external blinds

[lizzie]

Has anyone installed external blinds. I have huge solar gain issues and need shading pdq. I was considering awnings but have seen external roller blinds on the internet and they look very good.

 

Be interested in any feedback and recommended suppliers

[vivienz]

Watching with interest.

[MikeGrahamT21]

I too have a similar issue, a whopper of a west facer, which heats the highly insulated room up no end.

 

I was going to try some solar control film which is suitable for external use as a first port of call, its pretty cheap too.

[lizzie]

3 minutes ago, MikeGrahamT21 said:

I too have a similar issue, a whopper of a west facer, which heats the highly insulated room up no end.

 

I was going to try some solar control film which is suitable for external use as a first port of call, its pretty cheap too.

I looked at solar film and I was concerned by one thing I found on a website saying that the window may heat up even more outside and it could pop the seals and invalidate the warranty.  

[MikeGrahamT21]

that would only be applicable if the film was put on the inside of the unit, if its on the outside face, it stops the heat coming in, but still allows it out.

[Gone West]

17 hours ago, lizzie said:

I looked at solar film and I was concerned by one thing I found on a website saying that the window may heat up even more outside and it could pop the seals and invalidate the warranty.  

We used Clearview Vista80X on the outside of our glazed gable and it has been effective at reducing solar gain. If it had been a rectangular window we would have considered external blinds.

 

http://www.sun-x.co.uk/products/clearview-solar-film

 

[lizzie]

OK folks I'm looking at the solar film now thank you @PeterStarck for the link.

 

Just had a ball park quote for external blinds on 8  windows and its over £26K...more than the Internorm windows!!!

[vivienz]

Holy cow!  I was going to start getting some quotes this week, but I'm not so sure now!  I may anyway as there's only 1 large upstairs south facing window that I think it's essential on, so I'll report back with what I find out.

[lizzie]

This my ball park quote  

 

As an indication of budget cost, for our Antiguan External Roller Blinds, finished in any RAL colour metalwork, with motorised operation through a handheld remote control, with any material from our premium solar control Twilight mesh dimout 297 or World of Sattler blockout 338 fabric ranges (see link: http://www.cbsolarshading.co.uk/external-roller-blinds-fabrics), installed using our std face/side fix detail, you would be looking at a guide price fully installed, tested, commissioned and certified (subject to site survey) of:

 

Living fixed - Width 1150 x height 2125 = £3,100 inc vat

Living slider 1 - Width 3500 x height 2170 = £3,500 inc vat

Living slider 2 - Width 2000 x height 2170 = £3,300 inc vat

Living slider 3 - Width 2300 x height 2170 = £3,300 inc vat

Bedroom slider - Width 2300 x height 2170 = £3,300 inc vat

Dressing room fixed - Width 1050 x height 2125 = £3,100 inc vat

En Suite opener - Width 1050 x height 2125 = £3,100 inc vat

Hall fixed - Width 1675 x height 2125 = £3,200 inc vat

 

SPECIAL OFFER - Save £480 off the cost of each blind if you select our most popular Anthracite Grey RAL 7016 fine textured matt or White RAL 9016 smooth semi gloss for the metalwork (hardware).

 

 

The next stage (if our budget cost meets with your approval) would be for us to organise a full site survey, where we would run through everything in detail with you including showing physical samples of the system (hardware), fabrics etc so you can see exactly what we are proposing and you would be receiving should you progress and so we have all required manufacture details.

 

Join thousands of satisfied customers…

• A proven track record (established 1987)
• Dedicated purely to the field of exterior solar shading 
• Products made in our state of the art UK production facilities
• Installations carried out by our own highly skilled teams of technicians
• Genuine expert advice from real shading specialists who love what they do

[Gone West]

5 hours ago, lizzie said:

 

Just had a ball park quote for external blinds on 8  windows and its over £26K...more than the Internorm windows!!!

These were the type we were looking at, but I don't know the price.

 

https://www.phifer.com/product/suntex-80-90/

 

[lizzie]

Thanks @PeterStarck they are based in Alabama USA so I have contacted them and asked for their UK agents to get in touch.

 

Will let you know.

[newhome]

What are the benefits of external blinds over internal blackout blinds (apart from the dubious benefit of seeming to be much more expensive)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lizzie]

Just now, newhome said:

What are the benefits of external blinds over internal blackout blinds (apart from the dubious benefit of seeming to be much more expensive)?

