Energy-saving blind fabrics

Can a blind really save you money?

Some of it, yes, and we will be straight with you about how much.

Many of the fabrics we make blinds from carry a coating on the reverse side, the side facing out towards the glass. That one coating does two jobs. In summer it reflects sunlight and heat back outwards before the room ever gets it. In winter it works the other way round, holding warmth in so the glass is not steadily pulling it out of the room.

Glass is the coldest surface in most rooms, so anything that slows heat crossing it is doing useful work. This is not loft insulation and it is not a new boiler. It is a real, noticeable difference in the room you are actually sitting in.

One coating, two jobs

The performance is on the back of the fabric, not the front. You never see it. You only notice the room.

In summer

The coating faces the glass, so the sun's heat meets it before it gets far into the room and a good part of it is reflected straight back out. That is the difference between a conservatory you can use through a July afternoon and one that feels like a sauna by lunchtime.

In winter

The same coating slows the heat leaving the room through the glass, so the room holds its warmth a while longer after the heating goes off. It takes the edge off that fridge feeling you get in a glazed room on a cold morning.

Where it works hardest

Behind a Perfect Fit frame. Perfect Fit holds the fabric tight against the pane rather than leaving a gap for air to circulate through, so the coated fabric acts as a proper extra barrier instead of a curtain hanging nearby.

Pleated blinds in a conservatory roof are the other big one, because the roof is where most of the heat arrives and leaves.

Will it cut my heating bill?

You will not find a percentage on this page, and here is the reason.

Blind firms quote a specific percentage off your heating bill. Those figures come from suppliers' own studies, and we are not willing to repeat a number we cannot show you the source for. If a supplier ever puts the working in front of us, the figure will go on this page with the source printed next to it. Until then, no number.

What we will tell you is this. A thermal-backed blind will make a cold front room noticeably less cold in January, and a conservatory bearable in July. You will feel it in the room, which is the part that matters day to day.

Whether it shows up as pounds on a bill depends on your house, your glazing and how you heat it. Nobody selling you a blind can honestly tell you otherwise.

SPF, SPC, ESP and ASC

Four performance ranges, all with backings that do the reflecting. There is plenty of colour to pick from and a proper spread of styles, so a fabric that works does not have to be a fabric you settle for.

We are not going to print definitions of the four here that we cannot stand behind. Simon will hold them side by side at your window and tell you which one suits it. A south-facing conservatory roof and a north-facing bedroom want different things from a fabric.