BEST BLINDS FOR OFFICES

Scouring the internet for information of the best blinds for offices? Struggling to make sense of which will be the best blinds for your office?

If so we are here to help.

In this article we will talk about all of the factors that dictate the performance, and reliability of your office blinds, and the questions you should be asking any blind companies who you ask to quote.

And by the time you have finished reading this you will not only have a clear sense of the best blinds for your offices, but you will finally be on the right path to the right blinds.

Let’s dive in.

The 2 main style of blinds used in offices in the UK are Roller Blinds and Vertical Blinds.

There are 2 key factors that will really help in deciding what are the best blinds for offices.

Factor 1: The size of the windows.

Size does matter! Does your office have fairly small windows, or is your office more open plan with large, wide windows?

If your office has small windows then Vertical or Roller Blinds will be perfectly suitable (Factor 2 will help you decide which is better). If your office has wide windows then Vertical Blinds are perfect with a single Vertical Blind that can be made up to 5 metres wide. You could still have Roller blinds on wide windows but you would need multiple blinds to cover each window.

Factor 2: What do you need the blinds for?

There are generally 2 reasons for having blinds in offices… Privacy and glare reduction and sometime a bit of both.

If you need your blinds for privacy then my recommendation would be Vertical Blinds.

Vertical Blinds will cover the whole of the window to provide the privacy you need and having the option to tilt the louvres to allow extra light in whilst still maintaining a good level of privacy.

Privacy with Roller Blinds is only really achieved when the blinds are fully closed with no way of increasing the light entering the room.

If it is all about glare reduction and not privacy then it would be Roller Blinds.

Roller blinds give you the option of lowering the blind far enough to cut out the glare whilst still allowing natural light through the bottom part of the window.

So now we have given some thought to the style of your office blinds, let’s talk about the choice of fabrics.

There are 3 options and they are the same for both Roller and Vertical Blinds and it all comes down to how much light you need to block out.

Option 1 is a standard fabric that will cut out a percentage of the glare and still let a good amount of light into your office when fully closed whilst providing you a reasonable level of privacy.

Option 2 is a reflective backed fabric that will cut out a good percentage of the glare whilst still allowing some light through the fabric. Reflective fabric will provide you with a good level of privacy.

Option 3 is a blackout fabric that will make your office pretty dark as there will be no light coming through the fabric. Perfect for privacy when your blinds are fully closed.

Blinds style chosen, fabric decided now let’s talk about reliability.

There is nothing more annoying than when just don’t work as well as they should or last as long as you would expect.

The biggest issue we come across when we get asked to look at office blinds that have stopped working is that the blinds have been made with the same components we would use in our domestic blinds.

This is not something you can see as the components are inside a rail or in the barrel of a roller blind. The reason these parts have been used is down to cost. Parts in the blinds for your home are cheaper than the parts we would use on the blinds in your office (if you have large windows at home we would use the same parts as your office blinds).

Office blinds tend to be bigger than the one’s at home and are often used with a little less care than when you are using the blinds in your home so the components used have to match.

In my opinion Vertical Blinds in offices, schools and hospitals should be made with wheeled runner.

The orange parts in the photo are the wheels. The wheels will ensure the blind runs smoothly no matter how big or how heavy the fabric. Not something you would ever notice until a few years down the line and you are struggling to open and close your blinds.

You can also see in the photo the clear part at the bottom of the runner that the fabric clips into. You will notice that the fabric will sit in a slot so when you have the windows open there is no chance of the fabric coming unclipped from the rail. Again something that is not normally seen on the blinds in your home.

We are fitting more and more Roller Blinds in offices with gear operation.

The gear operation means your blinds will have no chains or cords that can get tangled and twisted over time. The blind is operated using a handle that can be detached when the blind is in the position required.

These are only small things but both will help massively in reducing maintenance and improving the lifespan of your blinds.

I hope that helps to give you a good idea on the best blinds for offices. If you are in Leicestershire and need any further advice please give us a call on 0116 2769771 or leave your details and we will call you back https://www.barlowblinds.com/contact . If you would like to know more about Office Blinds cost this article will help https://www.barlowblinds.com/office-blinds-cost