Blinds Concealment Profiles and Shelving – What Is the Difference?
When it comes to installing rooflight blinds, there are a few different ways to do it. Of course, you can just install the blind directly into the recess, but there are a few issues with that:
- It’s difficult to fit a blind high up in the ceiling without anything to support its weight
- There might be visible tension wires or fixings
- If your recess isn’t exactly square, chances are your blind won’t run properly
- You might need to use filler or caulk to fill gaps between your recess and your blind if it isn’t a perfect fit
So what’s the solution? How can you make a rooflight blind easier to install and better looking?
L-Angle Shelving
The first, and easily our most common solution, is L-angle shelving. As the name suggests, this is a single piece of aluminium that is bent into an ‘L’ shape.
The shelf is comprised of 4 pieces of L-angle, one for each side of the blind. These are then fixed into the recess (the distance between the surface of the window and the ceiling that the window is built into) for the blind to sit on. These can be easily retrofitted into existing recesses – no need for additional construction.
The main of using L-angle shelving is that it gives you a surface to rest your blind on when you’re fixing it in place, meaning you don’t have to hold the weight of the blind the whole time. This makes installation much easier.
Shelving is fitted snug to the recess, which means your blind can be made slightly smaller, usually 15mm on the width and length. This extra bit of wiggle room means you can make sure your blind is completely squared up in the recess, even if it isn’t perfectly square.
This is especially important for blind systems with zip-retention side channels. These channels need to be perfectly parallel to each other to make sure the fabric runs smoothly. If one side channel is slightly too close or too far away from the other, the fabric can get stuck when it’s travelling and stop.
L-angle shelving also has the benefit of hiding the cassettes and side channels of your blind so that it looks much cleaner in the recess. Things such as tension cables or guidewires can also be hidden so that when your blind is open the window recess is completely clear.
Concealment Profiles
Concealment profiles are different to shelving as these need to be built into the wall, ideally during the initial construction phase. These profiles are specially designed aluminium boxes for housing the blind hardware and hiding it out of sight. The result of this is that only the blind fabric is visible when the blind is closed, and it’s all hidden when the blind is open.
The key benefit of using a concealment profile is the aesthetic appeal. In modern homes with a minimalist look, many homeowners don’t want any hardware in their windows at all – especially when the windows themselves are a focal point e.g. bi-fold doors or large expanses of glass.
Whilst you could fit your blinds directly into a DIY timber pocket, a concealment profile gives you the benefit of being able to access the blinds if they require maintenance or charging. Most of these profiles come with a cover plate that hides away the blind, and can be easily removed for access. With a timber pocket you would need to plaster over it at the end, which means it would need to be destroyed and replastered if you ever need to access the blind.
Concealment profiles also have the added benefit of making sure your recess is completely square, which is essential for the smooth operation with your blind. As we said earlier about zipped-edge blinds, the side channels have to be completely parallel to work properly, which a concealment profile will ensure.
Installing a concealment profile during the construction phase also means you can set the further back in the ceiling than the actual recess. This gives you the ability to hide the edges of the fabric more than you can with shelving, so if there is any wrinkling on the fabric edge from a zipped-edge weld, this will be hidden away.
One of the biggest suppliers of blind concealment profiles is Blindspace. They have a variety of different profile sizes which correspond with some of the most common blind systems on the market, or they can make custom sizes. They have solutions for roller blinds, blackout blinds, rooflight blinds and curtain tracks.
For more information on our rooflight blind systems, click the button below to visit our ‘Rooflight Blinds’ information page. Or, if you want more information or advice on a specific project, get in touch at [email protected].