Review on Light Grey Linen-Look 96-Inch Thermal Curtains: Perfect For 100% Blackout Patio Doors And Sliding Glass Doors by Thunder Ballman

After carefully combing through reviews here prior to ordering, I almost can't believe how awful these turned out to be.For starters, they fail completely at their single most important task: blocking light. The artificially-distressed pattern on the front of these curtains appears to have been made with some sort of sharp corrugating/scoring instrument, and as a result the liner on the back is inundated with dimpled holes behind each of the "scratches" in the front pattern - all of which allow streaks of light to shine completely through.Let's talk more about that "liner," which is actually not a liner at all. It's an extremely-thin single layer of cheap, vinyl/latex-like paint (PVA primer is my guess). It might block a tiny bit of heat and a fair amount of light due to its white color - but only if it were intact and only if it were durable. neither of which are the case with these. I lightly scratched at a corner of this paint with a (dull, trimmed) fingernail upon receipt, and a large swath instantly scraped away. You can tell that the manufacturer cut every possible cost here; even cheapo paint would have probably done the trick if 1) more than a single minimal layer were applied, and 2) if they had opted for a water-safe formula. more on that below.Okay - so, straight out of the box, we have extremely pricey "washable" "blackout" curtains with a "liner" that only block SOME light (except for big, obnoxious bright streaks all over each panel), and we know that the "liner" on the back (which is the only thing blocking any of that light at all) will definitely rub itself off quickly with normal use - if it doesn't come off in a light breeze long before then. After all that, was it even possible that they could be "washable?" I had a strong suspicion that the included care instructions—which explicitly state that these are machine washable in cold water, gentle cycle—were total BS at this point, so I thought I'd put it to the test. What's the worst that could happen? A little paint in my dryer screen?. well, I never even made it to the dryer. Just washing these was a huge mistake.The ENTIRE curtain—front fabric side and rear painted side—disintegrated in a cold water gentle wash cycle. All that remained were scraggy tangles of fabric strands wrapped around the agitator along with big clumps of flaky paint. I took great care not to wrap them around the agitator when loading, by the way, and I have a LOT of very delicate clothing and blankets that would fall apart in a normal cycle but do perfectly fine in my washer on gentle - so I can confidently say that this was definitely not user-error, and absolutely would have happened the same way in any washing machine out there.I'm going to be cleaning that garbage out of my basin and filters for weeks.HARD PASS on these! Such a huge disappointment. (Curtain shopping online has become a nightmare lately).As far as alternatives go, out of the dozen or so brands I've now tried, I can only recommend Carson or Deconovo blackouts. Carson blackouts (the least expensive option I've found) have a liner that is similar to these but not nearly as bad (have survived several washes so far and still block light completely), but they seem to be out of stock of everything lately (though check your local Home Depot, they carry the brand - and if you happen to also need semi-sheers, look at the Home Decorators Collection brand while you're there, as those are exceptional value:cost). While Deconovo blackouts only block about 95% of light on their own, they are thick, very well made and block heat and sound very well - and when paired with another halfway-decent blackout curtain or liner behind them, they do block light completely.