External Venetian Blinds

01

The physics, in plain terms

An interior blind manages heat that has already come through the glass and is sitting in the room. An external venetian stops most of it before it ever reaches the pane — on a west-facing lounge with a full glass wall onto the fairway, that difference is dramatic, especially through a Somerset West summer when the sun sits high and hard for hours.

Wide aluminium slats, typically in the 60–90mm class, run in guided side rails or cables and tilt or raise like a conventional venetian, just outside the building rather than inside it.

02

Built for this coastline

Somerset West sits inside the Helderberg's salt-air band, so every external venetian we fit here runs powder-coated aluminium slats and marine-grade hardware — the same components that go into any exterior blind or awning we install near this coast. It's effectively always motorised, and always fitted with a wind sensor: an exposed external blind has to be able to protect itself when the south-easter picks up, not wait for someone to remember to raise it.

03

Worth the honest trade-offs

This is a premium spend and a visible change to the facade — Erinvale's aesthetic guideline means colours and mounting points are worth confirming with the estate before you order, and we'll help with that at the free measure. It's not a retrofit for every elevation either; some facades need fixing points planned in from the start. Where it fits, it earns its keep on the very glass wall the house was bought for.

• Motorised as standard, with an automatic wind-sensor retract
• Powder-coated, marine-grade hardware for the coast nearby
• Retrofit possible on suitable elevations; best planned at design stage on new builds