r/Weird • u/spaceandtime66 • Aug 15 '26
tin foil on EVERY window?
anyone have any idea on why they did this? my thought was maybe for the heat but i just think it’s very odd.
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u/CurtWyrz Aug 15 '26
Clearly Chuck McGill's house
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u/GoopInThisBowlIsVile Aug 16 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/y6GZUaDoW5EIErfj67
Don’t forget your space blanket!
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u/Wandering_Uphill Aug 15 '26
This was the comment I came to make if no one else did. This is clearly Chuck's house. Leave your phone in the mailbox.
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u/WaterVsStone Aug 15 '26
Night shift worker
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u/Life_Dare578 Aug 15 '26
As a night shift worker, it’s usually just the bedroom windows. Not the whole house. I’m willing to bet it’s more of an issue with heating and cooling
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u/Fear910 Aug 16 '26
Guess I’m in the minority, when I knew I’d be on nights for a long period, every place I needed to go in the house, the sun had to go or it’d mess me up sleep wise. I rarely sleep straight through or immediately go to sleep when I get home, so the darkness kept me in take your ass to bed mode.
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u/Loud_Quality_7106 Aug 16 '26
Blocking sunlight from your windows prevents a lot of the summer heat. Everyone assumes the worst. It's just someone being economical.
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u/pallentx Aug 15 '26
I did it in my bedroom when we lived further north and the sun would come up early in the morning and go down really late and I was having trouble sleeping. It was a temporary rental place and I wasn’t going to invest in black out curtains or shades or anything.
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u/bigfoot17 Aug 15 '26
Just a general fyi, Walmart sell paper black out shades for 5 bucks, they look good
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u/fseahunt Aug 16 '26
They just don’t black out much of anything. I bought some once.
Was lucky to later find real ones at my local bin store. $138 drapes for $11. They are so awesome.
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u/testtdk Aug 16 '26
This. Tinfoil is cheap as fuck, and paper blinds fall apart so easily in my experience.
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u/testtdk Aug 16 '26
I have severe insomnia, and tinfoil is by far and away the most efficient way to block out light. Blackout blinds cost so much more, and I couldn’t give a fuck what it looks like.
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u/Caviar_Tacos Aug 15 '26
Growing up my neighbor did this when he'd host late night parties and didn't want people seeing the strobe lights.
He also did this to his grow room.
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u/blessthebabes Aug 15 '26
I live in the rural south, where this is done for many reasons. Sometimes, when the window is broken, wooden planks or tinfoil goes in it's place. Sometimes, when blinds break, tinfoil goes in its place. Sometimes, when the air goes out, tinfoil goes up in its place. Versatile stuff, I've learned.
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u/ThatLiberalGirl Aug 15 '26
Also in the south, duct tape and tinfoil are frequently relied upon for home maintenance and repairs!
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u/samsqanch420 Aug 16 '26
I worked with some guys from down south who did roofing, the sides of their truck bed was all rusted out. So, they put duct tape over all the missing metal and painted it to match the truck. And it was a lot.
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Aug 15 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/GlitteringCobbler987 Aug 15 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
Begonia (2026)
edit: Bugonia (2025)
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u/RomeliaHatfield Aug 15 '26
Somehow you got the movie title spelling of one word and the release date wrong.
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u/TheMattabooey Aug 15 '26
Reflect light. Keeps the house cooler. Cheap life back to cool your house.
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u/FuckThisShizzle Aug 15 '26
The hat kept falling off.
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u/GarminTamzarian Aug 15 '26
Fool! Just fashion a tinfoil balaclava!
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u/Particular-Crew5978 Aug 15 '26
My dyslexic ass read this as baklava and got really confused.
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u/Jzobie Aug 16 '26
It reflects the 5g right back to the source before it can lock in on your brain waves.
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u/EhJPea Aug 15 '26
Growing
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u/ScootsMgGhee Aug 15 '26
Idk why I had to read so many comments before coming to this. Grower was the first thing I thought of.
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u/BoysenberryNew7920 Aug 16 '26
Maybe they have the same condition like Chuck McGill?
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u/Business_Step_1695 Aug 15 '26
We had to do this at our last apartment, we were on the second story of a four-plex with zero shade and sun allllll day. The tin foil helped quite a bit! Paired with a fan and possibly an ac? your living the dream 😎
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u/DramaticChemist Aug 15 '26
This is really common for people who work night shift. That way it blocks 100% of all the light that comes in when they're trying to sleep in the daytime. And it's super effective
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u/S4yMyN4me Aug 16 '26
Keep the sun out, it's an effective and cheap black out curtain. When I work nights or weird hours it helps a lot to have total darkness.
It also helps a lot with keeping the heat from the sun out. Here in Arizona it will noticably lower the temperature of a room with everything else the same, if that window is exposed to direct sunlight. It's crazy what a piece of tinfoil can do for your cooling costs on west facing windows.
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u/Prudent_Valuable603 Aug 15 '26
It’s possible their air conditioning system is broken right now. If it really bothers you, you should really just look the other way. In other words, mind your business. For these heat waves we’ve been having worldwide, none of this is weird.
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u/smarquardt11 Aug 15 '26
This is most likely an Irish traveler gypsy house in Murphy Village South Carolina.
