Oxford High School for Girls
SHY’s dealer, Ashley Contracts had a challenge: how could they use a rollerblind to shade a tall, narrow window where the width to drop ratio exceeded three times the usual 1:3 parameters?
SHY’s dealer, Ashley Contracts had a challenge: how could they use a rollerblind to shade a tall, narrow window where the width to drop ratio exceeded three times the usual 1:3 parameters?
There is a general rule of thumb in the blind trade that a roller blind width to drop ratio which exceeds 1:3 is asking for trouble. No matter how square fabric is cut and how plumb the blind is installed the fabric can run off on long, narrow blinds so it eventually it snags on the brackets.
So when SHY’s dealer, Ashley Contracts, came up with a challenge of a black-out blind for ultra narrow windows - which were just 395mm wide and a drop of 5,500mm - the ratio of almost 1:14 was more that 3 times the typical industry limit.
However, as SHY® is experienced in developing shading solutions for the unusual, our design team happily accepted this challenge. Our solution was to use a large diameter roller barrel and their pioneering ZIP® system which guides the fabric so it always runs square to the barrel.
Solarblock B50 fabric was used and the blind hardware was powder coated to match the window frames. At this site the blinds needed to be manually operated so a gearbox was added to the roller barrel and extra long crank rods permanently attached. The benefit is that this operation is ideal for school environments as it is inherently child safe.