Thermal curtains in Emerald.

Homes in the ranges run several degrees colder than the flat, and they stay damp. Bushland shade means a window that never sees direct sun all winter, so the glass sits close to the outside overnight minimum for hours on end. A lot of Emerald houses were built well before any meaningful glazing standard, with single glazing, timber frames that have moved, and reveals that leak air around the edges.

That cold glass drives the convection loop hard. Warm air from the wood heater rises, tracks across the ceiling, hits the window, gives up its heat, falls down the glass as a cold draught across the floor, and pulls more warm air over to replace it. It runs all night, and it is why a room can feel cold at ankle height with a fire still going. A curtain interrupts that loop, but only if it closes off the whole air path: sealed at the top with a pelmet or a close ceiling fix, returned at the sides so the fabric meets the wall, and long enough to reach the floor. Full explanation in the winter thermal curtains guide.

Condensation is the real Emerald complication.

Every Emerald customer should understand this before choosing a lining. When you seal a curtain properly against a cold window you create a small pocket of still air between the fabric and the glass. The glass in that pocket now runs colder, because your heat is being held in the room instead of bleeding through the window. Colder glass plus damp hills air means more condensation on the pane and on the timber reveal, and over a season that is where mould starts.

That is not an argument against thermal linings. It is an argument for choosing them room by room and using them properly. Open the curtains in the morning so the reveal dries out. Keep the heaviest coated linings for the living areas you actively heat rather than putting them on every window. Where a bedroom has a history of mould we often specify a standard or thermal lining rather than a fully coated one and let a little more air move. The lining guide sets out each option and its moisture trade off.

Practical details for hills houses.

• Openings are often out of square, so made to measure matters more here
• Clearances from wood heaters and flues are checked at the measure
• Timber-lined reveals sometimes give a better fixing than the plasterboard above
• Floor-length is important, a curtain stopping at the sill leaves the loop running
• Where a window is above a deep sill or a bench, a pelmet does more than extra length

What Emerald jobs cost.

Lined blockout pinch pleat runs $350 to $900 per window and triple weave blockout $300 to $750. The thermal or coated lining upgrade adds $60 to $180 per window and is usually the best value line item on an Emerald quote. Interlined curtains, which add a soft bump layer for both warmth and quiet, run $600 to $1,400. Pelmets are $180 to $450 fabric-covered and $200 to $600 in timber or MDF, and in an old house with a rod already in place they are frequently the cheapest real improvement available. If you have curtains you like the look of, adding a lining to an existing pair is $150 to $400. Lead time is three to five weeks.

The free in-home measure.

We come up to Emerald with samples, measure each opening including the out of square ones, check what the walls and reveals will actually take as a fixing, look at where your heating is and where the cold spots are, and give you a written quote itemised by room. There is no charge and no obligation. If part of the house genuinely does not need doing, we will say so.