black out roller blind, straight finish at the windowboard edge always

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Sandals

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In the process of getting roller blinds for house/sunroom.

On measure up day, guy said its a waste of time getting blackouts in bedroom if not getting straight edge at the bottom that touches the window board when blind down and also the straight edge in the sunroom so blind can virtually go all the up the timber ceiling as timber weight at the bottom.

Any advice appreciated as have eight front windows and as two are blackouts this stops me using the decoative trim (the shaped edge with the braid attached) I want. Thanks in advance.
 
Sandals said:
In the process of getting blinds for house/sunroom.

On measure up day, guy said its a waste of time getting blackouts in bedroom if not getting straight edge and also the straight edge in the sunroom so blind can virtually go all the up the timber ceiling.

Any advice appreciated as have eight front windows and as two are blackouts this stops me using the decoative trim I want. Thanks in advance.
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We once did a job requiring "blackout blinds".
These two concepts are both mutually exclusive.
We discovered this with a difficult client who thought they weren't.

Blinds have to move freely in the vertical direction and when they do they seldom align perfectly with walls/window reveals.
This is because even with a perfectly plumb, perfectly straight edge, blinds usually "pull" slightly with even light use.
We kept trying to write a brief to allow us to perform the needful but the inherent contradictions defeated us.

We could have provided blackout curtains to a reasonable level of obscurity.
However blinds are blinds, they slide up and down, they don't lap.

We heard that the client eventually got someone else to make up a form of curtain on a blind pulley with blackout material centre lining.
They then created a pelmet and architrave arrangement to which they stuck a velcro strip down the sides.
When the blind was drawn down, they closed the light gaps by pressing it against the velcro.

Which mean it couldn't act as a blind until the velcro was "unstuck".
This defeated the purpose of specifying a blind in the first place.
Blinds are designed to move freely and not take up wall space.

Thinking about the whole thing afterward I surmised that a roller in a housing with guides down the sides and velcro at the sill might do the trick.
However you would still be able to see these guides on the reveals when the blind was open, which could look clumsy.
Unless you had a clever architect and you might ask him to design a recessed joint detail. :)

FWIW, here is a link that appears to defy all my descriptions.
[broken link removed]
However they only claim a 99% blackout facility.
"Blackout" doesn't do percentages.

ONQ.
 
Blackout blinds can work if they sit in a frame - we have them on the velux windows in our attic and they do indeed black out all light. Something similar would probably work with a regular window if complete darkness is what's important to you - wouldn't be great aesthetically though.
OP - even with a straight edge, without a frame, all light won't be blacked out - we got a regular straight-edge blackout-material roller blind for a regular window and there was light seeping in at the top and sides. We have since got blackout curtains as well (fussy daughter...) and there is still a bit of light seepage (with blinds and curtains closed)as the curtains are not floor length.
 
I have blackout blinds in my velux. I also have all my normal upstairs windows with blackout blinds. There is a metal guide either side and the blind sits in that. I don't know the brand, and it was hard to find a place to supply and fit.

I did have a problem with one of them a while back and the supplying company were not interested in coming out to repair or replace.

Not much help, but it is possible.

I would agree that unless you have a proper frame and proper product that even a small gap will let in enough light to render them useless.
 
Ok I see not I wasn't very clear in what I mean by a straight edge[broken link removed], sorry to have wasted your time (have editted my first post), I mean along the bottom of the blind, ie that egde that would meet the window board[broken link removed] [broken link removed].
the blind would hang the normal way and def be free to move quickly. I have all very heavy lined velvet curtains that gather in a puddle on the floor and bit of a pain closing them and also all rads under the windows and really all the heat staying behind the curtains.

I like the look of the shaped edge with the braiding http://www.askaboutmoney.com/#[broken link removed] , actually I think it looks more expenive even though he is pricing all edges the same, (plus alot less work I feel for them, so not sure if thats why he is insisting on the straight edge finish).

am heading to another shop to see if they had any ideas/opinions.

Anyone with blackout blinds in normal windows (no veluxes as bungalow) and what is your finish like. Cheers
 
Yes I have blackout blinds with a straight edge along bottom. The bottom of the blind is actually a metal band, and it has a fuzzy/furry strip along the bottom to form a perfect seal with the window board.

If you have any kind of curvy bottom (!) then light will get in and the smallest bit of light can make the room seem bright.
 
I have blackout blinds in a few bedrooms. Light definitely gets through the slight gap at the sides.

The bottom edge of the blind is straight with no decoration. The blind is long enough to pull it down to sit on the window ledge and no light gets in.

I like my bedroom to be very dark, even on bright summer mornings and I find a combination of black out blinds and well lined curtains to be the only answer.
 
I don't mean to be pedantic but this is what I meant when I said the two concepts were mutually exclusive.

orka, that velux seems to be a purpose built product along the lines of the constructed solution I described.

OP if you look at all the posts by people with direct experience you'll see perfection is impossible to achieve.

Cheaper to buy those black visors to wear to bed at night.

:)

ONQ.
 
Have choosen a blackout fabric for bedrooms, question is does material side face into the bedroom or does the plastic coating side face into bedroom? was getting a decoartive edge myself, this is food for thought!
 
Straight edge is a must. Scalloped edge blackout = waste of time. Even with a straight edge its not possible to block all light using a blind without a frame.

Keep the blind in close to the window.

Cut it as wide as poss within your window dimensions.

Adjust with a bit of lightweight card as necessary so it doesnt pull to one side when its rolled up.

Set the stopper to allow it come as low as possible without hitting the window board.

Finally, a good heavy long curtain or one with blackout lining, which overlaps in the middle and at the right and left of the window reveals, plus ideally a pelmet.
 
Just to follow up on this in case anyone else wondering about using a decorative edge on blackoutblinds. Answer in our house anyway is YES. We went with the wave design. Because the pvc frame of our window is high up off the windowboard there isnt a fraction of light getting in.

blackouts are fabulous, so fab, I actually took down the heavy lined curtains in our bedroom and hung up unlined ones that were a better colour match to our paint as no need for them anymore.

Plastic to the outside, sideissues.
 
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