Cooler By Four In The Afternoon
Thermal blinds made to measure and fitted by the third generation of a family business trading since 1978. Honeycomb, blockout roller and metallised Verosol fabric — through Brisbane, the Gold Coast and down to Byron Bay.
Why Lusso, Brisbane & Gold Coast
Most Heat Moves Around A Blind, Not Through It
Thermal fabric is real and it works. It is also the cheap half of the job. Buy the best insulating fabric on the market, hang it 10mm clear of the reveal on each side, and you have built a chimney — warm air rises up the gap, cool air draws in at the bottom, and the fabric never gets a chance to do anything. Seal the edges and the same fabric performs. That is the whole argument, and it is why we measure before we quote.
The range
Local conditions
The West Wall Is Where It Gets In
South-east Queensland builds generous eaves, and they work — against a high northern sun in the middle of the day. By four in the afternoon the sun is low enough to come in underneath them, straight onto the western glass, during exactly the hours the room is being used. That is why a west-facing living room can be the hottest room in a house that is otherwise comfortable, and why the answer is at the window rather than in the ceiling.
The second-order problem is the glass itself. A lot of the Gold Coast and Brisbane stock we work in is large single-glazed aluminium sliders and floor-to-ceiling apartment glazing. According to the Australian Government's Your Home guide, up to 87% of a home's heating energy can be gained through windows and up to 40% lost through them. Aluminium frames conduct heat as readily as the glass does, so a blind cut to the size of the glass leaves the part still conducting completely uncovered.
Then there is the constraint nobody writes about. A great deal of the Gold Coast glass that most needs shading sits on apartment balconies, where anything fixed to the outside of the building needs body corporate approval and often does not get it. That is the case where an internal thermal blind stops being the second-best answer and becomes the only one available — and it is worth doing properly, because there is no external option waiting behind it.
Eaves were designed for a sun directly overhead. The one that ruins a west room at four in the afternoon has never read the plans.
The detail that matters
Three Gaps Decide Whether It Works
Every competitor page on this subject compares fabrics. None of them mention the three places heat actually gets past a thermal blind, which is a shame, because they are the three things a measure is for.
A blind fitted inside the reveal with clearance either side leaves a continuous vertical gap between warm glass and cool room. Air circulates through it all day, and the fabric is bypassed rather than beaten. Side channels close it. So does face-fixing the blind outside the reveal with a generous overlap, which is usually cheaper and, on most windows, works just as well.
Heated air rises. On a standard roller blind it rises straight out of the gap around the roll at the top, which quietly vents the cavity you just paid to create. A headbox or a pelmet closes the loop, and it is the single largest difference between a blind made of thermal fabric and a blind that is actually thermal. It is also the line item people delete first from a quote.
An aluminium window frame is a conductor bolted through the wall. Size a blind to the glass and the frame stays exposed, still moving heat in both directions. Measuring to the opening rather than the pane is free at quote stage and impossible to fix afterwards, which is the sort of decision we would rather make with a tape in hand than over email.
Gold Coast clients
Heat, Glare And Whether It Held Up
These three were chosen because they talk about the thing this page is about — sun, heat and how the blinds behaved a few years in, in units on the coast where the climate does the testing for us.
So good! I love the blind, the way it looks and the amount it has minimised the sun and heat.
Dayana Winnall
We are very happy with our sun blinds, they are very effective in keeping sun and glare out. The installers were very professional and we would have no problems recommending Lusso blinds to anyone.
Lyell Crapper
We have been very happy that we chose Lusso blinds right through our beachside unit. The quality is excellent and perfect for the climate and the salt air. On the rare occasion that we have needed a repair it has been done…
Anne-Marie Malouf
Where they go
Not Every Window Needs The Upgrade
Honeycomb, blockout, with side channels or a wide face fix. This is the one room where the thermal case and the darkness case point at the same product, so it is where the money goes first.
QuoteHoneycomb if the window is a fixed pane, a blockout roller in channels if it is a slider. If you can also shade it from outside, do that instead — see the note below, we mean it.
QuoteInternal only, because the body corporate will almost certainly say no to anything on the balcony face. Measure to the opening, not the glass, and take the pelmet.
QuoteGlare is usually the complaint and heat is the cause. A light-filtering honeycomb keeps the daylight and drops the load, which beats sitting in the dark with a lamp on at three.
QuoteHonestly, often nothing. Small windows on the south or east side of a house are not where your heat is coming from, and a thermal blind on one is money spent on the wrong wall.
QuoteHow it works
Three steps, quote in 48 hours
We come to you anywhere on the Gold Coast. Detailed quote within 24 to 48 hours, valid for 30 days — no deposit to get a price.
We need the dimensions and the aspect of the room before we can quote. On a thermal job the aspect is not a formality — it decides the product.
Itemised component by component, so the channels and the pelmet are visible line items rather than buried in a total. Valid for 30 days.
Nothing starts until you are comfortable with the selections. Fifty per cent on order, the balance on the day of installation.
Where we work
Byron Bay To Brisbane
From Byron Bay to Brisbane, across the whole Gold Coast and inland to the hinterland. If you're anywhere on that stretch, we'll come to you.
Before you ask
Yes, and the fit decides by how much. The fabric traps a layer of still air against the glass, which slows heat moving in either direction. What defeats it is air escaping around the edges and out of the top, so a blind sealed at the sides and capped with a pelmet outperforms a more expensive fabric hung with gaps. Australian Government figures put window heat gain at up to 87% of a home's heating energy, so there is plenty to work with.
Barely, and we would rather say so. Winter heat loss is the reason thermal blinds sell in Melbourne and Canberra, and it is not the reason to buy them here. In south-east Queensland the case is summer heat gain on west and north-west glass, and it is a strong one. If a salesperson leads with your winter heating bill, they are reading a brochure written for another state.
Honeycomb blinds win on the mechanism alone. The fabric folds into sealed pockets that hold still air between the room and the glass, so the insulating layer is built into the blind rather than relying on the space in front of the window. A blockout roller blind in side channels is the next best, and on a wide slider it is often the more practical fitting. We fit both.
If you can, probably yes. External shading stops the sun before it is through the glass, while an internal blind works on heat that is already in the room. The Your Home shading guide puts effective shading at up to 90% of the heat a square metre of direct sun delivers. If you own the wall and the aspect allows it, an awning or an outdoor blind is the better first move, and we fit those too. We have written up how much heat outdoor blinds actually stop separately. If you are in an apartment, the internal blind is the answer and it is worth doing properly.
We will not put a figure on it before a measure, because the channels, the pelmet and the opening size move the number more than the fabric does. What we will commit to is the shape: a free measure, an itemised quote within 24 to 48 hours that shows every component separately, valid for 30 days, and no deposit until you order.
Honeycomb blinds run 2 to 3 weeks from check-measure to installation. Motorisation adds about a week, more if power has to be run to the opening. Those are good-faith estimates and the number for your job goes on the quote, not after the deposit.
We work from Byron Bay to Brisbane, which takes in the whole Gold Coast, the Tweed Coast and the Brisbane inner suburbs, and we travel nationally for larger jobs. If you are not sure whether you are inside that, ring us on 07 5528 4006 and ask.
Get in touch
Free measure & quote, Gold Coast wide
Tell us which rooms and we'll come to you with the fabric range, measure properly, and tell you honestly which windows need side tracks and which don't.
