Conservatory Blinds Can Keep Your Home Cool This Summer

The last post by Dane Cross received such positive comments that I asked Dane to send us more.  Here's his latest post:

Conservatory Blinds Can Keep Your Home Cool This Summer

When heat hits a material, the material expands, which gives the heat room to be stored. All materials expand, including woods, metals and plastics. When your conservatory windows are hit during a heat wave, the wood and glass expand, holding in the heat. This can fade the fabric of furniture, the color of the walls, paintings, carpets - and don't even think what it will do to your plants! Your conservatory was built so you could enjoy your garden, no matter what time of year. Why suffer in the heat when you can install conservatory blinds?

How Blinds Keep Your Conservatory Cool

Blocking the sun's rays keeps the heat from gathering in the room. Blocking it from affecting the glass, wood and metal of the windows in the conservatory keeps it from being absorbed. The backing of some types of blinds reflects the sun's light so it doesn't get inside your conservatory. Specially treated wooden slats in other blinds reflect the sun's light with the same effect. In fact, reflective backing can be applied to any style blinds to help keep your conservatory cool in summer and snug in winter.

                

Letting In The Light

Your conservatory is special. It's a place where you can sit and enjoy your garden outside or your plants inside in some seclusion and comfort. The light needs to get to the plants, so specially constructed conservatory blinds have small spaces that let in the light but not the heat. Some appear sheer, while others are woven. You can have the best of both worlds - light to see by without the terrible heat of summer. In winter, the conservatory will remain warm and snug, while you will still be able to see your plants.

Not Just For The Conservatory

Window treatments contain little diversity or imagination. Blinds made for the purpose of keeping your conservatory cool in a heat wave can be applied to other windows in the house as well as conservatories. This in turn allows light into rooms that were previously dimmed by draperies backed with reflective material. Your rooms will look light and airy while they remain cool in summer or warm in winter. Because the sun shines hotter on certain parts of the house, the rooms receiving the most light will be the warmest; generally, southern rooms get a great deal of light and warmth. Blinds like this would be perfect for those rooms.

Many conservatory blinds come in classic pleated designs. Roman blinds are the most popular, and they come in all colours and can be made to fit your windows in addition to the conservatory windows. Pinoleum blinds are the blind of choice; however, roller blinds will do a good job in your conservatory, as well. All come with reflective backing, and all will keep your conservatory cool in summer. Matching colours of blinds with the decor is not a problem, for blinds can be made to match your colour scheme. Have some fun choosing colours and styles, while you are staying cool and enjoying your garden.

~Dane Cross

Dane uses a word that may be unfamiliar: Pinoleum.

Pinoleum is the name given to thin wooden strips, or reeds or bamboo woven together horizontally. Traditionally the pinoleum was left in its natural finish or stained or varnished and by using different shades and thicknesses of material, in combination with different weaving patterns, the finished pinoleum could be close-knit making almost blackout blinds ranging to a light and airy open weave blind still much favoured today.

Create Conservatory Blinds

We have a guest post today from Dane Cross currently undergoing research and development for the company Vertical Blinds Direct.

Conservatory blinds come in all shapes and sizes and the challenge is deciding what is best for you and who should create and install them for you. Unless you are a professional installer yourself, you will not want to try this on your own.

Create a diagram of your conservatory and measure as best as you can for the areas you can get to. If you have the building plans, you can transfer measurements to your diagram. Your next step is to visit a home improvement decor centre and look through all the books they have for different types of blinds you can get for your conservatory.

This is really more a research project at this point and if you have your measurements with you, ask to get some basic pricing on what it would take to order and install. Your home improvement consultant can, at the least, provide by-the-window pricing and estimate any odd shaped windows you have, based on a vendor you've chosen.

Base your choice on how a product looks in the vendors' picture books and also the longevity of the product, any warranties provided, and your potential usage of opening and shutting the blinds over a period of time. Consider remote control aspects as well for areas not easy to reach.

If you are looking for a colour scheme to go in your conservatory, look at cellular blinds; preferably double-cell with solar backing that is lightweight but one that will still protect your furniture and rugs from sun glare. You can choose from many different colours in this style as well as many options, such as pull up/vertical blinds which will allow you to customise the value of your lighting.

Look at woven and bamboo styles for a less formal look. Check if there are any new man-made materials on the market, made especially to handle sun wear. 
~Dane Cross 


A side note, the Conservatory got its start in the "...16th century when wealthy landowners sought to cultivate citrus fruits such as lemons and oranges that began to appear on their dinner tables brought by traders from warmer regions of the Mediterranean."  From Conservatory came the development of green houses.  In America, our conservatories tend to be called sun rooms.  My father has a sun room off the living room in his Irvington home.

"The widespread construction of UK conservatories came to a halt with the onset of World War II. While the advent of insulated glass in the 1950s and 1960s saw the development of simple sunroom structures, it was not until the 1970s that creative architects and builders began to recreate the Victorian styling of 19th century English conservatories in smaller domestic versions using insulated glass."