Blind Size Limits

Why are there Size Limits on Roller Blinds?

Our made to measure roller blinds and electric blinds are capable of giving you perfect levels of shade in nearly any window. Our minimum and maximum measurements cover some of the largest and smallest windows you’ll find, so if you're looking for wide blinds, you've come to the right place. It’s when you get into the extreme window widths where some people become a little stuck for choice. This blog is going to take a look at why there are size limits when it comes to roller blinds and how they’re actually an indication of quality.

The main reasoning behind having width limits is mainly due to weight. If you think of a blind spanning over three metres, that’s a lot of m² of fabric sitting on the barrel. That’s also a lot of barrel hanging from the brackets. All this weight puts a lot of strain on the fittings and the barrel itself. You also run the risk of the mechanism becoming tough to operate or having it work too hard to function and it will eventually stop working smoothly.

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For sizes over our maximum roller blind (Premium XL Range) width which is 4700mm, you’ll find yourself heading into the realm of specialist blinds, which is quite a custom affair and generally best covered by a blind installer who knows what to look for.

So, we set limits on our made to measure roller blinds to ensure that our blinds perform perfectly within the maximum conditions that we have tested it for, and that we know won’t let you down.

Sure, we could build a blind to any length we liked, but what would that say about us when you come to install it and it pulls your recess down? We’re all about quality and customer satisfaction, and sometimes if there is an ounce of risk that your blind won’t perform to our high standards every time, it won’t get past us.

Other blind manufacturers will use one type of barrel for every width of blind. This is a small detail that I doubt many people would come to recognise, but DotcomBlinds automatically adjusts the size of the blind barrel to suit your measurements, with no hidden cost to you. A thicker barrel for a blind spanning a greater distance ensures it doesn’t bend in the middle, which would give you the eerie impression that your window is grinning at you like a Cheshire cat. This causes ripples in the fabric and movement in the barrel when you raise or lower the blind.

We incrementally increase barrel sizes to ensure it is strong enough to handle the fabric weight and the square metreage that it stretches across.

Likewise, those cardboard barrels found in the readymade variety of roller blind just don’t cut the mustard and will eventually warp, bend and creak over time. For quality you not only see but also feel, always choose a made to measure wide blind.

Generally, our standard chain operated roller blinds can reach a maximum of 3450mm wide and our new Premium XL range of roller blinds can reach up to 4700mm wide, which for most people is plenty wide enough. If you have a window wider than this (we’re talking nearly four metres), it’s worth considering if you really wanted one roller blind in the first place. It is worth noting that there is a chance of the fabric having a join for wide roller blinds.

A single roller blind covering a very large window presents a lot of fabric, which can look like a solid block of colour. It also means you generally have a lot of daylight being blocked out, which we suppose would spoil the benefits of having such a large window.

Instead, consider whether you can split the window into two, three or four separate roller blinds. This breaks up the amount of fabric raised and lowered in one go and allows you to split part of the window up according to the sun’s position and angle whilst still giving you the ability to enjoy natural light. If you’re feeling particularly artistic you can even mix and match the colours on each blind, which is bold but also beautiful.

A side note on very large windows which will require a very wide blind - consider a vertical blind. These blinds have louvres that dangle incrementally along the window and can be rotated to block light. These are a popular choice for patio doors where it’s necessary to maintain access to the door whilst shading large areas of glass and can look more natural when it comes to spanning large distances. We can make vertical blinds up to 4.5 metres wide with a drop of 4.5m too.

Similarly, we apply minimum widths to our roller blinds because there comes a point where the roller blind would cease to function well enough.

The smallest size we’ll go down to with a roller blind is 200mm by 200mm, which is less than the width of a sheet of A4. Quite what is worth shading with a blind when you have a window that small, who knows, but that is the minimum size we can make a blind before it starts to misbehave.

Smaller blinds encounter issues with things like the fabric not rolling correctly because there is not enough weight in the fabric to hold it in place.

The reason behind this week’s article is to show you how much detail we provide before you even come to order your blind. We’re determined to provide you with an exceptional quality blind but at reasonable prices. There are not many other blind retailers on the market who have the capacity to build single blinds this wide.

The lengths that we go to in providing you with the best service and blinds that we can are vividly highlighted in something as small as the minimum and maximum sizes of our blinds. Anyone else offering blinds that exceed our maximum sizes will possibly either charge you a fortune for specialist parts or the blind itself will let you down. Our honesty and transparency are only out shone by the quality of our blinds. See for yourself today.

*This article was updated 15/06/21 to reflect the wider sizing of our new range of Premium XL roller blinds which have a maximum width of 4700mm compared to a max width of 3450mm on our standard roller blinds*

 

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