Thursday, August 11, 2011

Solar Shades

What are solar shades and how/where you should use them

Solar ShadeSolar screens are a popular choice for areas of the home that receive a lot of sun. They serve as a great way to limit solar heat gain, reduce glare while preserving views with several type of openness factors. Solar screens also known as solar shades are easy to operate as they work on a single roll function from the top.

Limit solar heat gain:

Solar screens block a substantial amount of sun light that enters your home. If you notice a room in your house that particularly receives a lot of sun and tends to feel like a sauna half the time then your current set of blinds aren't doing it and should be replaced with these. Also, by reducing the solar heat in your home you tend to save money because your house temperature remains cooler without needing to blast that AC.

Reduced glare/UV rays:

Have a room with a huge TV? Notice that annoying glare when your blinds just don't completely lock out the sun? This sounds like another job for solar screens as they come in several openness factors. The low the openness factor the less amount of sun/glare they allow in. By rule of thumb, shades (since they don't have gaps like blinds do), are preferred when needing to block out as much light from a room as possible. However, unlike most shades, solar shades have the openness factor that allow for a happy medium of reducing the right amount of glare while preserving the beautiful view that's right outside your window.

Another advantage to solar shades are the reduction in UV rays. UV rays are notorious for fading furniture. I can't say how many times I've had to replace clients furniture because they were using the wrong type of window treatment.

Preserving view:

Other type of shades force you to pick between seeing your beautiful view and blocking the sun. Solar shades offer a compromise. If you notice in the picture of this article, the patio room is comfortably shaded and cool , yet you can still see the gorgeous scenery outside.