came with the rental place, and the blinds are white.

Answer 1

Yes, the more sunlight you keep from entering through the windows, the less heat will be entering into the house.  Open up the blinds when the sun goes down to get some air flow back into the room.

Answer 2

Absolutely!  (Louisiana native)

I just realized you said it was a rental.  You may not want to install curtain rods there.  There is a great catalog, "Country Curtains", which offers a great selection of thermal curtains, by the way, which has a novel sort of hanger for rods.  The hanger is a diagonally half-squared metal cover for the edge of the upper window sill.  There is a clip on its face from which the rods can be hung.  When you move, if you want to take your curtains with you, you can easily remove the rods and the metal hangers as well, with no damage at all to the walls of the trailer.