Room Darkening of Day/Night Shades?

GaryB

Well-known member
With my Big Horn 3055RL on order, I wanted to ask how well the standard day/night shades block out the daylight (while in "night" setting). We're not early risers (as evidenced by the fact I'm typing this post at 12:40am local time!). So a very bright room in early morning may be distracting. Worse come to worse, I guess I could always tape up some black plastic sheeting as a temporary solution.

Thanks!
Gary
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
The factory shades leave a bit to be desired as far as darkening a room. Other brands I have seen are about the same, still leaving enough light to be annoying. The first thing my wife did was to replace the window treatments with a material that covers the entire window opening. She used a cotton material that helps block light. I added a sliding panel to the shower skylight. Since this picture, I have changed the plywood to a white foam board available at craft centers. It slides in 1/4" aluminum channels held in place with double sided foam tape. Last but not least, close the stool room and sliding doors. Now we have dark!
 

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soilmovers

Well-known member
The factory shades leave a bit to be desired as far as darkening a room. Other brands I have seen are about the same, still leaving enough light to be annoying. The first thing my wife did was to replace the window treatments with a material that covers the entire window opening. She used a cotton material that helps block light. I added a sliding panel to the shower skylight. Since this picture, I have changed the plywood to a white foam board available at craft centers. It slides in 1/4" aluminum channels held in place with double sided foam tape. Last but not least, close the stool room and sliding doors. Now we have dark!

Hey, great ideas, Ray. Where did you get the aluminum channel?

thanks, Cindy
 

fivernine

Active Member
The day/night shades do leave a bit to be desired. In my Landmark, they are more like day/late-afternoon shades. The night shade is much more translucent than a brown paper bag. The bedroom takes on a sepia tone in the morning. The night shades in my previous camper were totally opaque so I thought all shades were that way. I have found some shade companies that have a truly opaque liner that can be applied, but have not contacted them yet to see if it can be applied to my existing shade or if I need to buy new ones for the bedroom. The rest of the camper doesn't make much difference, but we want the bedroom really dark. I will post my findings on the shades in a new post as soon as I can get some answers.
 

Oldlthrnecksgirl

Hisyoungercuterwife
DH works nights so we sleep during the day. I covered all the windows with black poster board, close the bathroom sliding door and open up the other bathroom door. It's not bad.

ps, you can't see it from the inside or outside,,, Lizzy
 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member
We are early risers so the shades are not much of an issue, however, we are tired of messing with the large shade(s) on the rear window!
The rest of the units work fine, the rear unit is just too large for the retracting system installed.
We are not sure if we are going to a blind system of some sort or a retractable shade.
 

pickuphunt

Active Member
Night shade

We too like it to be dark. I found material like the "silver - quilt looking" item that is popular for window shades in autos. It came in a large roll, big enough that I could cut pieces to fit any of the windows in the bedroom. I carefully cut the corners to be rounded matching the curve of the window. They are installed in all windows in the bedroom. Also I cut a piece for the skylight over the shower. The one in the shower I had to use duct tape (white duct tape) to hold it in place. Note: We use the shower facilities here at our RV park, so moisture in the shower area isn't a problem. Oh yes, I got the material at an RV store. They had to the upstairs to find it. WFM (works for me)
 

GaryB

Well-known member
Thanks for the replies! The last post made me stop and think, since I ordered the 3055RL which has the shower in the bedroom area. So I'm assuming the shower vent will let in alot of light (even if we cover the windows). Since we plan to use our shower, so we cannot block the vent. How have people who use their shower blocked off light coming thru the shower? I'm assuming by adding some type of vent cover, which unfortunately will probably increase the height of the trailer.

Gary
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
We are early risers so the shades are not much of an issue, however, we are tired of messing with the large shade(s) on the rear window!
The rest of the units work fine, the rear unit is just too large for the retracting system installed.
We are not sure if we are going to a blind system of some sort or a retractable shade.
Wow! Thats strange! That one works best on ours. We have some others that are a real PITA. Very hard to open especially when you have to lean over the table or something else. A friend of ours bought SOB and their shades all go up and down with just your finger so I know there is better ones out there. Think it would cost a small fortune to trade them out though.
 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member
Bill, I only want to change out the large window, $100 to do a nice mini blind from 3 day or similar. Will keep out more light also............
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Hey, great ideas, Ray. Where did you get the aluminum channel?

thanks, Cindy
To be honest Cindy, I don't remember. It was one of the home centers or Ace. It was a 4ft piece and I cut it in half. We just leave the foam board in place all the time. There is still enough clearance for a 6 ft. tall person in the shower. The white foam board is 3/16 thick and came from Joanne Fabrics. It looks much nicer than the plywood.
 

GaryB

Well-known member
Night Shades

We didn't cover the vent , but we did cover the skylight.

Thanks! When you said that moisture wasn't a problem since you use CG shower facilities, I thought you meant you had blocked the vent also and thus couldn't use the shower. In my case, I'll need to look for some temporary attachment method so we can easily remove the material when taking a shower.

Thanks!
Gary
 

fivernine

Active Member
I don't need to cover the skylight on my Landmark Cape Cod because the bathroom is separate, but on my previous Jayco Designer I got Lowes to custom cut a regular window shade to about one inch wider than the skylight on each side. I removed all but about 18 inches of the shade and mounted it to the ceiling. I cut the plastic stiffener that goes through the pull end of the shade to two inches longer than the shade width (left an inch sticking out each side) and put two inexpensive brass cup hooks in the ceiling on the opposite side of the skylight. At night, I pulled the shade across the skylight and used the two hooks to hold the stiffener rod. By letting the spring tension of the rewind pull back on the shade, it stayed flat against the ceiling and did a great job of blocking out light. The shower faced into the bedroom, but hardly any light came through. I was concerned how it might hold up being repeatedly subjected to moisture as we always shower in the camper, but in five years it never showed any problems. The shade was vinyl plastic and unaffected by moisture and enough of it remained rolled over the cardboard tube rewind tube to protect it.
 

GaryB

Well-known member
Gary;

Go up to post #2 in this thread. Ray explained it and posted pictures.

Oops! I saw Ray's post the other day about how he covered the skylight, but then forgot about it. Sorry Ray! I seem to have "CRS" disease lately.

Gary
 

GaryB

Well-known member
Does anybody know the name of the company who makes the day/night shades in the Big Horn? I'd like to call them up and ask if I could just get blackout shades to begin with.

Thanks!
Gary
 

cmart

Well-known member
Shades are not an issue, I just pull the covers up higher. That also makes DW happier, since she don't have to look at me.
 
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