Best external venetian blinds

[Bitpipe]

1 minute ago, IanR said:

 

I've got both internal and external blinds.

 

I'm happy the external blinds block out enough light. I only get leaks through the small apertures in the blinds through which the chords run and when the blind is closed the chords (tapes) mostly fill the aperture. But, the blinds need to be lifted in moderate to high winds, so sometimes you need the internal blinds for privacy.

 

I only lifted mine during the recent storm  - have never done that due to high winds in the last 6 years.

[jack]

1 minute ago, Bitpipe said:

I only lifted mine during the recent storm  - have never done that due to high winds in the last 6 years.

 

Same. Ours rattle in high winds (especially if it's gusty), but don't seem to get damaged. In fact, I completely forgot to raise them in the big storm recently and they were fine.

[IanR]

2 minutes ago, Bitpipe said:

 

I only lifted mine during the recent storm  - have never done that due to high winds in the last 6 years.

 

Hunter Douglas stated 36mph max (I think) for the warranty, so I set that up from the start. I must admit, since they are recessed into the cladding they are barely moving before they do get pulled up.

[Mr Blobby]

Thanks all for your replies here. 

 

19 hours ago, jack said:

 There are narrow gaps along the edges, and small apertures in the slats themselves where the control cables pass through. Together, these let in a surprising amount of light when the sun is directly on them.

 

I very much regret not building in concealed curtain/blind recesses in the ceilings adjacent at least the bedroom windows in our place. 

 

I hadn't thought about the sun coming through the cord-run holes so I think the internal roller blinds will remain.  I'm not too fussed about getting black-out levels of light blocking but I can imagine pinholes of light reflecting off the TV screen would drive me bonkers.

 

17 hours ago, Bitpipe said:

I only lifted mine during the recent storm  - have never done that due to high winds in the last 6 years.

 

That's interesting, so high winds are not as harmful as I had thought.  Looks like they'll be down most of the time then... I actually like the aesthaetic of the venetian blinds on the windows.

 

 

[Thorfun]

Just now, Mr Blobby said:

I hadn't thought about the sun coming through the chord-run holes so I think the internal roller blinds will remain.  I'm not too fussed about getting black-out levels of light blocking but I can imagine pinholes of light reflecting off the TV screen would drive me bonkers.

you can get AV slats which blackout the room and are sold as usable for AV presentations. 

[jack]

6 minutes ago, Mr Blobby said:

Looks like they'll be down most of the time then... I actually like the aesthaetic of the venetian blinds on the windows.

 

The ones on the front of our house stay down at all times. The slats just tilt between closed and slightly open. I really like the way they look. 

[Bitpipe]

1 hour ago, jack said:

 

The ones on the front of our house stay down at all times. The slats just tilt between closed and slightly open. I really like the way they look. 

 

Same as ours - saves on cost of curtains also as they give you a lot of privacy even when letting in a lot of light. Always amazed how expensive curtains are!

[Bitpipe]

1 hour ago, Mr Blobby said:

Thanks all for your replies here. 

 

 

I hadn't thought about the sun coming through the cord-run holes so I think the internal roller blinds will remain.  I'm not too fussed about getting black-out levels of light blocking but I can imagine pinholes of light reflecting off the TV screen would drive me bonkers.

 

 

That's interesting, so high winds are not as harmful as I had thought.  Looks like they'll be down most of the time then... I actually like the aesthaetic of the venetian blinds on the windows.

 

 

 

Rollers have gaps between panels too - our cheap tensioned wire and clipped on voile panels work well as the internal backup as they can be moved as the sun does and address glare spots.

[jack]

1 hour ago, Bitpipe said:

Same as ours - saves on cost of curtains also as they give you a lot of privacy even when letting in a lot of light. Always amazed how expensive curtains are!

 

We had curtains priced for the two bedrooms that get the morning sun, and they've been put off into some future in which I win the lottery. It's absolutely eye-watering, especially if you want good quality fabrics. 

[Bitpipe]

20 minutes ago, jack said:

 

We had curtains priced for the two bedrooms that get the morning sun, and they've been put off into some future in which I win the lottery. It's absolutely eye-watering, especially if you want good quality fabrics. 

