I have talked before about the benefits of conservatory blinds – specifically the exterior conservatory blinds, designed to keep the heat from entering your conservatory but still allow light into the room.
These work so well that most companies offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee as what previously was an unusable hot conservatory was now a fully usable room in the house.
The technology behind the conservatory blind’s heat reduction technology lies purely in the type of fabric used – this reflects most of the sun’s heat before it even gets to your roof often reducing temperatures by huge amounts.
What I would like to illustrate today is a very popular conservatory blind model that is widely used in the UK and across Europe. Markilux are a company based in Germany who manufacture high quality sun awning and blind products. The 8000 exterior conservatory blind model is often used by many sun awning and blind companies as their exterior conservatory blind choice, though they can be rebranded with different names by the individual companies who sell them.
The thing I like about the Markilux products is that the products have been tried and tested and modified over the years to ensure that they are simple to install and remain problem free for years – I have had experience with other exterior conservatory blind products that often suffered several problems from squeaking wheels to breaking all together on a regular basis.
With the Markilux product you are buying a branded product that is built to last and just looking at it’s overall design you can immediately see the conservatory blinds’ quality.
The 8000 model has the benefit of spanning large conservatories. Individual units can span 35 square metres
with a width of 7metres and up to three individual units can be linked together making a huge 21 metre wide conservatory blind.
The cassette is very unobtrusive and one the conservatory blind is closed all that remains is the guide channels – coloured to match your roof, and the cassette that is often hardly noticed. the motor is fully integral to the axle so you would never even know it was there.
The benefit of using the markilux product is down to the tensining of the fabric which is rarely seen on other models. Gas pistons are utilised to ensure the fabric remains taught even when wet – this prevents the fabric sagging and stops it wearing on the conservatory roof. This of course keeps the fabric immaculately clean all year round with the minimum of maintenance required.
The operation of these conservatory blinds is almost always motor driven. When paying this type of money, even if the thought of a manual blind seems appealing it is rarely a wide investment and one I have hear many regret. A motor powered conservatory blind is by far the best method – I believe that Markilux do not manufacture this blind with a manual option though I may be wrong. The motor operation means that, using a remote control, you can operate this within your conservatory as and whe you need it. Automation can be applied in the form of sun and wind sensors or timed operation.
Whilst a choice of fabrics can used within these products, there is a type of fabric designed specifically for temperature reduction rather than jsut ahcieving shade so watch out for this if you intend on purchasing a conservatory roof blind in the near future.
My wife has been begging me for something like this for years. The cost has definitely held me back but I know it would pay off in the long run. She suffers from chronic fatigue and rarely gets outdoors for sunshine and fresh air. I know this would get her outside more often. Thanks for the informative review!
Those pieces look so modern.. Has that real modern elegance look. I love it, I also figured out that this stuff is interesting especially this coming Christmas.
This seems like a great way to save money on cooling bills during the hot summer.
It has to be said that Markilux blinds are indeed a very good products to make use of, they can actually be combined with electric somfy powered side blinds. The thing is that quite often conservatory roof blinds are left “closed”, people tend to mainly the side blinds so the electric controlled options are much sought after.
Daves last blog post..Remote Control Conservatory Blinds
Now is the ideal time of year to check out conservatory blind solutions such as Markilux blinds, those of you with conservatories will surely be noticing the heat increace due to the longer daylight hours. As the review mentions these kind of blinds are nearly always powered by electric motors, not only are these “very” easy to use they are the height of interior design luxury. It is always best to order your blind systems early on in the year, the reason for this is that most conservatory blinds companies will have a backlog of orders to complete and these are usually completed on a “first come first serve” basis.
These awnings are a great way to cut energy bills, anyone with a conservatory should have these
Thanks for pointing out these awnings, I never knew they even existed. We have a garden that is a sun trap and sometimes suffer at the height of the summer.
A great solution.
All the best
Steve
Conservatories can get so hot, so blinds are really essential. I use my conservatory all summer but without the protection of blinds it would just be too warm to sit in even with the doors and windows open.
Fresh air,sunshine would flow in with the help of blinds. By which one can get cool air even in summers. Thanks for the informative review!
The technology behind this conservatory blind’s heat reduction technology is purely in the fabric used – this reflects most of the sun’s heat reducing temperatures in the rooms.
I left a comment here, with what I deemed was quality content referring to both velux blinds and the use of blinds in conservatories. Initially you acceped the comment, and now I find out that you have taken it down. I wonder why that is? I take pride in leaving comments, and would like to know what was wrong with my comment. If you have time, I would appreciate if you contacted me. I believe you have my email.
Regards,
Martin, Preisler Construction Ltd.
I don’t know why this would be. If it was accepted then it would not usually be removed unless perhaps you issues another comment that was blacklisted as spam?
These blinds are a fantastic idea, as they don’t heat up the glass on the roof as much as if you were to have them on the inside. I think it is importnat that you have your conservatory at a cool temperature otherwise you don’t tend to use it as the heat becomes too unbearable in them.
Nothing nicer than sitting in the conservatory in the summer with a nice ice tea hey?
conservatories are amazing, i wish i had one, there just expensive to put up, one day hopefully i will have one.
The Markilux 8000 is one of a number of tensioned exterior roof blinds on the market. The issue with all those that I have come across, with the except of the Caribbean ‘Cayman’ model roof blind is that there is a gap between the fabric and lateral guide, allowing any strips of light to shine through, the last thing you want when paying a high ticket price conservatory shading.
On the Caribbean ‘Cayman’ model tensioned roof blind, the fabric finishes within strong ‘U’ shaped lateral guides to ensure there are no annoying strips of light shining through and also ensuring that no direct solar radiation comes into direct contact with the conservatory roof.
The fabric is the most important part of any solar shading solution so make sure you ask to see the material solar and optical properties but most important ask for test data for the g-value total, this is the total solar energy transmission through both the blind and your specific glazing type – expressed as a fraction of 1 the lower the figure the less the heat gain. So 0.15 simply means that only 15% of the suns energy which is going to be or has already been converted to heat will get inside your conservatory.
More information on fabric performance can be found on the leading information source dedicated to exterior blinds: http://www.weloveexteriorblinds.com