Lightproofing shed windows subtley and cheaply?

[MidgeSmith]

Hi, I am in the process of insulating the shed in which my tent will be. After that I need to work out the best way to make the 3-in-a-row windows lightproof, so that when I open my tent, the overlooking neighbours won't be treated to a suspicious flood of bright light.

 

Ideally, the solution won't look too weird and attract questions from visitors to our garden, or the last few friends who might even want to peek inside.  Theres obfuscating materials inside, so the tent is kind of well hidden, but what to do about the windows?

I suppose my best case scenario is mould proof, pencil-pleat, blackout curtains, pinned on the tent end. With a 2.2M length and 1M drop though, I'd probably have to make them myself - which I have no experience in and would probably make a dogs dinner of - or pay a fair bit for a custom made set.

 

I could make a set of box shutters, but that'd be difficult, complicated or expensive.

Roller blinds would allow too much spill around the edges.

 

Any good ideas to help with my pauper build?

Cheers!

 

Midge

Edited November 29, 2021 by MidgeSmith

[Shumroom]

I dunno if something like a window tinting film might be part of the solution¿? 

 

Atb 

 

 

 

[MidgeSmith]

I wondered myself if that might be a good move, however I also might use the shed for bringing on seedlings.

 

Your comment inspired another idea though.  I wonder if I could simply knock up some black / painted material mounted in frames I can insert into the window frames when I want them blacked out?  From the outside it'd just look like the shed was dark inside.  I could always make up an excuse for wanting the light blocked from the inside of the shed if people wondered why the windows were blocked out. I could use tinted film or one way film on them instead of blacked out, if it blocked enough light to look like normal lighting inside the shed when the tent is open.

 

Thanks Shumroom

[B0bbyBuds]

You could board them up. For winter say the glass was rattling in the wind and didn’t want it to smash. For summer say it gets too hot inside to even go inside so keep the windows covered. 

[MidgeSmith]

Just now, B0bbyBuds said:

You could board them up. For winter say the glass was rattling in the wind and didn’t want it to smash. For summer say it gets too hot inside to even go inside so keep the windows covered. 

Yeah, you are right.  It's essentially the same as  I was saying above.  If I did it from the inside, I could paint the externally visible part of the board black to lower the chance of the conversation coming up.   It's pretty hard to see into the shed from outside anyway as the windows are above head height from outside.

Thanks BObbyBuds!

One of the reasons I love this place is it is a practicality-braintrust

[OldFord]

I used the greenhouse white out stuff and then overlaid this with black card -  obviously from the inside of the windows.   Worked wonders, not a trace of light and very cheap.   Totally reversible in seconds.    Just looks like your cleaning the windows  

[MidgeSmith]

Not a bad idea, thanks OldFord

[Cajafiesta]

Paint a piece of plywood or cardboard black. Nail/screw/fasten it to the inside of the window trim. Use adhesive foam insulation tape (for ducting or similar) to seal up the gap between the cardboard/plywood and the window trim.   Wouldn’t be hard to screw a couple of pieces of wood to the window trim and then “rotate” them into place as retainers to hold on to the back side (inside side) of the painted material. That may be a better option that directly screwing the block off plate to the window case/trim if you need it to be removable. You could even mess with colors, add some white to jet black so it goes dark grey that way it doesn’t look like an unnatural black abyss inside the building from an outside perspective. If you want to remove it, just spin the retainers you made 90 degree and pull the block off plate out of the window casing. 
 

 

just a thought.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Cajafiesta

[MidgeSmith]

Yeah, that's kind of where I am headed @Cajafiesta thanks.  I am thinking painted wood would be a good durable option. I will have them blocked off most of the time, so it'd make sense to use something that won't rot with moisture, cheers! I think I will try to get hold of some cheap marine ply...

[Cajafiesta]

Marine plywood is typically Birch here in the states. It’s expensive as shit. I would think you’d be fine with regular, cheap 1/4” (6.5ish mm) cheap plywood. You shouldn’t have rotting issues unless there’s a roof leak etc. even then, it’s likely take years to rot unless it’s saturated with water constantly. 
 

Best of luck!

Edited November 29, 2021 by Cajafiesta
Eye kant Spel

[MidgeSmith]

Yeah, I just looked at prices   I used to have a huge sheet, but I have used it up over the years. I'll just get some regular and seal it with paint etc!

Cheers.

[badbillybob]

get yourself some ordinate strand board,  (OSB) it does the same job, its weatherproof, and most importantly much cheaper than ply

[Military Grade]

Tarpaulin? It also looks gardenie so might attract less attention.

[MidgeSmith]

46 minutes ago, badbillybob said:

get yourself some ordinate strand board,  (OSB) it does the same job, its weatherproof, and most importantly much cheaper than ply

 

It's a good suggestion, but almost twice the price of the plywood I can get, so on this occasion, the ply wins   Thanks @badbillybob

I have a tarp covering my growtent behind some stored goods, so I think I'll go with the wood panels for now, but thanks very much for the suggestion @Military Grade

 

Midge

[Lux_Interior]

Board them up if questioned say "It's for security, someone tried to break into my shed".