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I was hoping that someone could provide ideas for making sun screens/blocks for a Four Seasons sun room. Fours Seasons makes shades etc. but they are pricey.
The room itself is not that big 5′ by 10′ (@ 30″ panels) and I am only looking to “block” the sun on the top sections – and maybe a bit of the curve of the next panel.
I was thinking about using an existing groove in the metal frames, e.g. inserting 30″ by 48″ thin acrylic/ etc. sheets. but I am not sure if this is practical given the heat that would be hitting the panels. The groove is approximately 1/8″
I was also thinking some fabric but am at a loss for making it both stiff and flexible enough to stay close to the contour of the panels. I suppose one frame with fabric – or some sun blocking material – stretched tight that crosses the entire length attached to the bottom of the framwork could work but I am hoping to have these “sit” inside the panel framework.
Any thoughts that you may have would be very much appreciated. Also if you know of a good sun blocking material for an application such as this – that would be helpful as well.
Thanks in advance
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I have a redwood sunroom that is all glass, 12x20. To knock down some of the sunlight, it came equipped with shades, which are nothing more than screens that are densely woven (4 or 5 strands one way to one strand perpendicular.) It is effective (noticably) at blocking some sun. There is about a 10 -15 degrees difference between having the shade or not, for the same day.
Mine came with the sunroom (The Sunroom Company has since gone out of business) and they slide in redwood grooves. Several are torn, so eventually I'll need to replace them.
One drawback to the screens/shades is that they need to go up in stages (14 screens total in 7 bays, so each bay has 2) depending on the elevation of the sun. I put the lower set in about a month ago. It's time to put in the upper set for the summer. In september, the upper set comes down, in October/November, the lower set is stored for the winter (I made a box slung under the sunroom to store them in.)
I'm not getting any younger, so if there was a more practical (and economic) solution, I'd look seriously into it.
Thanks for the reply. My room came with some rubber-like sun block roller shades (bad smell and more trouble than they are worth).
I have looked at what 4 seasons has but the shades will cost more than what I paid for the sun room to begin with.
Thanks again. I appreciated you taking the time to respond.
So I opened the paper this morning and what did I find? An ad from a company called, Shade & Shutter Systems inc. They may have what you're looking for. Call 1-800-522-1599. http://www.shadeandshutter.com The ad mentions a product called EasyShader Sunscreen panels for use with solariums, but I couldn't finnd the product on the web site.
Hope this helps.
Thanks again for the response. I will look into the company and hopefully they will have some easy, cost effective solutions. Thank you.
On the cheap side:
Idea #1. Buy inexpensive mini-blinds. Have the store (or you) trim them to the inside dimension of the 1/8" track. Remove the number of slats you don't need, keeping the rest together with the original stringing. Extend and bend slightly to fit the slats into the tracks. Move as a unit up or down to desired position.
Idea #2. Buy standard sun screen material; it's sold by the square foot. Cut to size to handle - slightly larger than the window track area. Buy 1/8" (or appropriate size) standard vinyl screen spline, also sold by the foot or in a small package. Insert the screen into the window tracks and with a spline tool, insert the spline to hold the screen.
Idea #3. Buy sunblock reflective film. Follow the directions on the package.
Idea #4. same as #3 but hire specialty firm to install.
Thanks for the reply. I will lookinto the "standard" sun screen material, but i'm not sure about the sline idea. I was hoping to figure a way to make these panels relatively easy to take down during the winter when I want to sun.
Thanks for giving some ideas. I appreciate it.