Roller Blinds

A roller is the simplest blind made. Cloth on a tube, moved by a side chain or by a motor sat inside the tube. Nothing warps and there are no ladder tapes to fray. So the cloth is the whole job. Pick the wrong one and no fitting saves it.

Blackout cloth is coated on the back so no light gets through the weave. The edges are another matter. Inside a recess you will see 10 to 15mm of gap down each side. More if the plaster is out of true. For a room that has to go properly dark, Craig fits outside the recess with 50mm of overlap each side. Night workers round Culcheth ask for it more than anybody.

Kitchens and bathrooms need a moisture-resistant cloth. Plain cotton-look weave above a hob or shower drinks the steam and goes grey along the bottom rail inside two years. A wipeable PVC-faced polyester will still look right in ten. Day and night banding, the sheer and solid stripes, suits a front room where you want daylight without being on show. It is a poor bedroom choice. The bands leak light at every joint, and you will know it at half four in June.

Width is where rollers stop making sense. A 32mm tube starts to deflect past about 1.8 metres. Heavy blackout cloth drags it down further. The cloth then tracks to one side as it rolls. Bottom rail hangs crooked. A 45mm tube buys a bit more width. Past 2.4 metres Craig fits two blinds side by side, or Allusion vanes across patio doors, rather than sell you a wide roller you will end up hating.