Don’t Bake In Your Conservatory This Summer

With positively spring like weather, seeing clear skies with the sun shining bright and subsequently temperatures rising, we’ve noticed over the past week, a large increase in the number of enquiries for our external roof blinds, as people are beginning to experience uncomfortable temperatures in their conservatories (& glass roofed rooms) already and after the prolonged warm weather of 2014, don’t want to experience another year of having a greenhouse as a conservatory that can’t be used.

Internal conservatory roof blinds (the most common being pleated roof blinds) have in the past been opted for in conservatories to try to regulate the suns heat when it gets too hot. Whilst correctly specified internal blinds are good at regulating light levels, helping to eliminate glare, they, as the majority of owners of them will have found out, are not effective at preventing overheating, having very little cooling effect and this is the reason why:

1. The suns energy enters the earths atmosphere as shortwave (near infra-red) radiation
2. Glazing is virtually transparent to this shortwave radiation and subsequently the suns energy easily passes through these transparent areas in buildings
3. When inside a building, the suns energy is absorbed by fixtures, fittings and furnishings, including internal blinds
4. It is then re-radiated as infra-red (heat) rays which are at a different, longer wavelength
5. These longer wavelengths cannot pass through glazing and therefore remain trapped in the building, causing it to heat up

External blinds, mounted to the top of your conservatory roof stop the majority – upto 96%! – of the suns heat before it even reaches the glass and therefore prevent unwanted solar heat gain, eliminating overheating in your conservatory even on a scorcher of a summers day.

There are however some limitations to external roof blinds for conservatories – they can only be used on lean-to conservatory roofs (as shown above), or the rectangular sections of shaped conservatory roofs, such as hip ended conservatories, so aren’t suitable for all applications. A wide range of mounting brackets, including height adjustable to overcome opening roof vents, allow externally mounted roof blinds to be attached to all style construction lean-to conservatory roofs.

To ensure a pleasant conservatory temperature (and light level) all year round we recommend you install our external conservatory roof blinds in conjunction with our external conservatory window blinds, ensuring no matter what the position of the sun is in the sky and whatever the aspect, your conservatory does not overheat and that glare caused by peak summer and low winter sun is effectively diffused.

To find out more about external blinds and/or to receive a free no obligation survey & quotation, contact one of our exterior shading experts on 0844 800 1947 or via the quick enquiry form here. Summer is just around the corner, so don’t delay, act today and get your external blinds installed ready for the heatwave this summer, so you can enjoy a cool, comfortable and enjoyable conservatory this year.