Large Roller Blinds, Electric Operation by Somfy Radio Control

London Blind Company recently completed the installation of 13 Large Roller Blinds for a client who was to feature on Grand Designs. Sadly, our blinds didn't feature on the show (they were more interested in architecture!), but we made sure we took some photos and videos to remember what was an excellent and smooth running project.

Concept and Customer Requirements

We first met the client about 8 months before the blinds were needed. This gave us an excellent opportunity to discuss what the client wanted to achieve, and how we were going to achieve it. It also meant that we were able to have some input into the building plans and help design the housings for the blinds. We also planned the power cabling, since all blinds were electrically operated.

It was important that the blinds were invisible when rolled up, and important that the blinds looked good when they were down. We knew this wouldn't be an easy task to achieve, since the windows were huge! The widest one was 4.4mts which really presents a challenge when trying to specify a system that would not have any 'deflection' (this is the term we use to describe bowing in the tube), but also one small enough that it would fit into the tight space that we had to work with.

We came back to the office and started to draw. We spoke to our fabric suppliers, and the factory that was going to put the product together for us, we knew we'd need some outside help on this job....Our production tables just don't stretch to 4.4mts!

Fabric and Parts

We are very lucky to have a great working relationship with two of the most reputable parts suppliers in the country. Mermet are a supplier of specialist fabrics mainly for the commerical market, but they also have a range of high performance fabrics which are perfect for the home too. Our client wanted something stable, hardwearing and blackout so we were able to present two ranges of cloth for them to choose from. We then combined the fabric range with the expertise of our partner Shy (UK) to create blind that could cope with large widths and large drops, radio controlled, that would fit in small spaces!

We had just one issue to overcome, and that was the issue of the fabric joins. Such large blinds require a join, since there isn't a fabric available that comes in such a wide width. Fortunately, we had worked on similar projects before, and so we suggested to our client that rather than have a simple join about 1/3 the way down the blind (which would be like a scar on such a wide expanse!), why didn't we create a 'Feature Panel', whereby we position a band of colour in a calculated position which was approx 1/3 from the bottom of the blind. We also suggested that we should RF weld the joins, so that there was no stitching in the fabric. This would help to avoid the potential for light to bleed through the stitch holes.

Our client loved this idea, so all they had to do was choose the colours and we did the rest. The great thing about the fabric range that used was that every colour had the same white coloured backing. Therefore, even though every room had a different colour on the inside, they would all look the same from the outside. Mermet hand picked the fabrics from the warehouse to ensure the backing matched perfectly, and Shy assembled the fabric pieces into single giant sheets, welded perfectly, with perfectly welded bottom pockets, where a heavy 'weight bar' was hidden.

Installation

The installation was to be the most tricky part of the project. Concepts, theory and manufacturing are simple compared to getting the blinds to fit exactly as planned, and to operate well.

We spent 5 days in the house, fixing mainly into the steel frame of the building, and making sure that every blind was perfectly level. Laser lines were used to ensure bracket heights were perfect. The bracket installation was done within 2 days, and 2 days were spent installing the blinds into the brackets, and making sure they were positioned accurately. A final day was taken to program each blind to the Somfy Radio control wall switches (see video for an image).

Results

The results were excellent, and everything went smoothly. The client was very happy indeed. It was truly satisfying to see a job from concept to installation go so well. If you have a project that needs experts in shading, please get in touch. The sooner we can be invovled, the better we can advise you. These are not the largest roller blinds we've ever installed, we've done them much bigger, almost anything is possible!