Questions about blinds for Eldoraigne's older windows and new estates

Usually not directly. The steel casement frames common in Eldoraigne's older face-brick homes cannot take screws the way a plastered reveal can, so we normally fix to the wall or ceiling above the opening and run the blind outside-mounted. What the existing fixings, plastered brick and older lintels will hold is a look-and-tap job done on site, which is one of the reasons the measure visit exists rather than a quote from a photo.

Because the reveals were rarely poured to modern tolerances. Original openings here are often deep, out of square and not a standard size, and an inside-mounted blind needs enough depth and a reasonably true recess to look right. Face-fitting the blind onto the wall above the opening usually seals light better, looks tidier and can make the window feel larger. It is decided window by window at the measure, never assumed from the street.

Fabric rolls run out at roughly three metres before a single blind needs a seam or starts to bow. On a wide Eldoraigne slider or a rear extension's stacking doors, the clean answer is two linked blinds on one motor, moving together so they read as one blind from across the room. Vertical or panel blinds are the other route, because they tilt for light and draw fully clear of the glass. We tell you which applies before you order, not after.

Yes. Tensioned systems hold flat on roof windows and raked gable glass, and the cellular honeycomb blind is the base for most of them because its cell structure keeps its shape on an angle. The same system that works flat on a lounge window handles a skylight, and it stacks to a very small profile when raised, which helps on a shallow recess. Exposed skylights are also on the hail-season watch list, so mention them when you enquire.

On a west wall, an interior blind darkens the room but the sun-struck pane still radiates its absorbed heat inward, especially through the single glazing most Eldoraigne homes still carry. External venetians sit outside the glass and reflect the afternoon load away before it crosses the pane, and the slats still tilt so you keep daylight and the garden view. Where the west glass is small or a body corporate is strict, a good interior blockout roller is the cheaper, invisible-from-the-street alternative, and sometimes the smarter call.

They are a shading product, not a security-rated one, and we price security separately if you ask. What roller shutters do is hold sun, heat and glare off the outside face of the glass, give full blackout when closed, and put a physical face over exposed glass and doors through the November to March hail season. Motorised operation is the sensible specification rather than an upsell, and in a security estate the colour and profile usually need sign-off first.

It does. UV climbs roughly ten to twelve percent for every thousand metres because thinner air filters less, and Eldoraigne sits around 1,430 metres up on the Highveld plateau. The result is high UV all year, strongest from October to March, which fades curtains, carpets and timber faster than at the coast and cooks a west lounge behind original single-pane glass. A sunscreen roller on garden-view glass and a blockout or exterior product on the west side are how we answer it.

For Eldoraigne's single-glazed rooms it is the most insulating interior blind we fit. The pleated fabric forms air cells that sit as a soft thermal buffer against the glass, taking the edge off winter nights and summer afternoons and absorbing some sound too. Double cells are the serious option for a bedroom that bakes or a study that never warms up. The honest trade-off is that a cellular blind raises and lowers but cannot tilt, so it gives you privacy or view, not the in-between a venetian offers.

Only if it is not open when the storm hits, which is why motor plus wind sensor is the responsible specification. Storms build through the afternoon between roughly three and six, peaking in November, and an awning caught open in a gust can be destroyed in minutes. The sensor retracts it before the gust arrives. An awning is also a shade product rather than a rain product: it copes with light drizzle at a pitch, never storm rain or standing water. For walk-away cover, a zip screen enclosure or fixed structure is more robust.

In the newer security-estate pockets such as Eldoglen and Eldo View, and across the surrounding Centurion estates, anything visible from outside usually has to satisfy a guideline on approved exterior colours and profiles. We specify exterior products in clean profiles and estate-appropriate colours, confirm your scheme's requirements before quoting, and can supply the product documentation most committees ask for at submission stage, so an approval is not held up over a datasheet.

Early. A new build in Raslouw usually means a full house of openings going in at once rather than one renovated room, so finishes, colours and control types can be specified together. New builds increasingly wire for motorisation during construction, which avoids retrofitting cable through a finished ceiling later and gives every blind app or schedule control from the start. We are happy to work directly with your builder or project manager and plan blind and roller shutter positions alongside the window schedule.

Yes. The village core has sash and casement windows that suit a warm, natural material rather than a stark modern finish, so timber venetians sit far better there than an aluminium roller ever will, with full tilt control for light. Non-standard openings are common on older village stock, and inside versus outside mount is a real decision on shallower period reveals. Cellular blinds are worth a look for the heritage room that is always coldest, without changing how the window reads from outside.

Timber for warmth, aluminium for the wet rooms. Basswood or bamboo slats suit studies, main bedrooms and the sash-style windows in some older Eldoraigne homes, but they gather dust and can bow in a steamy room over a few wet summers. Aluminium, in a crisp narrow slat or a bolder wide one, wipes clean, never warps and comes in a wide colour range including woodlook finishes, which is why it belongs over the sink, in the bathroom and in the laundry. We bring both to the measure so you can see them in your own light.

Often, yes. Snapped chains, frayed cords, tired brackets and slats that will not tilt are common in Eldoraigne's older homes, and we restring, re-chain and re-bracket on site. When a repair is not worth it, we say so plainly and quote a replacement instead. If you book a repair through the form or chat, one of our expert consultants will contact you shortly to arrange a visit, the same way as for a new fit.