Vertical blinds serve three basic purposes. The first is as a beautiful part of the decoration within your home, adding an lit-up section of beauty and interest to a large and significant area of the room. The second purpose is as a means to improve or increase privacy, obscuring the contents of the room from outside the home for whatever reason, or at night to gain privacy from passers by. The third is as a tool to reduce and limit the amount of heat which enters the room from the sunlight which passes through the window.
Excess heat energy can be a major factor in reaching comfort in the home, and blinds can help by preventing heat from entering the room in the first place. This is preferable to paying for and housing an air conditioning unit or other fan to try to reduce the temperature of the room, while it still continues to be heated from the outside. Contrary to vinyl blinds industry propaganda, blinds from polyester woven fabric are significantly better than PVC based vertical louvers when it comes to blocking the sunlight and heat which reaches the window panels. PVC vertical louvers permit much of the heat to pass through, meaning that while you may have privacy, and some reduction in the amount of unwanted light entering the room, PVC blinds louvers will not greatly reduce the amount of heat entering the room, and so it will still be necessary to pay for air conditioning or some other means by which the room can be cooled. In addition to the heat which enters a room, there is also a significant and often forgotten amount of ultra violet light, or UV light, which can be harmful in excess.
Many PVC vertical blinds louvers have a special anti-UV layer added, but polyester woven blinds fabric is far better at reducing the amount of UV entering the room, and is less likely to suffer damage by ultra violet light. This is because they not only are protected from the UV light, but they also stop much of it from entering by reflection. Another advantage which polyester woven fabric blinds have over PVC based louvers is that they have a substantial amount more flexibility compared to plastic products. The give is the amount of sideways or vertical stretch which a blinds material can withstand before distortion or damage takes place.
Most plastic based materials, such as PVC, stretch in both directions but have little or no elasticity, which means that while they may give in the vertical plane, this is likely to lead to distortion over time, meaning that PVC vertical louvers can appear buckled and warped, and may not fit as snugly in the frame as they used to. This will result in greater light pollution round the side, and an old look before its time. Because polyester woven fabrics which are used in vertical blinds are made using two woven strands running in both the horizontal and vertical planes, the strands can flex across each others' paths and give the vertical blinds a much greater amount of give and elasticity.
This means that, even with continual use, the blinds material will not pull, distort or buckle, and will hold the same smart flush appearance that it did when purchased new. In today's age and climate we must also consider the environmental consequences of the materials we use in the home.
PVC based blinds products, which are no longer required and are destroyed, are often burned, but in burning PVC a substance known as hydrochloric acid is released which is highly corrosive and dangerous. Indeed, it is hydrochloric acid which is considered responsible for acid rain, which has been known to cause so much harm and damage. There is no doubt that PVC based products are less kind to the environment in the long run than woven fabrics. Therefore, vertical blinds made from these woven fabrics are far kinder to the environment when they have served their inevitable lifespan and are due replacement.
One additional advantage which woven fabrics blinds have over PVC vertical blinds is the weight factor. PVC weighs alot, whereas woven fabric vertical blinds weight significantly less. This difference may seem relatively little when opening or closing the blind, but a greater amount of weight means that the blind will hang straighter, and be less likely to flap in any breeze. This also means that the fabric blind will have a longer lasting headrail control system, and can use fewer installation brackets, thus making them easier to install. The extra amount of weight makes a big difference to the overall appearance of vertical blinds.
In conclusion, vertical blinds from PVC have distinct disadvantages to vertical blinds made from fabric, and fabric blinds from woven polyester are substantially more advantageous when it comes to the significant concerns for blinds.
Since the early 1980's, vertical blinds have been a very popular way to dress windows and doors in the US. Because of their functionality and because vertical blind louvers freely hang from their track mechanism, these louvers can be fabricated from different types of materials such as fabrics, screens or rigid PVC. In the early days of vertical blinds, louvers were interconnected via a clip and chain in the case of fabric or screen materials or via a #6 chain that connected the PVC louvers through a keyhole punch in the vanes. As the product evolved over the years, this ?interconnecting? has been discontinued as unnecessary and perhaps unsightly.
Due to the fact, as previously mentioned, that vertical blinds louvers are free hanging and able to sway, noise is a factor to be considered whenever a purchasing decision is being made. If vertical blinds fabricated of PVC are used to block light or control radiant heat from entering a room, the consumer must remember that PVC louvers swaying against one another will create a bothersome sound which may prevent you from a good night's sleep if moved by the moving force of air from your air conditioning vent.
Due to these concerns with vertical blinds with PVC louvers, vertical blinds with fabric louvers are not only an excellent choice but their popularity has proven that this benefit is desired by many consumers. Additionally, fabric vertical blinds are available in hundreds of patterns and colors not available in PVC. Consumers should also be aware of the different quality levels of fabric louvers that will ultimately affect the way they hang, longevity, translucency factors and the ease of cleaning. High quality fabrics will always hang straight, last many years and can be easily cleaned with soapy water and damped dry projecting a sharp appearance regardless of their age.
Most of the vertical blinds fabric louvers are manufactured using two basis methods that are weaving and stitch bonding. These two types of fabrics are very different in feel and appearance and I will elaborate on the difference in the following paragraphs.
Stitch bonded fabrics are manufactured in a process with fibers which are compressed and then stitched through. Sometimes the stitching, which is there in part to hold the material together, is designed in a certain style in order to create a pattern. These patterns are usually linear, running the length of the fabric. Stitch bonded fabrics, for those who may not know are often used as curtain liners in draperies, and while these materials usually are not as heavy as the type used in vertical blinds, they do reflect the way the fabric is manufactured. They are usually much lower in cost than woven fabric vertical blinds.
Conversely, woven fabrics are traditionally manufactured using high-end, fast weaving equipment that presses one thread down while inserting the next thread into place at very high rates of speed and with great accuracy. This process enhances the durability of the fabric over time thus the reason why it is used to manufacture fabric clothing of all types. One of the additional benefits of this process is the production of many of many more styles and patterns when compared to stitch bonding. Regarding vertical blinds, woven fabrics, albeit more expensive, do project a finer appearance and will look ?new? much longer that stitch bonded fabrics.
Based on the aforementioned facts, you can now make a right decision when choosing vertical blinds fabric louvers. The less expensive stitch bond with a limited selection of patterns and colors or the richer looking woven fabric, albeit more expensive, with a larger selection of patterns, colors and styles. Your decision will affect the appearance of the specific space for years to come and a little higher initial cost may make a big difference. Invest wisely in your vertical blinds.
Judith Persit has sinced written about articles on various topics from Family, Interior Design and Home Management. Judith Persit is an expert regarding window treatments, and particularly vertical blinds as she has bought them many times for her various homes. She writes often about. Judith Persit's top article generates over 368000 views. to your Favourites.