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Sunscreen roller blinds, for glare and heat without losing the view
Sunscreen fabric is woven with tiny gaps. It cuts glare and solar heat while you still see out, which is why it suits south-facing rooms, desks and conservatories better than any other roller blind. There is one thing you need to know about it at night.
- Keeps the view
- Cuts glare on screens
- Reduces solar heat gain
How sunscreen fabric works
Sunscreen, also sold as solar, screen or mesh fabric, is a woven mesh, usually polyester wrapped in PVC or a glass-fibre core. The threads are solid; the gaps between them are what you see through. The blind is not translucent in the way a voile is. It is a fine grid, and your eye looks straight through the holes.
That is why the view survives. Sit at a desk behind a sunscreen blind on a bright afternoon and you can still see the garden, the street, the weather, but the hard glare is gone and the room is noticeably cooler.
Openness factor
Every sunscreen fabric has an openness factor, given as a percentage. It is the proportion of the fabric that is holes rather than thread. It is the single most useful number when choosing.
| Openness | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3% | Most privacy and the strongest glare control. The view is muted but present. | Ground-floor rooms overlooked by a street or neighbours; rooms with screens. |
| 5% | The usual compromise, and what we fit most often. | Living rooms, home offices, most south-facing windows. |
| 10% | Clearest view, least privacy, least glare reduction. | Upper floors and rooms where the view is the whole point. |
Lower openness means a tighter weave: more privacy and more heat blocked, less view. Higher openness is the opposite. There is no best number: there is only the right one for that window, which is why we bring samples and hold them up at your glass rather than asking you to choose from a screen.
The night-time reversal: read this before you buy. Sunscreen blinds work by letting light through. During the day it is brighter outside than in, so you see out and people outside see very little. After dark with your lights on, that flips: you are now the bright side, and people outside can see in.
This catches people out constantly, and it is the main reason sunscreen blinds get returned. It is not a fault and it is not specific to any brand: it is physics, and it applies to every sunscreen blind sold by anyone.
If the room needs evening privacy, you have three options: a day and night blind, which switches between open and closed weave on one chain; a second blackout or dim-out blind on the same window; or curtains over the top. We will raise this at the measure rather than let you find out at nine o'clock one evening.
Heat, glare and fading
Solar heat
A sunscreen blind reflects and absorbs a good share of the solar energy hitting the glass before it becomes heat in the room. The effect is largest with a light-coloured fabric and a low openness factor, because pale fabric reflects and a tight weave leaves less to pass through.
This is the one place where a light colour genuinely outperforms a dark one. A charcoal sunscreen blind gives a crisper view and better glare control, but it absorbs heat and re-radiates some of it inwards. A white one reflects more of it back out. If a conservatory is cooking in July, go pale.
Screen glare
The most common reason people call us about sunscreen blinds is a home office where the monitor is unreadable after lunch. A 3% or 5% fabric solves it without turning the room into a cave, which is what a blackout blind would do.
UV and fading
Sunscreen fabrics block a substantial proportion of UV, which slows the fading of floors, rugs and furniture near a sunny window. They do not eliminate it. Treat this as a real benefit, not a guarantee.
Where sunscreen blinds work best
Conservatories
The obvious case. A conservatory in summer is a heat problem before it is a light problem, and sunscreen is the fabric that addresses heat while keeping the reason you built a glass room in the first place. See conservatory roller blinds for how we handle the roof as well as the windows.
Home offices and studies
Glare on a screen, all afternoon, every sunny day. A 3% or 5% fabric fixes it and leaves you able to look out of the window.
South and west-facing living rooms
West-facing rooms are worse than south-facing ones for low evening sun straight into your eyes. Sunscreen handles it without you having to shut the room off.
Kitchens with a garden view
Where you want to watch children in the garden while cooking. Sunscreen is the only roller fabric that lets you do that with the blind down. If steam is a factor, ask about a coated moisture-resistant screen fabric instead.
Offices and commercial spaces
Standard specification in commercial fit-outs, usually in a fire-retardant grade. See commercial roller blinds.
Where it is the wrong choice
- Bedrooms. Sunscreen does not darken a room and gives no night privacy. Use blackout.
- Bathrooms. You can see shapes through sunscreen fabric at close range, and at night more than shapes.
- Any room where privacy matters more than view. If in doubt, it does not meet the need.
Cleaning
Easier than most fabrics. The weave is open so dust falls through rather than settling, and PVC-coated screen fabric wipes clean with a damp cloth. No detergent, no scrubbing, and let it dry fully down before rolling it up.
Choosing
See the fabric at your own window
Openness factor and colour are almost impossible to judge from a photograph. A 5% white looks completely different at your glass, in your light, facing your view, than it does on a screen.
We bring the sample books to the measure. If you would rather look first, order free samples and hold them up at the window yourself, in daylight, and again after dark with the lights on.
Related
Compare before you decide
Blackout vs sunscreen
The two do opposite jobs. Which room needs which, side by side.
Read the comparisonDay & night blinds
The answer to the night-privacy problem, on a single chain.
Read moreConservatory blinds
Windows and roof, where solar fabric does the most work.
Read moreThermal blinds
For keeping heat in through winter rather than out in summer.
Read more
Common questions
Sunscreen blinds, answered
Yes, once your lights are on and it is dark outside. Sunscreen works by letting light through, so it always reveals the darker side to the brighter side. During the day that protects you; at night it does the opposite.
If evening privacy matters, pair it with a day and night blind, a second blackout blind, or curtains. We will flag this when we measure.
5% suits most rooms. Go to 1 to 3% if you are overlooked or fighting screen glare, and 10% if the view is the priority and privacy is not.
Lower numbers mean a tighter weave: more privacy, more heat blocked, less view.
Yes, by reflecting and absorbing solar energy before it becomes heat inside the room. The effect is clearest in conservatories and south or west-facing rooms.
A light-coloured fabric with a low openness factor reduces heat most. Dark fabrics give a better view but absorb more heat.
Dark gives the crisper view and better glare control, because less light scatters within the weave. Light reflects more solar heat back out.
So: dark for a study where you want to see out clearly, light for a conservatory you are trying to cool down.
They block a substantial share of UV and will slow fading noticeably near a sunny window. They will not stop it completely.
A lower openness factor blocks more.
Openness factor, and what it actually looks like
Every sunscreen fabric carries an openness factor: the percentage of its surface that is holes. It is the single number that decides how much glare it cuts and how much of the view survives, and it matters far more than the colour does.
The same fabric at four openness factors
More holes means more view and more glare. Less means a darker, more private room.
A representation of relative weave density, not a fabric sample. Order free samples and hold them against your own window: openness reads completely differently with real daylight behind it.
Two points people are rarely told. A darker fabric gives a clearer view out at the same openness factor, because the weave itself is less visible against bright daylight, which is why a charcoal sunscreen usually beats a white one for a room with a view worth keeping. And a lighter fabric reflects more solar heat, so if the problem is temperature rather than glare, white or silver does more work.
Whichever you pick, sunscreen fabric gives daytime privacy only. After dark, with the lights on inside, it works in reverse and people outside can see in. If the room is used in the evening, plan for that, either a day and night blind or a second blackout blind on the same window.
Let us show you the difference at your window
Openness factor is a number until you hold it up to your own glass. Free measure, samples brought to you, written quote, no obligation.
Unit C3, Star Business Centre, Marsh Way, Rainham RM13 8UP