One Screen, Post To Post
Outdoor blinds and screens for openings wider than a standard blind will go — ZipScreen to 7 metres, the Phantom Executive to 12 metres in a single span — measured and fitted across Brisbane and the Gold Coast by an authorised Phantom dealer.
Why Lusso, Brisbane & Gold Coast
Fewer Joins, More View
Plenty of outdoor blinds stop well short of a modern alfresco, so the usual answer to a wide opening is two or three blinds side by side, with a join where you wanted the view. Sometimes that’s right: if the posts are already there, use them. When they aren’t, we fit two systems that span further than most — ZipScreen to 7 metres, and the Phantom Executive to 12 metres in a single screen.
The range
Local conditions
Wind On The Alfresco, Lifts In The Tower
Across Brisbane and the Gold Coast, the openings that outgrow a standard blind are usually one of two things. The first is the new or renovated alfresco, where the roof runs the length of the house and wide stacking doors open onto it. The second is the high-rise balcony on the coast. They go wrong in different ways.
On the alfresco, width is wind load. A screen twice as wide gives a gust twice the fabric to push on, and the Bureau of Meteorology puts southern Queensland in the highest severe thunderstorm risk from October to December — the same weeks you most want to be outside. So every wide screen we fit comes with the same advice: fully down or fully up, never half-way, and a wind sensor if nobody is always home to raise it.
On the balcony, the problem turns up before the screen does. A long one-piece housing may not fit in the lift, so Phantom’s Exec Connect arrives in two parts and is joined on site. Check the building’s body corporate by-laws before you order, too, because they decide what can be fixed to the outside of it.
Neither problem is in the brochure. Both are there on installation day.
The detail that matters
What Changes Past 8 Metres
The 12-metre figure is real, but it isn’t the whole spec sheet. These three decide whether one wide screen suits your opening, and the honest answer is sometimes two smaller ones.
Up to 8 metres wide, an Executive 140 or 180 runs a drop of up to 5 metres. Past 8 metres it moves to the oversize 180, which sits in support cradles and limits the drop to 3.3 metres. Most single-storey alfrescos are well inside that. A double-height void isn’t, and there two screens beat one.
The full 12 metres is for mesh: insect, midge and solar. Privacy fabrics stop at 8 metres wide, and clear PVC at around 5.5. If you want a wind-and-rain screen across a 10-metre opening, that’s two screens, and I’d rather say so here than at the measure. Phantom’s figures for every mesh are in the Phantom Executive guide.
Phantom’s own rule of thumb is that under about 4 metres, used now and then, a manual zip-track blind does the shading job, and for less. If itInsect and midge mesh are Executive-only.rsquo;s insects youInsect and midge mesh are Executive-only.rsquo;re after, our insect and midge mesh come only in the Executive. ZipScreen spans to 7 metres by spring, crank or motor. Past 7 metres, or on a big opening you’ll run every day, it’s an Executive, which is motorised and hardwired in Australia, so tell the electrician early.
Our clients
Still Answering Years Later
A wide outdoor blind is judged after its first storm season, by who comes back when something needs a look. One of these clients found out about a 3.5-metre blind fourteen years on.
The painter damaged our 14 years old, 3.5 metres wide blind. I struggled to find a company that could give a quote. It was difficult to find Lusso, the original blind supplier, as they have moved location. Deb was helpful…
Ellie Spanos
Best Blind Company ever. They made my blinds and gave great after service when the huge wind storms came to my place in Tweed a while back. They didn't think twice about coming to check the blinds and make sure everything…
Judith Taylor
Very happy with all my Lusso blinds. We have had them 14 years and not a problem at all. When we recently had to repair our outdoor blind, they were swift and very efficient in fixing and it is working perfectly again. Would highly recommend this company for all your window covering needs.
Leanne
Where they go
What I Would Actually Specify
One Executive across the whole span in insect or solar mesh, with a wind sensor. If the ceiling isn’t lined yet, recess the housing into it now, because it’s far harder later.
QuoteA ZipScreen, which spans it with no join and costs less than an Executive. Motorised if you’ll run it every day, spring or crank if you won’t.
QuoteUse the posts. One screen per bay, each sized to its gap, with the housings matched so the run reads as one. A 12-metre screen across posts you can’t move buys you nothing.
QuoteAn Executive with a wind sensor, and Exec Connect where a one-piece housing won’t go up in the lift. Body corporate approval first, measure second.
QuoteNot one screen. Past 12 metres, or past 3.3 metres of drop on anything wider than 8, we split it at a post and match the screens either side.
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 opening before we can quote.
Itemised component by component, and valid for 30 days.
Nothing starts until you are comfortable with the selections.
Where we work
Brisbane To Byron Bay
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
A Phantom Executive runs up to 12 metres wide in a single screen in mesh, with the drop limited to 3.3 metres once it is wider than 8. A ZipScreen goes to 7 metres wide and 5 metres drop. The final limits depend on the fabric and are confirmed at the measure.
It depends on the width and drop, the system, the housing size, the fabric, whether it is recessed or surface-mounted, any sensors, and the electrical work, so we don’t quote a figure before measuring. The measure and quote are free, and the quote is itemised so you can see each of those parts.
Yes, side by side at a post, with the housings matched so the run reads as one. Where there is no post, one wide screen is usually the better answer, because each side channel needs something solid to fix to.
It is a screen, not a storm shutter. The side channels hold the mesh taut in a breeze, but a wide screen should be fully up in a storm, never half-way, and a wind sensor raises it automatically. Phantom publishes no km/h rating, so we don’t quote one.
The Executive does: every one sold in Australia is motorised and hardwired. A ZipScreen up to 7 metres can be spring, crank or motorised.
No. Privacy fabrics go to 8 metres wide and clear PVC to around 5.5. The full 12 metres is for insect, midge and solar mesh, so a wider opening in either fabric is two screens.
Yes. Where a one-piece housing won’t fit in the lift, Phantom’s Exec Connect comes in two parts and is joined on site. Check your body corporate by-laws before ordering.
Brisbane and the whole Gold Coast, as part of a service area that runs from Byron Bay to Brisbane.
Get in touch
Free measure & quote, Brisbane to Byron Bay
Tell us how wide the opening is and we'll come to you with the fabric samples, measure properly, and tell you honestly whether it wants one screen or two.
