Cheap winter house warmers: Plea for old curtains to help those in need

With an icy winter on the way, a business is trying to help people save money on their power bills by keeping draughts out and warmth in.

Curtains play a significant part in keeping a house warm, with nearly half of its heat being lost through windows.

Altruistic business Sustainability Options covers the entire Bay of Plenty region and carries out free home assessments to improve living conditions, with a special focus on the health of young tamariki (children).

One of the key ways it could help was by providing and installing curtains, but it relied on donations from the public and the need was high, especially in the lead-up to winter.

Last week, Niwa meteorologist Chris Brandolino said the recent burst of cold weather was a precursor for the type of winter New Zealand was likely to have.

The grim outlook highlighted the need for donations, Sustainability Options marketing and communications co-ordinator Teri Dawson said.

“Of the homes we’ve gone into in the last year, there have been over 400 that we’ve identified as needing curtains.

“When you’re looking at where heat escapes in the home, 42 to 45 per cent of heat loss is through the windows — that’s the biggest [factor] by far.

“[Curtains] are such a cheap thing for us to install and they make such a big difference to not only the draught and heat loss but bring power bills down.”

Dawson said its consultations were free and would visit any homes referred to it but low-income and vulnerable households were prioritised.

She said many of these homes didn’t have curtains but if they did, they were not of high-enough quality to retain heat.

Sustainability Options marketing and communications co-ordinator Teri Dawson. Photo / Alex Cairns

An easy test was to put your hand behind the curtain and blow - if your hand can feel the breeze the curtain was “not really doing anything”.

In an ideal world, all curtains would be double-lined, thick and run from the top of the window to the floor.

“So ideally, we want the rails directly up against the frame and as long as possible because the harder it is for the cold air to come under the better,” Dawson said.

“If they [reach] the ground, that’s perfect because it’s really hard for the air to circulate.

“Essentially all that’s happening is [shorter curtains are] creating an air conditioner because heat rises and then the heat slips out the top and then the cold air just comes in the bottom and circulates.

Collecting curtains was difficult, with the business not having enough funding to buy them and people not replacing them often.

Not just any kind would do either, with any that were mouldy, tattered or too thin not accepted but Sustainability Options was able to replace the lining.

There were other ways to help if people were keen to help but had no curtains spare.

“We’ve got a huge shortage at the moment of volunteers making the curtains at the curtain bank and we can only provide curtains as fast as they can be made and as fast as we have stock,” Dawson said.

“Every curtain will be properly cleaned by us and then they get cut to the size of the specific window that they’re going for. Then they will be lined and sent out and then our workers will also hang them right.”

Dawson encouraged anyone with curtains or who wanted to volunteer to get in touch.