The team had a great time and we met lots of new people as well as some existing clients and friends.

Competition Winner

And the winner is…

David Sanderson from Frankston South

A big congratulations to David who has won $2,000 worth of blinds from our extensive range.

Second Chance Competition Opportunity

For those of you who attended the show we are giving you a second opportunity to win.

One lucky person will also win a $2000 EFT card that can be used at any business that has EFTPOS.

Here is what you need to do to go into the draw:

1. Like our Facebook Page
2. Post a comment about visiting us at the HIA Homeshow – make it creative!
3. Complete the above before 5pm, Friday 11/05/2012
4. The winner will be announced on Monday 14th via Facebook.

Again, thanks to everyone who stopped by.

Regards,
The Blockout Blinds Team.

I have used Blockout Blinds on three separate occasions on my domestic premises. What I found really impressive was the no ‘quibble’ way in which the friendly and helpful company staff, in the office and in the field, responded to a warranty query I had to make. Such attention to a customers needs is a real marker of a company regarding it’s clients with care, and lays good foundations for long term business.

I have no hesitation in recommending Blockout Blinds to anyone who is considering using their excellent products and high quality client services in both pre-sale and after sale situations.

Simon Clegg
Doncaster East

It’s on again, the HIA Melbourne Homeshow starting on Thursday the 26th August (this Thursday).

Get some great ideas on the latest design ideas at the Blockout Blinds stand (stand G12) for your blinds, shutters, awnings and retractable fly screens and of course many other great exhibitors.

Where

Melbourne Exhibition Centre
Clarendon Street, Southbank, Melbourne, Australia
Stand G12

When

Thursday 26th April 2012
Friday 27th April 2012
Saturday 28th April 2012
Sunday 29th April 2012

Useful Links

• HIA Home Show Website
• Getting There

We hope to see you there.

Kind regards

Jason Graham
Blockout Blinds

Hi guys,

I just wanted to write to you and let you know how professional, patient and helpful Chris has been to deal with.

We own a cafe in Greensborough and we have been wanting to change our current cafe blinds set up for over 6 months, which is when we first met Chris.

He has come out to provide a quote a couple of times now and has even come down on his own time to answer further questions we have had.

Lately we have received a couple of cheaper quotes for our cafe blinds solution but happily we have decided to go with Chris and Blockout Blinds because of all the extra service Chris has provided us with.

We can’t wait until they are installed and know we have chosen the right company and people for the job.

Chris, thanks for everything.

Emmanuel Tsesmelis
Urban Grooves Lounge Cafe

Contrary to their name Outdoor Ziptrak® Blinds have no zips! Instead they operate with a quick, neat vertical action (like rolling up a garage door) with no bulky cords, buckles or pulleys. This means no gaps, no flapping, and no messy struggles for you.

These blinds are perfectly suited to commercial eateries but their desirable benefits are just as welcome in your home. As they open or close in seconds, you can adapt to nature’s ever changing whims by letting restorative light and breezes penetrate or you can weather storms with inbuilt lock down security features. The enclosed space also protects your outdoor furniture and pot plants.

Outdoor Ziptrak® Blinds are a successful blend of form and function. See the difference a bit of ingenuity makes in transforming your entertainment zone.

Benefits

• Create an extra room without the building costs!
• Block out the elements and keep in the heat, so you can use your outdoor areas regardless of the weather. Enjoy BBQ’s and outdoor entertaining all year round!
• Protect outdoor furniture from the rain and pot plants from the wind
• Adds value to any outdoor area
• Ideal for residential or commercial properties
• The Ziptrak® Blind is very popular at cafes and restaurants with outdoor areas as they are spring loaded, easy and quick to operate
• For many people it is difficult to operate large outdoor blinds, Blockout Blinds offers a solution with the newly developed Ziptrak® Blinds which are spring loaded, easy to operate and have NO zippers, ropes/pulleys, buckles, straps, gaps or flapping and best of all NO struggle to roll up and down

Features

• Blockout Blinds is an industry leader and Australia’s first blind company to offer a 5 way 10 year guarantee for your complete satisfaction and peace of mind (refer to our ‘Guarantee’ section to read more)
• All Blockout Blinds Ziptrak® Blinds are custom made to the highest standards
• Clear or tinted quality PVC are the perfect solution for enjoying views
• Can accommodate most size and shape decks and outdoor areas
• Our Ziptrak® include easy glide zips for smooth blind operation, these blinds have no zips and are of the highest quality
• The unique Ziptrak® system includes specially designed slotted side tracks between which the blind glides smoothly and easily up or down and stops at whatever position you require. The blind can be locked in the down position to guard against high winds
• Our Ziptrak® Blinds rage are available in clear and tinted PVC and screening fabrics for high shade factor, sun protection and privacy
• Blockout Blinds Ziptrak® Blinds are made in Australia

Options

• Blockout Blinds offers a large range of Ziptrak® Blinds to suit your requirements
• Optional pelmets are available
• Available in widths up to 4000 metres and drops to 3000 metres, making them suitable for the largest windows

Related Products

• Bistro Blinds
• Cafe Blinds

Just wanted to pass on to yu our sincere thanks for the fantastic blinds we have had installed from Blockout Blinds.

Your suggestions and recommendations on the type of blinds to instal were “spot on” and we could not be happier with the outcome.

As you know our daughter and son in law – Carly and Nigel Corcoran also received a quote and had blinds installed and again they are thrilled with the transformation of their windows.

We will most certainly be in touch in the future when we require any other window furnishings and I will pass on your details to any other family or friends who are interested in getting a quote from you.

Regards,

Karen Dermietzel

Ps – the installers were very good also and arrived when they promised – which doesn’t always happen these days.

–
Mrs Karen Dermietzel,
Office Manager,
St Benedict’s School.