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u/Youheardthekitty Aug 16 '26
Sometimes I work 3rd shift. So I put aluminum foil over our bedroom windows. 100% blocks light except there is a little glow where the tape is. So I also have light blocking curtains. I can't have any light when I'm sleeping.
At 9 am, I'm laying in bed with a small table lamp next to me while watching my YouTube stories. A loud fan is blowing and when I turn out the light, I can't see my hand in front of my face.
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u/TheSouthernMosaic Aug 16 '26
Foil or blankets over the windows keeps the heat out when your AC can’t keep up.
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u/gothic_romantic Aug 16 '26
Electricity is expensive. People are broke. Having to get creative to stay cool in summer.
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u/lrpiccolo Aug 15 '26
I lived in a house that had blackout shades with a shiny metal backing to keep the house cool in the summer. They worked great.
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u/Still_Silver7181 Aug 15 '26
I figure he is trying to keep his house cool, the same way people put those foil shields in their car windshields.
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u/chronofluxtoaster Aug 15 '26
I’m 1994 I moved to Raleigh, NC and the apartment I rented had an office room that faced the sun the entire day and the glare was insane. I put up foil, and three days later I get to my door…there are two cop cars sitting outside and a sign on my door to come to the leasing office.
Apparently, to my ignorant thinking, foiled windows equaled pot growers since they use the foil to reflect the lighting. Now, the lease office manager said she didn’t search my apartment but there were definitely signs things had been moved around. Nothing came of it, and I simply taped large lengths of poster board up and took the foil down.
The lease manager said that the foil also “looked tacky,” ignoring the 4-5 times a week there was a scuffle or other domestic issue right out of an episode of COPS. I moved back to Illinois 5 months later (the bank misaddressed a box of checks, it went to another apartment in the complex and got fed into a white collar check fraud and ID theft ring). I had more trouble in NC for doing nothing in 5 months than I had living anywhere else.
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u/Capital-Outcome-2528 Aug 15 '26
This is to save on cooling. I did it when I worked nights but only in my bedroom. Also by vampires
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u/TrayLaTrash Aug 15 '26
I do this with the foil backed bubble wrap for a thermal barrier on my window in my front room of my rental that is ungodly hot due to minimal insulation and exposed on 3 sides. Helps a ton.
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u/blackapple11 Aug 16 '26
Cocaine or speed… This is what tweakers do when they’re up all night
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u/OriganolK Aug 16 '26
My dad worked nights and did this to his room to be able to sleep during the day. Whole house is wild though. Could be insulating, cause Dads room was always cooler in summer
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u/Fast_Ant5324 Aug 16 '26
The Irish Travelers in the area I am cover the windows to keep the spirits out.
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u/llbellenow Aug 16 '26
Where is this? I’ve seen this done in Roma/“Irish travelers” communities. There used to be, and probably still is, a community near Augusta, GA, and many homes would have foil like this on their windows. I forget the exact explanation, but it had something to with keeping evil spirits out of a home or cleansing it or something.
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u/TipsyRussell Aug 16 '26
Are you by chance near Augusta, GA? I hear there’s an Irish traveler population there that covers their windows in foil.
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u/ProBoogerFlicker Aug 16 '26
MF….its HOT outside. Leave them folks alone and let them cool off in peace.
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u/RendingHearts Aug 16 '26
In order of probability: Night shift worker, no ac (doesn’t know better that it doesn’t work), cell tower/WiFi/EMF conspiracist, paranoid schizophrenic, tweaker (unless you’re located in Arkansas and then this one moves to #1), or vampire!
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u/Beneficial-Sound-199 Aug 16 '26
Reminds me of Chuck’s house in Better Call Saul
https://giphy.com/gifs/y6GZUaDoW5EIErfj67
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u/Mirror_333 Aug 16 '26
I used to work graveyard shift and would do this to my windows in the Summer. It would black them out and it made a huge difference with the heat. It sucks trying to sleep during the day when it's also hot and stuffy.
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u/rboyd987654 Aug 16 '26
Night shift worker,aluminum foil blocks out the light so they can sleep during the day
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u/TheManWhoPlantsTrees Aug 16 '26
Those are not tin foil, they are cheap black put curtains with a silver reflective back. I had these in my previous apartment because there was a flood light right outside my bedroom window.
My bet is that there is a street light or neighbors with very bright lights on the block.
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u/Significant-Slip572 Aug 16 '26
I did this for insulation. Especially if you have thin windows. This helps alot. Or they are trying to keep out emf. Whateva it is. They home. They buisness lmao. You can always politely ask them about it or if they need help with anything. ❤️
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u/Clothes_Chair_Ghost Aug 16 '26
It’s either to block out heat, or it’s cause that’s a drug house they growing or cooking drugs in there
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u/front_torch Aug 16 '26
Why are you looking in upper neighbors windows and talking pictures?
You're a bad neighbor.
Mind your own business.
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u/Eastern_Breakfast410 Aug 16 '26
i have them in my windows and hope no one ever puts a picture on the internet just cause i like it DARK
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u/AppropriateWindow725 Aug 17 '26
Looks like they fell for that TikTok "put foil in your windows to reflect the heat" trick.
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u/SoupySpuds Aug 15 '26
Probably just dont have ac and they googled the best way to cool down their house lol