Conservatory Roof Blinds - (Complete Guide)

Conservatories are a fantastic and cost-effective way of extending your home. The caveat to them, however, is that they can get stifling hot in the summer, and ice cold in the winter.

So what's the solution?

Well, for the summer months, you could install a very costly air condition unit that, with rising energy prices, would also be extortionate to operate. In the winter months, the costs will continue with the likelihood that you will need to be heating it almost constantly if you use the conservatory often.

There is a cheaper solution, however…

Blinds, and in particular conservatory roof blinds.

These will not only make your conservatory more comfortable all year round, but they also will add a touch of ‘style’ to your conservatory, especially if you opt for a motorised option. 

Finding the right conservatory roof blinds at a decent price can be tricky. Because of this, we have written this ultimate guide to everything you need to know on blind solutions for your conservatory roof.

If you are in a rush and wish to skip straight to some conservatory roof blinds solutions, you can do so below.

Advantages Of Conservatory Roof Blinds

As long as the conservatory roof blind you have chosen is of good quality and has been measured and fitted correctly, there are many advantages to conservatory roof blinds.

Room Temperature

As previously mentioned, temperature regulation is a key advantage.

The thermal qualities in the material of a good conservatory roof blind allow for heat to be retained in the winter but also allow for the deflection of the sun's rays that will keep the conservatory cooler in the summer.

Light Control

Another advantage of a conservatory roof blind is that you can control the amount of light entering the room.

The blinds on conservatory roofs can be partially opened to adjust lighting levels to suit activities such as reading, watching the television or working at a computer.

Other advantages that conservatory roof blinds can provide include:

• Protecting your furniture and possessions from damaging UV rays.
• Additional privacy if your conservatory is overlooked by other buildings.
• Additional security by preventing your possessions to be on view.
• Cost-saving benefits through heat and light regulation.
• Adds additional style and colour to the room to suit your tastes.

Conservatory roof blinds can be customised to help regulate light & temperature

Disadvantages Of Roof Blinds On Conservatories

There are always pros and cons when considering most things, and conservatory roof blinds are no exception. Here are some disadvantages to consider before purchasing.

Difficulties To Fit

The feature that makes a conservatory, a conservatory, is lots of glass. 

This can be great until you want to fit a roof blind. Fitting requires attaching fixings to areas that will house the mechanism and withstand the required weight. This may require some additional work before the blind is fitted.

Awkward Roof Shapes

Conservatories come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, as do the roofs on them. Blinds with straight edges may not cover the whole roof if there are many curves and edges. You may have to install the blind a lot lower than the actual roof to ensure full coverage.

Sagging Material

If your conservatory is quite long and wide, then the material on certain blind types may sag slightly. As a result, in these circumstances, you would have to consider what blind type you get and how it is installed. 

There are some solutions to this detailed in the coming sections of this article.

Manual Or Electric Conservatory Roof Blinds?

Quite often, we get asked if there is such thing as an electric conservatory roof blind. Well, the simple answer to this is yes there is.

Not only that, they are by far the more superior option compared to manual roof blinds.

Electric conservatory blinds add a bit of style to the room and are a lot more convenient. There are various control options available and you won't have to put up with unsightly draw cords hanging down.

One of the solutions to mitigate some of the disadvantages of conservatory roof blinds is to have more than one blind with them running width-ways rather than the whole length.

This would then prevent the sagging effect you will face with long blinds running lengthways and it also could resolve the fitting dilemma which comes with lots of glass panels.

The caveat to running multiple manual blinds is that there would be multiple cords which can be laborious to open and close.

With electric conservatory roof blinds, you can have one controller that operates all of the blinds simultaneously. You could also go really fancy, and have this whole process automated through voice control.

The following video shows motorised roof lantern blinds being operated through this method. The same principle would apply to 2 or more conservatory roof blinds running width ways.

How Do Electric Conservatory Roof Blinds Work?

Electric roof blinds operate through the use of a small rota that, when activated, turns the blind shaft (and subsequently the tube the blind is attached to) in the required direction.

Some motorised roof blinds have very fine (almost invisible) clear cables running through them. These cables help maintain rigidity within the blinds and prevent sagging.

You can get electric conservatory roof blinds that have absolutely no cables running through them at all. These tend to be a lot more expensive and also come with the problem of potentially sagging as support within the blind is limited. 

Different Motor Options

There are various options on how the motor is powered. These include the following: