UV Blocking Shades & Blinds

Strong sun through a south or west window does more than warm the room. Over months it works on everything it lands on: a wood floor, a rug, the arm of a sofa, framed prints on the opposite wall. Most people notice the problem when they move a piece of furniture and find a lighter patch underneath. The shades and blinds here are chosen to keep that sun off your things during the hours it is strongest, with options that keep the view and options that do not.

Which shades and blinds to choose

Solar shades are the first choice when you want the view kept. They are specified by openness, and the numbers are published: a 1% screen is rated at 80% shading, 3% at 70%, 5% at 60% and 10% at 50%. The lower the openness, the less sun reaches the room. A 1% or 3% screen suits a west wall that takes the afternoon sun straight onto a sofa. A 5% screen is a fair middle ground for a window you look through all day.

Light filtering roller shades cover the same daytime job in a wider range of colors and textures, with shading from roughly 45% to 70% depending on the series. Read the figure for the fabric rather than the name.

Blackout roller shades and blackout roman shades are for rooms you are not in during the day, such as a formal dining room or a guest room. Our blackout fabrics are specified at 100% blackout, so lowered, they stop the sun rather than screen it. Roman folds give a softer, more furnished look where a flat panel would feel plain.

One thing worth saying plainly: we publish a shading percentage for every fabric, not a UV rating. Shading percentage is what our specification establishes, so that is the number to compare these shades on.

Widths and roll limits on sunny walls

The windows that get the most sun tend to be the biggest ones, so width usually decides the order. Sunscreen fabrics are milled on 118 inch rolls, which gives solar the most headroom in the range. On our larger squared cassette, sunscreen and blackout goods reach 94 1/2 inches wide and 118 inches high, while light filtering goods reach 98 3/8 inches wide and 137 3/4 inches high.

Anything over 100 inches high moves to the 43 mm tube and the large cassette, reaching 118 inches wide and 120 inches high. That is a load limit, not a preference. If you plan to motorize so the shades come down on a schedule before the sun arrives, allow for the extra minimum width: a motorized roller needs 8 to 10 inches more than the manual version of the same shade.

Measuring and installing them yourself

Measure each window on its own, even when a row of windows looks identical. For an inside mount, measure the opening and we build to fit inside the frame. For an outside mount, add about 3 7/8 inches to the width and height so the shade overlaps the frame and closes the gap at the edges, which is where stray sun gets through.

Installation is a bracket job. You need a 6 mm drill bit, the brackets mark at 1.1 inch screw spacing, and two anchor types ship in the box, so use the one that matches your wall. Each bracket has four pre-drilled holes; two screws on opposite sides hold a standard shade, with the other two for wide or heavy ones. Clip the cassette onto the brackets and check that both the top and rear are locked before you let go.

For a room full of things you want to keep looking new, think about the sun by time of day. A screen that stays down through the afternoon does more than a heavier shade you only remember to lower at weekends. Order solar samples to see the openness levels in your own light, then order each shade made to measure and shipped direct to your door.