 

  

 

 

 

 

Its to minimise solar gain and without having to have the lights on all day LOL

 

I have huge solar gain issues on my south and west facing elevations even though I have good overhangs the sun is so hot coming through MVHR struggles to keep temp down to an acceptable level.  28-30 degrees in living area is not unusual.  I have internal blackouts in my bedroom and its hot as hell in there and I rarely put them up, have to keep en suite window open to let heat out. I do night time purge ventilating and that rather negates the reason for mvhr for me as the clean air aspect was more important that heat recovery.

 

If external blinds/films are beyond budget now then I will be buying a few large garden umbrellas to deal with this years problem while i save up.

[lizzie]

On 23/05/2018 at 09:10, PeterStarck said:

We used Clearview Vista80X on the outside of our glazed gable and it has been effective at reducing solar gain. If it had been a rectangular window we would have considered external blinds.

 

http://www.sun-x.co.uk/products/clearview-solar-film

 

@PeterStarck I have had a sample from this company now but what they have sent is called THE80 and has a blue tint.  Is this what you had or is there a different product?

 

I didnt ask for a particular product when I rang then just the external film and gave them window spec.  Its the girl in the office that has sent this so maybe I need to be more specific?  I’m not sure about having blue tinted windows.

[Gone West]

12 minutes ago, lizzie said:

@PeterStarck I have had a sample from this company now but what they have sent is called THE80 and has a blue tint.  Is this what you had or is there a different product?

 

I didnt ask for a particular product when I rang then just the external film and gave them window spec.  Its the girl in the office that has sent this so maybe I need to be more specific?  I’m not sure about having blue tinted windows.

I don't recognise the the name THE80 but there is a very slight blue tint when looking through the glazing where the Vista80X is applied. This is in the same way that there is a very slight yellow tint on triple glazing with coatings. The picture shows standard triple glazing on the left hand side and glazing with the Vista80X applied on the right hand side. I don't think any visitors have noticed the difference.

 

[lizzie]

Thanks @PeterStarck i will contact them to ask what the difference is with THE80 and vista. I’ve got the sample stuck on the window so will live with it over the weekemd.

 

Did they install for you or did you diy? Is it difficult to get right as diy.......air bubbles etc

 

[Gone West]

1 hour ago, lizzie said:

Did they install for you or did you diy? Is it difficult to get right as diy.......air bubbles etc

 

They did the installation because it's on a glazed gable that's just over 4m high and I didn't fancy having 4m of film flapping about in the wind. There were two of them and they were excellent. It was done so quickly and with no air bubbles. They did say they wouldn't install unless the weather conditions were ok.

[vivienz]

Peter - out of interest and with the benefit of hindsight, do you think that the solar film is sufficient or would you go for external blinds if the option was available?  I ask because we have a large upstairs window facing almost due south.  Our window company do solar film but it's a rectangular window and so I could use an external blind instead.

[Hecateh]

A guy who made vinyl decals for vans (large commercial ones) told me you spray it all with water with some washing up liquid in.  Then it doesn't stick straight away and you can squeegee all the bubbles out before it dries.  I don't know if the same applies here

[NSS]

1 hour ago, Hecateh said:

A guy who made vinyl decals for vans (large commercial ones) told me you spray it all with water with some washing up liquid in.  Then it doesn't stick straight away and you can squeegee all the bubbles out before it dries.  I don't know if the same applies here

I've applied a fair bit of vinyl in my time and the guy is right. However, there's a knack to getting it right (and bubble free) and there's a big difference between applying decals to a van in a controlled environment such as a workshop, or to the inside of windows, and covering whole, large panes of glass outdoors. The film may not be particularly expensive, but it would be easy to get it very wrong. I certainly wouldn't attempt it as a diy job.

Edited June 1, 2018 by NSS

[lizzie]

I’m researching the film......I keep seeing things online that say avoid film if you have triple glazing.  Presumably those of you that have the film have not had any issues with it fitted externally on to triple glazed windows.

 

The spec on the sample received today only gives info for single and double not triple.

 

 

[Ferdinand]

On 22/05/2018 at 15:36, MikeGrahamT21 said:

I too have a similar issue, a whopper of a west facer, which heats the highly insulated room up no end.