 

It's the gold bars in the hem to weight them down that does it. Or if you buy from John Lewis, diamonds and rubies.

[puntloos]

I suppose there are a few brands of external shutters that seem somewhat similar:

 

- Aluprof

• Passivhaus rated
• doesn't have shutters from angled windows
• Don't trust their own flyscreens

- Warema

• Passivhaus rated
• No downside yet as far as I can tell, perhaps price

- Roma

• Passivhaus rated
• Very hard to get in UK

Trojan

• Good if you're bigger local alternative?

 

Frankly it's hard for me to figure out which brand is the best on pure quality. None provide metrics on comparable things, e.g. "how much light it lets through", or "thickness/quality of material" or "how often is this tested to go up and down before breaking". 

[craig]

45 minutes ago, puntloos said:

None provide metrics on comparable things, e.g. "how much light it lets through", or "thickness/quality of material" or "how often is this tested to go up and down before breaking". 

I think I have something somewhere “in German” which I’ll need to hunt for.

 

1: The standard slats that @Bitpipe has are good but

2: @Dan F was that customer that pushed you 😂 he had his mind made up, decisions made on what he wanted and had done his research. The CDL slats from Roma are better for blackout. I reckon over 95% but Dan would be best placed to advise.

 

Dan actually taught me a few things about the blinds that you don’t really get taught. You can’t learn unless you speak/read German or ask the question in a way a German speaker understands. Then standard is more than good enough. Certain aspects add costs but some are most definitely worth it, we can supply them with or without the windows. You don’t need to order windows from Gaulhofer to get the blinds. It is much easier though.

Edited December 20, 2022 by craig

[j_s]

Is there any way any of the blinds mentioned can be retrofit and opened/shut manually without an electrical connection? I'm thinking of 4 in total for our main bedroom which has a 1.2m x 2.4m opening but is hard up against the soffit, 2 for our kitchen and 1 for our large landing window. The kitchen ones are to replace integral glazing blinds as the the existing aluminium windows are very poor performing frames but with the replacement windows, they won't do triple glazed integral blinds, only double glazed, even though other manufacturers seem to make them. 

 

I'm going to assume my requirement is either not possible or extremely cost prohibitive but I thought I would ask. I did come across Skirpus in Lithuania as another option.

[craig]

1 hour ago, j_s said:

Is there any way any of the blinds mentioned can be retrofit and opened/shut manually without an electrical connection? I'm thinking of 4 in total for our main bedroom which has a 1.2m x 2.4m opening but is hard up against the soffit,

 

Potentially yes, it would need to be checked. How likely is it? Really depends but being right up against the soffit means that you could lose part of the glazing view as there is no space above to fit the box and the box would sit in front of the glass as a result. It's not a nice look when this happens.

[j_s]

Good point @craig

Is there a way of knowing a rough size that might be needed for the section at the top based upon a window opening of 1200mm ?

Edited December 21, 2022 by j_s

[craig]

10 minutes ago, j_s said:

Good point @craig

Is there a way of knowing a rough size that might be needed for the section at the top based upon a window opening of 1200mm ?

 

For Roma, you're looking at the following.

 

Ignore the addons of 100mm and 50mm, not required but it means we need a minimum of 150mm space above the window, the box size is height 200mm but sits over the frame of the window by 50mm and the depth required is 142mm (so you can clad or render over the front of the box. 

[j_s]

Ok thanks @craig
I suspect I'll end up paying a fortune in building an aesthetically pleasing frame for it all as well as the price of the blind itself. I'll have to have a think about it. Is there a way to supply at least a rough price for an opening of 1200mm x 2400mm ? 

[Mr Blobby]

1 hour ago, craig said:

 

For Roma, you're looking at the following.

 

Ignore the addons of 100mm and 50mm, not required but it means we need a minimum of 150mm space above the window, the box size is height 200mm but sits over the frame of the window by 50mm and the depth required is 142mm (so you can clad or render over the front of the box. 

 

As the blind box is attached to the window frame, then would it be ok to install the required DPM cavity tray to exit above the blind box?  Is that what is typically done?

 

[craig]

Yes it can be, cavities are generally not a European detail. So the answer is it's not typically done. It's a design solution detail that would be discussed and agreed upon on a per-job basis with the client and architect.