Pleated Blinds Advice and Price
Pleated conservatory blinds can give a very attractive look and hence finish to any conservatory. In my opinion they are the nicest looking of the conservatory blinds you can fit. So, what do you need to consider when buying pleated conservatory blinds, what options are available and how much are you likely to pay for pleated blinds?
What do pleated blinds look like?
Pleated blinds can used on both the window and ceiling of your conservatory. These are some images of the blinds in the roof of my conservatory. Hard to get a good image of them, but they do look nice, much better than the bare poly carbonate roof! You can see that the blinds themselves concertina up when closed. In the case of these conservatory roof blinds they pull downward and when full open are folded up at the bottom. Pleated window blinds would likely do the opposite i.e. pull up from the bottom and when open be folded up at the top - if you see what I mean!
How are they held in place?
The pleated blinds are usually on wire guides to keep them close to the glass (or poly carbonate) and help maintain their shape when they are opened or closed. An image of the wire guides can be seen here. Some manufacturers also put their pleated blinds inside a frame work so that the edge of the blind is boxed in. This means that when the blind is closed there is a greater amount of light block out than for example with the ones in my conservatory. You will pay more money for this and is only really necessary if you want pleated blackout blinds.
Suitability for a conservatory
They are available in a wide range of colours and fabrics. The materials used to make the pleated blinds have to be treated so that they will not lose their colour or degrade due to the intense light, heat and humidity in a conservatory. Normal pleated blinds, perhaps for a living room or bedroom are made to withstand the light but not the humidity and heat in a conservatory. Ask the manufacturers before buying as to whether the pleated blinds are suitable for a conservatory (obviously only if not from a specialist conservatory blinds retailer).
Conservatory Temperature Control
Conservatory pleated blinds can have different levels of effectively ‘sun block' applied to them. This is usually just on the sun facing side and acts to block out and reflect some of the incoming radiation and hence heat from the sun. This works to degree but my experience is that if your conservatory is south facing i.e. gets a lot of direct sunlight then the blinds alone will not be enough to keep it cool for use on a hot day. It's important to also have additional cooling such as plenty of ventilations (perhaps full-length opening windows or a good ceiling mounted extractor fan) or even conservatory air-conditioning. The blinds themselves can be thermally insulated and this means they also act to reduce the amount of heat loss from the conservatory during the winter months.
So, pleated blinds can reduce the temperature of the room during the Summer and keep it warmer during the Winter but I would say that if you really wanted extra living space with more control over the environment then why not build a conservatory with a tiled roof and glazed walls (like an orangery) or perhaps a full extension - both options would be more expensive.
How do you open them?
Opening pleated conservatory blinds may seem an odd question but there are several answers if you have pleated roof blinds. Which option is best depends on the amount you are willing to pay and how much convenience you want.
- Pull cord
- This option is suitable for window blinds but not really for ceiling ones.
- Wand
- This a basically an extendable pole that is used to hook the end of the blind and its then used to ‘force' the blind down. This works OK for straight conservatory roof blinds but not well for triangular or trapezoidal shaped ones. This is the cheapest option for opening your conservatory roof blinds.
- Crank
- Like the crank on an old car this is a long pole that can be rotated when pushed into position and this rotation turns a gear mechanism that opens or closes your conservatory roof blinds. This is the middle cost option.
- Motorised Blinds
- Here the blinds have a gear mechanism similar to that used on the crank method but are opened and closed by an electrical motor instead of manually. The motors are usually run off low voltage supplies and hence safe. Each motor can open or close one or more blinds depending on the layout of the conservatory. The blinds themselves can be operated via a remote control and even set on a timer so that they close automatically at night and open at day break. Both conservatory window and roof blinds can be motorised. This is the most expensive ways (£125-£250 per motor) of opening your conservatory blinds - though I supposed you could hire someone to do it
.
- Here the blinds have a gear mechanism similar to that used on the crank method but are opened and closed by an electrical motor instead of manually. The motors are usually run off low voltage supplies and hence safe. Each motor can open or close one or more blinds depending on the layout of the conservatory. The blinds themselves can be operated via a remote control and even set on a timer so that they close automatically at night and open at day break. Both conservatory window and roof blinds can be motorised. This is the most expensive ways (£125-£250 per motor) of opening your conservatory blinds - though I supposed you could hire someone to do it
Cost of pleated conservatory blinds?
The table below gives some examples of cost for blinds as found in searching the web for online stores that allow you to estimate the cost.
Conservatory Blinds Type | Conservatory type | Fabric type | Width (m) | Length (m) | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pleated | Victorian | Solar Design | 3 | 3 | £1750 |
Pleated | P shaped | Solar Design | 6.5 | 4.5 | £3356 |
Pleated | Victorian | Cellular | 3 | 3 | £1640 |
Pleated | P shaped | Cellular | 6.5 | 4.5 | £3300 |
Pleated | Victorian | louvolite | 3 | 3 | £1360 |
Pleated | P shaped | louvolite | 6.5 | 4.5 | £2350 |
Pleated | Lean to | Solar Design | 3 | 2.4 | £780 |
Pleated | Edwardian | Solar Design | 3 | 3 | £1686 |
Pleated | Edwardian | Cellular | 3 | 3 | £1700 |
Pleated | Edwardian | louvolite | 3 | 3 | £1400 |
Pleated | Lean to | Cellular | 3 | 2.4 | £750 |
Pleated | Lean to | louvolite | 3 | 2.4 | £650 |
Prices valid early 2007
Pleated Conservatory Blinds Summary
Very attractive blinds for your conservatory available in wide range of colours and materials pre-treated for harsh conditions in a conservatory. Pleated blinds can reduce the temperature of the conservatory in Summer and keep it warmer in Winter. Pleated conservatory blinds are held in place using wire guides and maybe a frame and can be opened using a cord, wand, crank or remotely using a motor. They are also one of the more expensive types of conservatory blinds to fit.
"Thanks very much for this impartial information - it will be very useful in choosing blinds."
C.Scott