DK Hardware helps you beat the heat

For those of you who have never visited DK headquarters, we’re located in Hallandale Beach, Florida (between Miami and Fort Lauderdale). Every summer, we tolerate continuous, brutal heat for months and months.

Fortunately, our product catalog offers several incredibly useful items to help keep the heat outside, where it belongs. Every summer, we sell a LOT of the products featured below -- which, when properly installed, pay for themselves many times over.

Keep the heat out

Sun-blocking solar screens for home and office

Did you know? CR Laurence Solar Guard Screen Wire blocks up to 70% of the sun's heat, cooling homes and offices and offering HUGE savings in electrical bills. Standard screens prevent 20% of sunlight from heating homes.

We'll do the math for you: after Solar Guard installation, your window blocks 75% of the sun’s heat!

Calculating the annual cost savings varies wildly based on local electricity prices, climate, and so on. Here in South Florida, electricity costs about $0.11 per kWh. Based on the admittedly small sample size of George Tucker (DK marketing manager)'s experience before and after installing Solar Guard screens on his Fort Lauderdale home, the savings really add up:

Monthly electricity bill:

Before Solar Guard: $162/mo.

After Solar Guard: $106/mo.

Monthly savings: $56

Annual savings: $672

If you'd like to approximate monthly saving safter installing Solar Guard in your home, or to make a compelling value proposition to local businesses, All Systems Mechanical has a comprehensive guide to estimating air conditioner electricity consumption.

DK Hardware stocks Solar Guard screens in gray, charcoal, and bronze colors. Widths of 24", 36", 48", and 60" virtually guarantee easy installation. All sizes and colors available in 100' rolls.

CR Laurence also offers a slightly more expensive, tougher, and more effective product: Even-Weave Solar Screen blocks 80% of the sun's heat. The polyester-coated wires are tough enough to be pet-resistant (unless you have, say, a wolverine). Rolls are 100' long and available in 36", 48", and 60" widths in black, brown, or stucco colors.

We *strongly recommend* installing either types of screen with CR Laurence's WSFS34-style standoff screen frames, which separate the screen from window glass sufficiently to allow absorbed heat to dissipate (otherwise, performance and energy savings won't meet the estimates outlined above). Available in bronze, white, and aluminum finishes.

CR Laurence's line of solar-blocking window films offers a less costly way for businesses and homeowners to beat the heat.

Heat-defeating window films

Dot matrix window films are reusable, adhesive-free -- adhering via static electricity (or maybe magic...?), and block 75% of the sun's heat. Although we prefer and recommend the Solar Guard and Even-Weave products, easy application and affordable pricing make these window films a lot more popular among handy homeowners and DIY home improvement enthusiasts. Available in a variety of standard sizes as well as rolls for commercial installation.

In addition to beating the heat, CR Laurence produces a number of strictly decorative films. Get the look of clear frost, flowing water, or sand-blasted glass simply and easily. Browse the entire line of decorative and solar-reduction window films.

Keep the cool in

Blocking the sun’s heat is great, but it can be just as effective to reduce air leaks that allow your blessedly cool air to escape. The US Department of Energy has a good overview on detecting air leaks.

Caulk and seal air leaks

After you've identified locations bleeding your sweet, cool air into the outside world, it's fairly easy to seal leaks with caulk. The DoE estimates this is a 1-2 hour project that will save the average homeowner 5%-10% on their electrical bills. DK Hardware stocks every type of caulk and sealant you can imagine -- so it’s easy to find exactly what you need.

Defeating drafty doors

Don't neglect exterior doors -- weatherstripping is inexpensive, easily installed, and helps keep the outside out and the inside in. DK Hardware offers a variety of weatherstripping for both commercial and home use.

Ditch the tiny, stealthy little heaters

Finally, there's a small, easy upgrade that's virtually universal in commercial buildings, but many homeowners have been slower to implement: energy-efficient lighting. Old-fashioned, Thomas Edison-style incandescent light bulbs waste 90% of the electricity they consume, radiating it as heat. Which is awesome if you're trying to hatch chicken eggs or cooking in your Easy Bake Oven. Suboptimal, though, when the outside temperature creeps into the triple digits.

Compact fluorescent light bulbs save, on average, about $15 each per year vs. incandescent bulbs. And that doesn't include the additional savings in air conditioning expenditure to counteract all the heat generated by inefficient light bulbs. CFLs initially got a bad name due to their high-wavelength, blue-white light. Now they're available in a variety of colors (we prefer sunlight-spectrum bulbs).

Stay cool this summer

As you can see, homeowners can save big on summertime electrical bills with a few easy and inexpensive projects.

Depending on your location, business owners can turn “summerization” into an entire new product offering:

• Offer a free assessment of the structure’s air leaks
• Calculate potential savings based on upgrades to screens and weatherstripping, as well as a proper sealing job
• Close the sale

We’ve seen dozens of South Florida businesses do very well with this sort of seasonal service…

Whether you’re a homeowner or an entrepreneur (or both!), we hope these ideas will help you stay frosty no matter the outside temperature.