conservatory roof blinds

There is some controversy over whether or not it is essential to install conservatory roof blinds.  It is neither  easy nor cheap to actually install blinds in the roof of your conservatory  and often professional help is needed.  Of course that often adds to the overall cost of your conservatory.

Most people build a conservatory, hoping it can be used to provide extra living space, and often with the idea of it being used as a place for entertainment, recreation and relaxation much as outdoor kitchens, patios and gazebos are. Unfortunately, unless properly taken care of and furnished, they can often simply fall into neglect with the main reason for this being that they are either unbearably hot in summer, or extremely cold during the winter months.

If you have gone to all the trouble of building a conservatory, please take the next step and put up adequate conservatory window blinds.  Whether you decide to add blinds to your conservatory roof or not, you will need to cover the roof with something. There are alternatives these days to conservatory roof blinds, including inserting solar strips in the roof, or using a type of roofing that incorporates transparent heat reflectors to exclude a large percentage of heat during summer, while still allowing light to come in through the roof.  Actually, adding solar strips or solar reflective material to your conservatory roof is probably one of the cheaper ways to solve the problem of what to cover your roof with.

If you do decide to go with the option of using conservatory roof blinds, you can rest assured that as they come in all shapes and sizes they are pretty easy to fit into your roof, no matter what shape and size it is. Pleated roof blinds are by far the best to use for conservatory ceilings as they can be made to fit in any sized shape.  Usually pleated conservatory roof blinds are made from special material that reflects the sun’s rays during summer, or alternatively acts as a barrier to keep the warmth from escaping through the roof during winter.

Most likely a deciding factor on what type of conservatory roof covering you will buy will be the cost of the material.  It goes without saying that it is necessary to somehow cover your conservatory roof if you want your conservatory to be habitable and also if you want to protect your furniture and rugs from fading.  While I think pleated conservatory roof blinds look the best, adding solar control strips for example still reduce temperature and glare, but can save you thousands of Pounds.

One idea, that many people have successfully used, is to buy pleated conservatory blinds for the roof, and then simply hung the much cheaper roller blinds around the sides of the conservatory.  In this way you can save, while still ending up with a nice looking conservatory that, best of all, is comfortable to enjoy.  Mixing and matching conservatory blinds in this way has been a good solution for some, especially when building cheap conservatories. The main thing to decide is what will best fit with your budget, as well as what looks nice and will help your conservatory remain cool in summer and warm in winter, then make an informed choice.

Fitting a larger room naturally cost more. In looking around at other on line sites the quotations were about the same, with the actual prices depending largely on the type of conservatory blinds requested and the size and style of the conservatory.

Lean to conservatories seemed to be the cheapest to fit with lean to conservatory blinds, whereas the Edwardian or P-shaped conservatories were the more expensive. Of course this would also depend on the size, as a larger 5m x 3.5m lean to conservatory could cost the same as a 3m x 3m Edwardian conservatory.

Generally speaking, for the average sized conservatory you’re probably looking at investing anywhere from £1000 rising to £2000 for your conservatory window blinds.

Now, prices could be lowered by fitting all or some of your own conservatory blinds. They could be increased by choosing more expensive blinds, so it’s difficult to say exactly how much this will set you back.

You can find sites on line that offer you the service of fitting and supplying blinds, so that’s one route you could take. You could also most likely go to a store in your area and see how much they charge for supplying and fitting the blinds. In some ways I think that’s a better alternative because there’s nothing like having an actual live conversation, especially when you’re outlaying this type of money. You could also ask any questions you had and look at the type of conservatory blinds that were available. It’s also much easier to choose the right colour and shade when you’re able to see it first hand.

I’m not saying that you couldn’t do the whole thing online, but I tend to think that it might be simpler and that you might get better service or at least have a chance to look around and have all of your questions answered by going to a shop in person.

Having said that, if you’re still at the ‘looking around’ stage and investigating different options, you’d do well to find out more information on line and at least get some sort of idea of what you’re interested in. There are some pretty good sites online, and from just having a quick look around, there’s a wealth of information not only on the type and style of blind but also suggestions on DIY conservatory blinds, what to look for, information on how you can open your roof blinds (including motorized opening, which of course would add quite a bit to the cost of the blinds), etc.

