Knowledge
Conservatory Roof Blinds can be made in several types of material. We only supply pleated roof blinds as these are simple to operate and very effective. There are no motors involved hence you do not have the additional expense - we feel the less moving parts there are the less there is to go wrong. Plus the fact (although other companies won’t tell you this) in practice people with roof blinds only operate them 2 or 3 times a year, ask yourself if that is worth doubling the price for!
Obviously with ‘clip in’ blinds there are no holes to be drilled (check with conservatory manufacturer about the warrantee situation) also because the blinds clip in there is no tension straining on your conservatory roof. High tension is required to keep conventional pleated blinds from sagging. Tension also makes the blinds more difficult to open and close.
Perfect Fit conservatory roof blinds are built around a 20mm pleated blind. There is 25mm pleated on the market but it is very ‘old hat’ and virtually extinct. Needless to say we only supply 20mm pleated in a Perfect Fit configuration. The blind itself is mounted in a frame (available in white or brown, to suit your conservatory), which clips into each roof windowpane. Obviously by looking at our picture gallery you will appreciate that it is vital that the frame is measured very accurately.
Regarding the blind material itself we need to bear in mind that people need blinds for the following reasons:
- Privacy - “...it’s like a goldfish bowl in here”!
- To keep heat in - “...we don’t use it in winter, it’s too cold”
- To keep heat out - “...we can’t use it in summer, it’s too hot”
- Glare - “...I can’t see the TV because it’s too bright in here”
- Decoration - “...and the blinds look great don’t they”?
Now, there are 2 major suppliers of clip blinds in the UK. But only one (Louvolite of Manchester) can make shaped roof blinds, hence this is the one we use. They supply products that keep heat in (in winter) and out (in summer) whilst also cutting down glare (SPC and SPF). There are also ‘black out’ fabrics which cut all the light out and have the same thermal properties as the other fabrics (ESP). For 95% of installations the non black out version is preferred as it can solve most of the scenarios above. However there are customers who like to have another ‘ceiling’ in the conservatory and the black out solves that problem.
So the materials we use are all of the SPC, SPF or ESP type. Any fabrics you may come across, in your research, which do not have these letters on them will probably not do the job properly and that is why we don’t supply them. The other reason is that we can get these more expensive ‘coated’ materials at the same cost as the conventional fabrics.
So just for the record…
- SPC = Solar Protective Coating - reflects and filters daylight more efficiently than a conventional fabric.
- SPF = Solar Pearlised Finish - material has light and heat reflecting properties.
- ESP = Energy and Solar Protection - superior performance black out blind.
