External Roller Blinds

External Rolller Blinds

When we think of vertical blinds in the UK, we think of either cord operated, or more recently electrically operated blinds, for the provision of shade and glare, fitted to the inside of our windows or patio doors.

External vertical blinds however are not something often seen in the UK, but they are growing in popularity rapidly now.

The external blind will provide far more protection from heat, light and vision, but with the proper specification is also a product used for wind and rain protection on most of the outdoor structures we offer.

The Simple Princle

In the hottest months of the year when the sun is shining directly onto your massive glass doors or windows, who does it get so hot? Simple, the heat of the sun transmits directly through the glass and heats up your internal space very quickly. An internal blind will only stop the light and glare but the heat still comes through the glass with thermal transfer.
Put the fabric blind to the outside and stop the heat from getting to the glass, simple…

External fitted blinds are big business in Europe and they provide excellent control of the solar gain in the summer months, but also provide privacy and light control along with lower level security and also protection from wind and rain, leaving you to have windows open on days when it might rain, knowing you are protected.

External blinds make so much sense and specified with a ‘zip’ system they have a fabric cover which is held under tension on all 4 sides. The blind is drawn out under tension, with a pulley system in the side channels and the fabric is held either side in a zipped channel system meaning the overall fabric tension is as high as possible. This also means these blinds are very stable in wind and have great protection from rain too

Electric Operation

Although you can have external blinds with a manual winding mechanism, most external blinds are electrically operated for ease of daily control and also to make the installation as neat as possible. Using hard wired or RTS and smart control motors you can control the blinds with ease using many different control options. Weather and safety sensors can also be introduced if required, controlling your blinds when you might not be at home yourself, or even on timers at various times of the day or year.

Many people opt for smart control these days to have control from anywhere in the world in effect, simply using an app on the smartphone or tablet.

Energy Cost and Savings

With global warming almost undisputable these days, controlling heat ingress into your home or business is getting more and more relevant. Along with our increasing love of glass in buildings, larger and more present, the control of intense light and heat needs to take place at the heat source, rather than spending thousands on air conditioning and the running costs too.
External, electric operated, vertical roller blinds provide the best shading when in use to control heat, light and privacy and with sizes available up to 6000mm wide and 6000mm high most windows and doors can be controlled.

Markilux for Quality

One of our leading external blind manufacturers, Markilux, have a wide range of the very highest quality external fabric blinds using only high quality components and the very highest quality fabrics too.
5 different vertical blind models in rounded or square cassette designs offer the external vertical roller blind options whilst there are also several other very clever vertical blind and drop arm awning combos available too. Markilux also can manufacture odd shape blinds in triangular shapes for windows and applications where square or rectangular doesn't work.

A drop arm awning is another great product to combine and use where maybe you have a window opening outwards and the vertical blind isn't physically possible?
ALL the blinds and awnings are made to measure to the millimetre with over 200 fabric choices.

Take a look at the complete Markilux range here.

Other uses

Whilst most vertical external blinds are used for protection from sunlight and control of internal light and heat, they can also be used on balconies, conservatories and glass verandas for the roof or the exposed sides. Most of the various pergola structures we offer have these external blinds on one or more sides for controlling wind and rain and sun but also helping to make the overall outdoor space so more appealing and comfortable.

The enormous array of fixing methods allows any structural opening to be used for installation. With the tensioned blind systems applications where it isn't a vertical operation is also possible, hence used underneath or on top of glass roof systems.