ᐅ External venetian blinds or roller shutters on the south side of the house?

Created on: 24 Aug 2016 21:31
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Grym
We will most likely install roller shutters on all sides except the south side. Only on the south side are we considering whether venetian blinds make sense. Here are our floor plans with the precisely aligned north arrow:

Floor plan of a multi-story house: living room, dining area, study, utility room, stairs, doors.

Floor plan of a house with bedrooms, bathroom, shower, dressing room, and utility room.


The eaves of the hipped roof (2 full stories) are planned to be 60cm (24 inches) deep. We plan to place a very large sun sail in front of the house, roughly 6x4m (also available in 7x5m or 5.6x5.6m – depending on the manufacturer). Here is a picture:

Floor plan of a living area with dark blue U-shaped sofa, dining table, doors, and dimensions.


The deepest corner of the sail would be the upper left corner. The sun sail would be deployed either only as needed or definitely only during the summer.

The reason for the venetian blinds is clear: when the weather is nice outside, you want some shading but not too much, as you don’t want to feel completely shut off from the good weather while inside. In our living/dining area, the two windows in the dining and kitchen areas can be fully opened since they are no longer directly exposed to the sun. In my opinion, the south-facing window in the dining area and the middle window from the sun sail should be protected, so that only the two roller shutters in the living area would be closed.

But actually, much more importantly in my opinion: if the weather is so nice that the sun is shining and it’s warm outside, then I go out under the sun sail to relax, grill, eat outside, etc. – in that case, I’m happy to lower ALL the roller shutters because I’m not inside. It’s different at work, where we also have a venetian blind. I can’t just go outside, sit under a sun shelter, and relax comfortably there. At work, I’m forced to be inside and appreciate the partial shading provided by the venetian blind.

I prefer roller shutters because you can fully close them. This is important for the children's rooms when the kids want to sleep. Our plot is also somewhat on a hill (about 100 meters (330 feet) above the city center). We are not right at the top, but still quite high up, and it’s windier and stronger here than downtown. Above a certain wind speed, the venetian blinds automatically go up, which is not ideal.

Above all, with our 6 windows and 3 of them having venetian blinds (which have two movement dimensions in contrast to roller shutters – up/down and horizontal/vertical), it can get really complex, so automation would need to be considered.

But my main points are:
- Depending on how the sun sail is used, 2 or 4 of the 6 windows can stay open, so plenty of light will come in anyway.
- If the weather is so nice outside, then you’re outside anyway, so partial shading doesn’t help me because I’m not inside.
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Grym
26 Aug 2016 14:14
However, he is only allowed to issue this command if the external venetian blind has previously been raised by the wind sensor. He is not allowed to issue it if anyone is present.
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Grym
26 Aug 2016 14:21
If the wind monitor always gives the command to shut down when there is no wind, it will always be turned off.

When I am at home, I prefer to control it manually anyway, depending on whether light or shading is currently more important.
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Sebastian79
26 Aug 2016 14:27
That's probably the sunlight sensor... so a weather station!

As I said, depending on the location, I consider the wind sensor to be optional...
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Grym
26 Aug 2016 14:36
So once again: I can raise and lower roller shutters as I please. They will be lowered in the morning for sun protection, and that’s it. Venetian blinds require at least a wind sensor, sun sensor, and window contact for the same function. Plus, some logic to determine when the automation is active and when manual override takes precedence.
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Sebastian79
26 Aug 2016 14:37
Manual override always applies – but you do tend to overcomplicate things.