Today’s interiors are full of windows, which is a beautiful thing! However, as anyone who has lived with lots of windows can attest, along with glass come high temperatures and sometimes uncomfortable brightness. Solar shades are a perfect solution to this dilemma, allowing the best that windows have to offer while controlling glare, heat and UV rays.
Solar shades are designed to control light without eliminating it. Like sunglasses for your windows, solar shade fabrics reduce glare while allowing excellent views to the outside. West-facing windows and reflective landscape surroundings can be especially problematic, making parts of your home uncomfortably hot. Insolroll shades reduce cooling costs by decreasing heat gain in your home.
Very precisely engineered and woven, solar fabrics have a specific, measurable degree of openness in the fabric. This “openness factor” determines how much light passes through, as well as how much heat is reflected away. We offer fabrics from 1% open to 14% open to address the requirements of individual applications, and this openness in combination with fabric color determines the heat, glare, and UV performance of each fabric.
How to Select the Right Solar Screen Fabric
See All the Solar Fabric Swatches
Solar Screen fabrics afford some level of daytime privacy, much like sheer draperies would, but are much more energy efficient. Less open fabrics provide less view into the home, so where daytime privacy is required, consider a 1% or 3% open fabric. As part of a layered window treatment or dual shade pairing, solar shades can provide daytime privacy in bedrooms and rooms with windows closer to streets and sidewalks.
Solar screen fabrics are unique in that they are specifically designed to maintain the view and connection to the outside. Fabric color and openness each affect the clarity of the view, as well as heat, glare, and UV performance. Light is powerful. That’s why it doesn’t take much openness in solar fabrics to provide excellent view-through. Solar shade fabrics are woven to very precise standards, controlling the amount of surface area that is left open. Solar shade fabrics are woven to very precise standards, controlling the amount of surface area that is left open and provides direct view-through. Fabrics with openness between 3% and 10% provide excellent levels of view-through in combination with excellent levels of solar performance.
Solar screen fabrics, also known as “technical” fabrics are woven to very precise standards, with a consistent, measurable degree of fabric openness. That openness determines how much direct visibility there will be through the fabric. That direct visibility is still affected by fabric color and the amount of reflection and diffusion.
Very low openness factor fabrics, such 1% or 3%, offer less direct view through, whereas very open fabrics, such as 10% openness, allow a great deal of direct view through.
We offer fabrics from 1% open to 14% open to address the requirements of individual applications, and this openness in combination with fabric color determines the heat, glare, and UV performance of each fabric.
The color of a fabric affects what happens to the visible sunlight that strikes it. Some light is reflected, some passes through the open spaces in the fabric, and some is diffused by the fabric yarns themselves.
See All the Solar Fabric Swatches
Solar Screen fabrics afford some level of daytime privacy, much like sheer draperies would, but are much more energy efficient. As part of a layered window treatment or dual shade pairing, solar shades can provide daytime privacy in bedrooms and rooms with windows closer to streets and sidewalks.
Ever notice a wavy effect from a patio or insect screen? That is the Moiré Effect.
Since solar fabrics are made of an open weave material, they sometimes create a moiré effect when installed over existing screens (like a screened-in porch or an insect screen over a bay window). The moiré effect creates wavy lines and a motion effect.
Having motorized shades in your home can add practical function, convenience, efficiency and safety, as well as enhance your overall lifestyle. Control methods can be as simple or sophisticated as you like, ranging from a single shade with handheld remote control to whole-home automation with scenes, schedules, and sensors to optimize efficiency and livability.
Handheld or wall mounted radio remote control transmitters allow you to raise or lower your shades and use custom position settings. A single remote can control up to 15 shades, and the wall mounted switches do not require any wiring into your home.
Insolroll offers smart control solutions using the Somfy TaHoma® switch and the Bond Bridge Pro to easily operate your shades from a smartphone, tablet, or voice assistant. Both control bridges allow you to schedule automated shade positioning and create custom ‘scenes’ tailored to your daily routines, events, or time of day. Whether you need seamless whole-home integration with platforms like Control4, Lutron, Elan, and Savant, or direct voice control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, Insolroll provides reliable, flexible smart shade automation—even while you’re away from home.
For the ultimate in control, Insolroll shades can integrate with 3rd party home automation systems from brands such as Control4, Crestron, and more. Total integration with other household systems and the full complement of options for customized control and efficiency. Like app-based control, shades can be programmed in “scenes” and schedules, but can also tie in to all automated functions in the home, respond to sun angle and temperature conditions, and more to optimize your home’s energy efficiency and personalize your own comfort at home.
Child safety for solar window shadesInsolroll, Inc. has created durable child safety window shade solutions that are compliant with the new American National Standard for Safety of Corded Window Covering Products (ANSI/WCMA A100.1-2022).
Insolroll provides cord-free and motorized window shades that meet and exceed new standard implemented by a joint effort of the Window Covering Manufacturers Association and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
We are proud to produce our solar shades in the United States by skilled American workers. Insolroll sells through a network of installing dealers throughout North America, and every shade we sell is manufactured in Colorado, USA.
We also feature many fabric choices that are woven in the USA, including Phifer Sun Control Fabrics.