You most likely will not be able to fit your own conservatory roof blinds, however, as they are quite tricky and difficult to get to, and most people find that they need professional help to get them up, especially if they chose conservatory pleated blinds.

Time factor: If you are able to fit your own blinds but don’t have a lot of time available to do so, you should probably try to schedule things so that you get the main blinds up first. From my experience, if you don’t actually lay down a plan on when and how you’re going to do it, you’re likely to let other things come in the way of completing the job of fitting your own conservatory blinds. You could plan on doing a little each evening till they’re all done, or set aside a long weekend just for doing it.

Whatever the time you have available, make a plan, decide when you’re going to work on it and how long you’ll devote to it, and then don’t let anything (aside from an emergency of course) come in your way.

Ease of fitting: Without a doubt, putting up roman blinds on your main windows is generally pretty easy for most people who know one end of a screwdriver from the other to accomplish. This is pretty straightforward and you should be able to get your own up, if you’re willing to dedicate the time needed to doing so. Pleated conservatory roof blinds, on the other hand, are a specialist job and you’d probably want to get someone to come in and fit those for you.

Savings versus time spent: If you have the time to spend on fitting your own blinds, or if you’re just the type of person who enjoys tinkering around and fixing things yourself, then I’d say to go ahead and do it yourself. You’ll certainly save a fair bit of money by doing as much of the work and fitting yourself as you can. If money is not an issue and you’re anxious to get the conservatory blinds up and your conservatory finished, then you’d probably want to get someone to come in and do it for you. That way it’s all over and done with, the blinds are fitted properly and the work is most likely guaranteed (it should be, at least.)

I recently visited a friend who was celebrating the finishing of his conservatory. The building itself was a nice bit of work, it wasn’t huge but it was very nicely planned and built. He’d had builders come in and do the work of adding the aluminum patio covers, as he’s not a handyman at all. It ended up costing him a fair bit more than he’d planned, hidden costs that probably shouldn’t have come up but that did.

He wasn’t in a position to negotiate with the builders, so he had to go with the added costs. Anyhow, it meant that he depleted his budget for his conservatory window blinds, so he decided that he’d tackle the job himself. Unfortunately he didn’t know what he was doing and in my opinion (and I hope he’s not reading this!) I thought that the poorly fitted blinds actually ended up ruining what would have otherwise been a very nice conservatory. He knew it too, and I think he has plans to re-do the blinds in the future, but for now he’s stuck with them.

So, if you have to wait to get enough money to have someone else fit your conservatory blinds, it’s probably a good idea to do so rather than fitting them yourself if you aren’t capable of doing a good job. Why ruin a beautiful room with a shoddy job?

I’d say ideally, do both, and add to that a decent sized air-conditioning unit and some fans too if you really want to reduce the heat in your conservatory. It seems a lot to have to do in order to reduce the temperature during summer in your conservatory, but it is worthwhile. If you’ve gone to all the trouble of building a conservatory, you want to at least make sure it’s usable both summer and winter. Besides, there’s really nothing more relaxing than resting in a conservatory with conservatory window blinds open and looking at a beautiful view. But if it’s roasting inside, you won’t find it that relaxing.

So, what can you do to help reduce heat buildup? Firstly, make sure you get good conservatory blinds over all the windows and install conservatory roof blinds as well. You can get blinds with different levels of sun-block applied to the side that faces out, and you’d want to make sure the blinds you buy have this. Higher levels cost more, so just choose the best you can buy with the amount of available money you have.

Next you could look into solar coating. Combined with good conservatory blinds, this can almost be enough to keep your conservatory at a pretty decent temperature for most of the year. Solar coating is a thin film of material layed over the exterior walls and roof of your conservatory. Some film is tinted, it depends on the manufacturer. Solar coating alone doesn’t seem to be effective in keeping the conservatory at a decent temperature though.

Airconditioning is often the last reluctant step people take to keep their conservatory cool. Of course, most people try to do without it, using other methods but it usually only takes one hot summer before the airconditioning unit is put in. One thing to realize is that it is very difficult to adequately aircondition a room that is all glass windows! Your airconditioner has to work a lot harder to get the room cooled down. That’s where closing your conservatory window blinds can help, at least initially until the room is cooled down.

Fans can also be very decorative, and add a nice touch to any conservatory. You may even be able to get by, most days with conservatory blinds, fans and solar coating and not need to turn on the aircon, though it’s a nice option to have it in case it heats up too much.

