Housing in Southern Africa

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Let’s be honest; when the bitter
cold of winter bites, the last
thing on our minds is style.
Once in the privacy and comfort of
our homes, we haul out bulky heat-
ers, mismatched blankets and throws
with little care for the beautiful décor
we have so carefully crafted. How-
ever, home décor doesn’t need to be
martyred for comfort and warmth.
Interior designer and Marketing Di-
rector of American Shutters, Karina
Palmer, advises that bymaking some
clever design choices focused on the
areas of your home that are respon-
sible for most of its heat loss, namely
the doors and windows, a winter-
friendly home can be designed that
looks as hot as it feels!
Palmer says, “Before discussing
the solutions to reduce this heat
loss, here’s the science: heat is lost
through glass windows and doors via
thermal radiation, heat conduction,
convection and air leakage. Uninsu-
lated clear glass windows or doors
absorb the warmth inside your home
and then re-radiate it to the exterior
or allow it to pass through from the
indoors to the outdoors.”
She continues, “Openings owing
to damaged or poorly fittedwindows
Shutter in the warmth
and doors allowwarmair to be lost to
the exterior as a result of air leakage.
Wooden shutters are great thermal
insulators as they provide a barrier
between the outside cold and indoor
warmth.”
Considered permanent fixtures,
shutters add value to your home and
have great design-appeal.
For style, Palmer adds, “There
is simply no other window treat-
ment that matches the beauty of
wooden shutters, whether finished
in neutrals or colours. The wooden
shutters complement most interior
style from classic to contemporary
or traditional.”
When open, the winter sun is able
to shine through uninterrupted to
warm the interior, and when closed,
the shutters trap the warmth from
the day inside and prevent it from
escaping through the glass windows
and doors.
American Shutters’ most popular
and eco-friendly Decowood range is
manufactured from advanced wood
composite or solid timber: Nor-
mandy, White Teak and Selectwood
ranges. “The shutters offer versatility,
privacy, light and ventilation control,
and insulation to any room in the
home,” concludes Palmer. ■
Fanton, based at the Interface
factory in Scherpenzeel in the
Netherlands, spearheads In-
terface’s operations in Africa, the
Middle East, Russia and the CIS, as
well as Northern, Central and Eastern
Europe.
During a visit to South Africa, at
the Johannesburg offices of Kevin
Bates Albert Carpets (KBAC) - the sole
Southern African distributor of Inter-
face carpet tiles - Fanton said that the
company regarded the South African
market as by far the most important
in Africa.
“Interface sees tremendous
growth potential for our modular
flooring products in sub-Saharan
Africa as increased investment from
overseas countries, such as China,
speeds up market development for
many sectors of African industry, in-
cluding the flooring sector. KBAC has
already started supplying Interface
carpet tiles to African countries north
of the equator, such as Ghana, andwe
believe that the KBAC Group will play
a vital role in Interface’s penetration
of the sub-Saharan African market in
future,” he stated.
For further information go to
■
Leader in modular flooring targets SA
Interface, a worldwide leader in the production and design
of modular flooring products, aims to target South Africa as a
springboard for an intensified marketing drive into sub-Saharan
Africa, says Interface Director, Julien Fanton.
Doors, Windows, Floors & Walls
July 2015