Outdoor blinds Gold Coast

No honest supplier gives you a per-blind figure before measuring, because the span is what drives the price and every alfresco is a different shape. Three things move the number: the width of the opening — past about five metres you are into heavier bottom rails and sometimes a centre post — the fabric, where sunscreen mesh is the cheapest and blockout PVC the dearest, and whether it is motorised. A motor and its wiring is usually the largest single line on the quote. We itemise component by component so you can see which of the three you are paying for, and take one out if you would rather not.

Mesh is not, and nobody should tell you otherwise. Sunscreen mesh has an open weave by design — that is what lets the air through — so driving rain goes straight through it too. Clear PVC and blockout PVC are waterproof, and in a track system with a sealed bottom rail they will keep an alfresco dry through most of what a Gold Coast summer sends sideways. If keeping the rain out is the brief, say so at the measure. It changes the fabric, not the frame.

They solve different problems. Zip track and the other track-guided systems hold the fabric in an aluminium channel down both edges, so the blind stays flat, seals at the sides and can be stopped at any height. Café blinds — clear PVC on ropes and eyelets — cost less and suit a sheltered courtyard where the blind lives up for nine months of the year. On an exposed deck the rope loosens, the panel drums in the afternoon breeze and the eyelets eventually win the argument with the fabric.

It depends on whether you are shading an area or a window. A folding arm awning reaches out over a courtyard or terrace on hinged arms and folds back against the wall when you want the sun, so it suits a space with open sky above it. A straight-drop or fixed awning sits above a window and comes down its face, stopping heat at the glass — that is the western-elevation answer. Outdoor blinds do a third job: they close in a space that already has a roof. Plenty of Gold Coast houses need two of the three, and we will tell you at the measure which openings want which.

Track-guided ones will, within reason. The Bureau of Meteorology records a mean 3pm wind speed of 23.3 km/h at the Gold Coast Seaway, and that figure barely moves across the year — this is an average afternoon, not a storm. A track system holds the fabric along its whole edge, which is what keeps it quiet at that speed. No outdoor blind is a storm shutter, though. Leave one down in a genuine blow and you have hung a sail off your patio, and the load goes into the structure, not the fabric.

On this coastline, usually yes. The balcony is common property in most schemes and an outdoor blind changes the external appearance of the building, so it is a decision the body corporate makes rather than you. Many Gold Coast buildings already have an approved colour and style on file. Get the approval in writing before you order — a custom blind made to your opening is not returnable. We will give you the specification and a drawing to submit with the application.

Two to three weeks from check-measure to installation for most track-guided and straight-drop blinds, and three to four for larger commercial spans. Motorised blinds usually add a week, depending on the motor and whether power needs to be run to the opening. We tell you the lead time on the quote, not after the deposit.

Fresh water and a soft brush, twice a year, and more often if you are within a few streets of the surf. The point is not the fabric — it is the tracks and the fasteners, where salt collects and starts pitting anything not specified for it. Never put solvent or a household spray on clear PVC; it hazes the vinyl permanently and there is no undoing it. Warm water and a soft cloth is the whole method.