Cassette Blinds and Zip Blinds – when a regular blackout blind is not enough!

At this time of the year, many people are experiencing issues with excessive sunlight in various rooms in the home. Last week we talked about blackout blinds for sunny bedrooms to alleviate problems with waking up too early. In most cases this solution is more than sufficient. However, there are situations where a regular blackout blind may not be enough! For example some people are super-sensitive to light or you may have a large skylight in your kitchen or TV room or very large floor to ceiling windows. These are the types of situation where we may recommend cassette blinds (cassette roller blinds) or zip blinds.

If the idea is to block out the maximum light particularly in a bedroom, choose cassette roller blinds with side channels. How this works is the fabric falls between side channels preventing the light from passing through either side of the window. While cassette blinds do not block out 100% of the light, they do offer a much noticeable improvement on the standard roller blinds. The downside however is that you cannot leave your windows opened when the blinds are pulled down.

Cassette blinds can also be used if you want to hide the roll of your roller blinds. The roll is hidden in a metallic white cassette 75mm square. This cassette is available for use with any kind of fabric.

The next step is to opt for zip blinds. Zip blinds offer the most protection from sunlight. Similarly to cassette blinds, the fabric runs down side channels but the fabric sides are fixed to a zip mechanism which grips better in the side channels offering a much improved resistance to wind draft. At Prêt à Vivre, we offer two types of fabrics with zip blinds: screen fabric for light and heat filtering or blackout fabric to block the light.

Both Cassette and Zip blinds are operated either by using chain side winders or they can be motorised and controlled by wire-free wall switches or remotes or they can be integrated into your existing home automation system, should you have one.

As well as being very useful for large glazed areas such as floor to ceiling widows, zip blinds offer a great solution for skylights, a situation we see more and more on top floors or back extensions of London’s homes. Skylight zip blinds with sun screen fabric greatly reduce the sun’s glare and heat and are most often used in kitchen and living room extensions or bathroom ceilings on top floors.

Blackout skylight zip blinds offer great solutions for cinema rooms and bedrooms. This option is motorised only.

To get our expert advice on the best blackout blind or glare reduction system for your home, contact any of our four London showrooms – Notting Hill, Fulham, Islington and Muswell Hill.