Conservatory Roof Blinds

Conservatories are a wonderful addition and investment for your home, but their glass roofs pose considerable challenges. On a hot day the sun can blaze through, heating your conservatory and making the room too bright to use comfortably. Unless you built your conservatory under an absolutely massive tree, you are going to have invest in some conservatory roof blinds to block out the sunlight.

Conservatory blinds have a couple of other additional benefits - as well as making a fashion statement (there are roof blinds to suit everyone's tastes) they are also very effective at retaining heat during the winter, which helps enormously with the heating bills.  Over the long term, they can also be seen as an investment that can increase the conservatory price that you can expect to be added to the value of your property.

This hub provides a brief guide to the main kinds of conservatory roof blinds.

Roller blinds are the most common choice of roof blind.  Made of a single piece of fabric, roller blinds are a simple and stylish choice.  Usually they are operated manually, using a cord, but remote controlled roller blinds are also available for a cost premium.

Pleated blinds are another common choice when it comes to conservatory roof blinds. Again, made of a single piece of fabric that is (given the name, not a surprise) pleated. Like roller blinds, they can be opened and closed manually or by remote control. Recently, these blinds have been installed in a format that allows them to be clipped onto and off of the roof frame.

An exterior awning is one giant blind that covers your conservatory in its entirety. Usually awnings work best on lean-to conservatory roofs, as they are best attached to a wall of your house for support. Because they are outside, they are more likely to get grubby, but they are usually made of a durable, long lasting fabric. The biggest benefit of awnings over indoor blinds is that they sit between the sun and the glass of your conservatory. By stopping the glass from heating in the first place, they help to keep it cooler inside.

A new invention, these sit inside polycarbonate conservatory roofs.  Their reflective strips block most of the sun's heat and UV from entering your conservatory while, at the same time, maintaining high light levels on even the cloudiest of days, whereas traditional blinds keep out much of the light at the same time as keeping out the heat.  

While most conservatory construction is a job for the professionals, installing conservatory roof blinds is usually a straightforward job that can be carried out by any competent home DIY-er. Kits for many of the above types of conservatory blind can be picked up for a low price from most manufacturers, and in the short term, you can also pick up some easy to install temporary blinds.

Here's a fun video of some conservatory blinds being fitted.