Draper’s FlexLouver™ Rack Arm System and Venetian Blinds by Warema are among the most effective solar control solutions on the market. They are also among the most flexible solutions: you can operate the louvers into a variety of positions depending on conditions.
In fact, there must be 50 ways to leave your louvers.
Just ask Stephen Pastis. Pastis is the brains behind “Pearls Before Swine,” a two-time winner of the National Cartoonists Society’s Best Newspaper Comic Strip award, and the 2015 Reuben award winner in the same category. In March, Pastis penned a Pearls strip combining an homage to the Paul Simon classic “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” with some sound solar control advice. You can read the strip by clicking here.
With due deference to Stephen Pastis, there are a lot more than 50 ways these systems can be adjusted to get the most out of a daylighting/solar control plan. But for the sake of keeping this post at a readable length, we’ll stick to just four ways to set Venetian blind louvers for maximum effect.
Venetian Blinds Down but Tilted
One of the most important functions of louver systems, such as Venetian blinds, is the ability to direct light away from eyes and work surfaces without totally blocking it. The degree of tilt can be adjusted throughout the day, keeping glare at bay even as the sun’s location in the sky changes.
Some Louvers Tilted, Some Closed
Louver systems can also block glare while harvesting light for your use. The lower and upper portions of a Venetian blind system can be designed to operate independently of one another. The lower half of the unit can be fully closed, completely blocking glare and heat. Louvers in the top half are tilted to direct sunlight into the workspace to provide natural light.
Fully Retracted
Even on cloudy days, Venetian blinds are useful. Running the louvers all the way up makes the window opening as large as possible, and harvests the maximum amount of natural light. Having the blinds fully up is also helpful in the winter months, bringing additional solar heat into the space.
Down and Closed
There are many reasons to completely close a louver system. Most of the time it’s going to be for privacy, or on building elevations where the sun’s rays are particularly harsh. This is also an excellent solution for light pollution—cutting out any light that might escape out the windows at night to inconvenience others.
With Draper’s Venetian Blinds by Warema and FlexLouver Rack Arm Systems there are scores of settings between those listed above, giving you pinpoint accuracy in where the sun’s heat and glare are going. It’s no wonder that, with apologies to Patsis and Simon, we think there must also be more than 50 reasons to love your louvers.
Click here for more information on Draper’s solar control solutions, including FlexLouver and Venetian Blinds by Warema.