 

I was going to try some solar control film which is suitable for external use as a first port of call, its pretty cheap too.

 

IMO this is one area not to try and save too much money, as it is 1 so critical 2 so prominent and 3 relatively a big job which would be a pain to redo on big windows.

 

Personally I would want to have an established and ‘likely to still be there in 10 years time supplier’ do all of it including fitting, so there was  no ambiguity in future if there was a problem.

 

I think would also place significant weight on people who have had it on their windows for some time, including visiting their houses.

 

Ferdinand

 

 

Edited June 2, 2018 by Ferdinand

[Ferdinand]

@lizzie there was a thread in early June 2006 where @JSHarris and @PeterStarck talked about this, including a sample test doe by Jeremy. The thread is linked below and these are the photos. You can see that the film is hotter.

 

The patches are halfway up left and right. Read the thread for the commentary.

 

F

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2018 by Ferdinand

[Ferdinand]

On 29/05/2018 at 12:38, lizzie said:

This my ball park quote  

 

As an indication of budget cost, for our Antiguan External Roller Blinds, finished in any RAL colour metalwork, with motorised operation through a handheld remote control, with any material from our premium solar control Twilight mesh dimout 297 or World of Sattler blockout 338 fabric ranges (see link: http://www.cbsolarshading.co.uk/external-roller-blinds-fabrics), installed using our std face/side fix detail, you would be looking at a guide price fully installed, tested, commissioned and certified (subject to site survey) of:

 

Living fixed - Width 1150 x height 2125 = £3,100 inc vat

Living slider 1 - Width 3500 x height 2170 = £3,500 inc vat

Living slider 2 - Width 2000 x height 2170 = £3,300 inc vat

Living slider 3 - Width 2300 x height 2170 = £3,300 inc vat

Bedroom slider - Width 2300 x height 2170 = £3,300 inc vat

Dressing room fixed - Width 1050 x height 2125 = £3,100 inc vat

En Suite opener - Width 1050 x height 2125 = £3,100 inc vat

Hall fixed - Width 1675 x height 2125 = £3,200 inc vat

 

SPECIAL OFFER - Save £480 off the cost of each blind if you select our most popular Anthracite Grey RAL 7016 fine textured matt or White RAL 9016 smooth semi gloss for the metalwork (hardware).

 

 

The next stage (if our budget cost meets with your approval) would be for us to organise a full site survey, where we would run through everything in detail with you including showing physical samples of the system (hardware), fabrics etc so you can see exactly what we are proposing and you would be receiving should you progress and so we have all required manufacture details.

 

Join thousands of satisfied customers…

• A proven track record (established 1987)
• Dedicated purely to the field of exterior solar shading 
• Products made in our state of the art UK production facilities
• Installations carried out by our own highly skilled teams of technicians
• Genuine expert advice from real shading specialists who love what they do

 

Ooer. BOHIC, please, M’lady .. or at least feels like it even if the price adequately reflects the cost of the service.

 

I make that about 35sqm which is £700-750 per sqm or so. Or 600 ish with the discount offer.

 

Would you be able to reclaim the VAT, which would help.

 

In those circs, I would be tempted to try a professionally installed film which should be a lot less perhaps even 5-20% of the price (total guess plus an engineering half or double approximation as I haven’t done it beyond inside one window) then see if it works. Or maybe you do not need blinds on all of them.

 

Plus blinds move so there would be maintenance and repairs at some stage if it is your forever house for 20-30 years or so ?.

 

F

Edited June 2, 2018 by Ferdinand

[lizzie]

@Ferdinand I wont be taking up that quote for external blinds, its more than the Internorm windows cost!

 

I am looking at other solutions for what is a real problem area.  I found the old thread linked above and have read with interest, I also found a later one where Jeremy was thinking about replacing the glass with solar glass so from that I am presuming film only good as far as it goes......

 

Internal blinds are an issue to fit and look good on my big slider but in any event would only do part of the job, awnings I dont fancy and they would be difficult to fit and make look good, ditto on brise soleil.

 

My areas are all South and South West facing so full sun. I guess I can always hope the British weather takes over and the hot sun is a rare visitor!

 

Otherwise short term a few large garden umbrellas may do the trick!!