I think your best bet for keeping your conservatory cool is a combination of solar coating, conservatory blinds and an aircon. You could try just using two of the alternatives, but being open to installing the other and see how it goes. Whatever you decide, it is well worth it to make your conservatory as comfortable as possible as you have invested a lot into it. And the more comfortable it is, the more you will use it and make the most from the investment you have made.

Ultimately it’s important that you choose something you’re comfortable with though, meaning it has to look nice in your eyes and still be within your budget and it needs to match with your other home decoration items as well.

Here’s a rundown on the types of conservatory window blinds you could choose from.

Roller Blinds: These are perhaps the most common type of blinds you use in the bathroom and kitchen. A cord attached to the blind rolls it up or down. They are some of the cheapest to install which makes covering large areas fairly reasonable. One nice thing about them too is that they’re pretty easy to install yourself, if you’re looking to cut costs that way. You can just measure up, go down to the shop & choose what you like, then take them home and put them up. They blow about a bit in a breeze, if they’re opened, but then again all of the blinds do. And they do have the plus of being the cheapest so are good for covering large expanses of window.

Roman Blinds: These fold up as the cord is pulled. They can be made from a variety of material, including wood and bamboo. The heavier wood or bamboo blinds do make bit of a racket if they’re up and the windows are opened, as they sway back and forth against the glass. I’d suggest using the ones made from a polyester fabric instead as they’re a bit more managable.

Pleated Conservatory Blinds: This type of conservatory blinds are the most expensive and the most popular. They do look lovely, but it is very costly to fit out your entire conservatory with them. They fold up and down like a fan, and look very attractive either folded up or down. Depending on your budget you may want to do your whole conservatory with them, or if you’re looking to save money where you can you could consider just using them for one section of your conservatory, or use them for conservatory roof blinds.

If you’re not sure how to mix and match the blinds you could always get your local conservatory blinds salesman to come have a look, and to make some suggestions. They fit blinds all the time, and have most likely seen a lot of different ideas. Providing he’s a decent enough chap and not out to take all your money, he should be able to give you different options within your price range.

Whatever you choose, remember that you can mix and match the types of blinds you choose, and there is also quite a price difference between the different blinds. This is good in a way as it means there’s something affordable for everyone’s budget.

As summer temperatures rise, so do temperatures in your conservatory, to the point that some families are unable to use their conservatory during summer. Even cooling down your conservatory by using an air-conditioning unit may not be as effective as it could be unless your windows have adequate conservatory blinds hung.

There is some debate as to how effective blinds are in keeping out heat in a conservatory. Of course the conservatory blinds sales people are quite adamant that they are the single, most effective way of keeping the heat in during winter and out during summer.  Others though, oftentimes people who own a conservatory, are not as definite that they do that good of a job of it. Whether or not they are very effective at reducing heat in your conservatory, they are needed in any case for other reasons.

First of all, as with any other room, your choice of conservatory window blinds can really make a difference in the ambiance or look of your conservatory, just as much as other home decoration items can. You can change the look simply by your choice of blinds.

I don’t know how you feel, but I always feel a bit awkward sitting inside a room with a large expanse of exposed windows unless I’m somewhere that I know no one will be passing by my window. Whether or not people can see in, and chances are there will be times they’ll be able to especially when the lights go on at dusk, I always feel more comfortable knowing that they can’t see everything that’s going on inside my house.

One thing that conservatory blinds are very useful for are keeping direct sunlight off your furniture, especially if you install conservatory roof blinds. As you probably know, direct sunlight can be one of the most damaging things for fabric and furniture. You’ve probably invested a lot in your conservatory furniture as it’s often one of the showcase rooms in your house. If that’s the case, then you certainly wouldn’t want all those UV rays ruining your furniture.

Even though it is quite an investment to put conservatory blinds on all your windows and ceiling, it is worth it in the long run, even if for nothing else than looks.  Conservatory roof blinds at least, for starters, are a must! You want to use your conservatory and feel comfortable and relaxed in it, so it’s definitely worth it to make it a pleasant and relaxing place to be.

There are a lot of different options for conservatory blinds, and you don’t even have to have all the one type but you can mix and  match a bit, as long as it still looks nice.

Many companies offer on line quotes, so you can experiment with different conservatory blinds till you find what’s right for you.