White-Backed vs Metal-Backed Blind Fabrics – Which Is the Best for Heat Reflection?
Glare and overheating can create unhealthy, uncomfortable environments and decrease the quality of life in homes and workplaces.
Reducing temperatures and glare is vital to occupant health, wellbeing and comfort levels. However, it’s important we don’t block out daylight completely.
Studies have shown that access to natural daylight helps our bodies produce Vitamin D, improves our circadian rhythms and sleep patterns, helps us to focus, enables us to get more done, and even makes us happier. Ensuring we get enough of this vital resource is key to our physical and psychological wellbeing.
As we now spend close to 90% of our lives indoors it’s important to make sure we create comfortable indoor climates by combining a dynamic shading solution with a blind fabric that reflects heat.
White vs Metal-backing
It’s often said in the blinds trade that metal-backed fabrics are better for reflecting heat than a standard fabric with a self-coloured backing. But how do they compare to fabrics with a white-backing? There are pros and cons to each of these fabrics, and there isn’t one that is right for every application, so it’s best to look at the advantages of each and decide which best suits you.
A fabric with a white backing is always going to be better at reflecting heat away from the room than a metal-backed fabric. White is a reflective colour which means that when sunlight, and therefore the heat from that sunlight, hits the fabric it will be reflected back towards the window. Regardless of the colour of the fabric face, a white-backed fabric will be an excellent heat reflector.
Both blackout and sunscreening fabrics are available with a white backing so you can have the added benefit of heat reflection regardless of how much light you want to let into a room. A sunscreen fabric will allow privacy whilst still giving you a view out of the room, which is ideal for living areas or offices where we spend a large part of the day.
A blackout fabric might not be suitable for an enviroment like this, as it will block 100% of light and not allow any view in our out. Blackout fabrics are normally used in rooms that require total darkness, such as bedrooms and cinema rooms.
So why would you use a metal-backed fabric?
Metal-backed fabrics have a thin metal layer attached to the back of the fabric, like the name suggests. This additional layer of metal acts as an insulator, as well as still reflecting and absorbing some heat. This makes metal-backed fabrics ideal for spaces where heat loss is a concern., such as large office buildings.
There are many reasons why heat loss should be a concern for property owners. These include:
- Increased energy costs caused by artificial heating and cooling systems
- Lack of control over internal temperatures
- Low morale in occupants caused by draughts, glare, overheating etc.
- Reduced property value due to poor insulation
Solving your heat loss issues will not only save you money immediately by reducing your energy costs, but long term it will increase property value. It’s also vital to ensure workplaces such as offices are comfortable and fit for purpose. Click here to find out how heat and glare-reduction can improve your WELL rating. The aim of the WELL Building Standard is to make people more productive, happier, and healthier in the workplace.
Improving insulation is also important for your home as this can reduce your reliance on artificial heating and therefore reduce your energy bills.
Umbra’s new fabric collection contains an A5 sample of every single colour of every single type of fabric. You can also purchase individual fabric samples if you’d prefer.