We recently purchased a block-out blind from your company. I would like to congratulate you on the professionalism and efficiency with which you carried out our order. Both gentlemen, the order-taker and the fitter were pleasant, well turned out and very professional. They arrived at the stated time and went about their respective jobs with the minimum of fuss and no mess. I have no hesitation in recommending your company to my friends who may be purchasing blinds. Thank you once again for outstanding service.

Sandra Hall,
Doncaster East.

Hi everyone, I’m Jason from Blockout Blinds and I hope you are having a good day! Today, I am going to talk about creating privacy on your windows while still maintaining a view. If you want to cover your windows from prying eyes while at the same time still maintaining a view of the outside as well as still allowing the sunlight to come in, we may have a few options for you.

1. Roller Blinds

The first option which is the most popular now and probably the most modern looking is the roller blind. This particular type of blind may be made of either screen or mesh material and can cover your windows from prying eyes while still maintaining a nice view of the outside. It also has little holes on it which allow the sunlight to pass through thereby keeping your room bright despite the blinds. Since roller type blinds are placed behind glass windows during the day, it creates a mirror-like effect so anyone outside trying to look in cannot see at all. However, the only catch with this type of window covering, which some people might not realize is that when you have them down at night time and there’s light inside your home, people outside can see inside your home just as clearly as you could have seen outside during the day. So don’t get caught with this thinking that the blinds are down and you are safe from prying eyes because at night time, you are not.

2. Vertical Blinds

If you are worried about people looking in at night time, we suggest that you put a separate blind over the top which you can pull down for night time use to completely block the view. Another option is using a vertical blind. Vertical blinds can slightly rotate and can be angled at a certain position so that you can see out while  camouflaging seeing in. However, because they are hanging vertically, at some point while walking past, you can see through the gap.

3. Venetian Blinds

The next one is any of your venetian type blinds. These blinds obviously have slots going across and can be angled.  You can angle them so you can see out but anybody who walks past your house looking in really can only see up to the roof. So people can still slightly see in but they can’t look directly at you. 

4. Plantation Shutters

We also have our plantation shutters. These have louvres which are like slots and similar to the venetian blinds. The benefit of plantation shutters is that they are a little bit more flexible because you can move the plantation shutters louvre’s of the top half and the bottom half independantly. What some people like to do is have these shutters placed on the front windows of their homes, with its bottom and top moving independently, so they may have the bottom louvres angled down thus allowing them to have a view of the outside while at the same time not allowing people to see in. Compared to venetian blinds, shutters are a little bit more flexible because you can split the control of louvres which is nice.

So there you have it, those are the main ways we can keep our home’s privacy while maintaining a view outside. I hope you find this video useful. Should you have any questions about the kind of window covering we have, please do not hesitate to give us a call!

Thank you for your after sales support and for the off cut, Chris Perovkaneas for his apology card, Lloyd (great chap) for the replacements installation and also the production people for the prompt response an delivery.

We have had a look at all the replacement blinds and found them to be spotless this time and I must say that I am very impressed with your after sales service. I must say, initially, I was rather dubious about what to expect from your after sale response but after this experience, it has enlighten me to see that your company is a truly Professional and of high Integrity enterprise which I am happy to associate with.

It has also given me great confidence in recommending your products to others.

Thank you very much and appreciate your friendly team work.

Best Wishes,
Eddie

Hi everyone, I’m Jason from Blockout Blinds and I hope your day is going well. I’m here to talk to you today about how the inside of your house heats up and how blinds and awnings can help this and also the myth about how thick the fabric on your blinds need to be to help keep the heat out. We get a lot of customers that look at the fabric and they start to think that it doesn’t look that thick so how is this going to keep out the heat from my home. Well, at the end of the day, it does not really matter and we’ll explain why.

So let’s start with how the house heats up.

First of all, the air in the environment never gets heated up directly by the sun passing through it, believe it or not. So the sun beams come down, they’re going through the air, but the air itself, does not heat up. The air heats up through a process called convection which means the air needs to be touching some type of solid object that has heat in it, to in turn heat up the air. Now, when it comes to your home, the sun comes in, heats the glass, and what happens is that the glass gets really hot when you touch the glass you can feel the heat. So, in turn, what that does is the hot surface of the glass then comes in contact with the air inside your home, that air, then heats up and of course, what does hot air do, it rises. So the hot air touching the glass rises up, and as that rises up and heats the roof, more cold air comes from underneath to touch the glass and in turn heats up, rises up and creates a cycle. It’s a little bit like having a mini weather system inside your home believe it or not.

It doesn’t just heat up from the glass. The sun comes in, it heats the floor boards. The floor boards get hot, they heat the air up. The furniture gets hot, it touches the air and heats up the air as well. So anything that has direct sunlight in your home, it then directly transfers the heat to the air in your home creating the inside to get hotter and hotter.

So how do blinds stop this?

Well, first of all, you have your internal blinds. As I have said before, the air is touching the glass and heating up. Now by putting a blind on the inside, it creates a barrier. So the first thing is, the air that heats up, it gets trapped between the glass and the blinds and doesn’t recirculate back into the room hence stopping more air from coming in. Now, of course, blinds are not fully sealed all the way around so some air escape but it dramatically reduces it. So, also, what happens is, when you’ve got your blinds down, the sun no longer heats the floor, or it no longer heats the furniture. So these items no longer heat up and in turn, don’t heat up the air.

So the myth that you need thick fabric to reduce the temperature in your home is false because all the blind is doing is stopping the direct sunlight from coming inside and it’s just creating a barrier to stop the air flowing around the home.

If you have a blind that has just one solid piece of material, that’s going to do a much better job than a venetian blind that has lots of slots and gaps. Because with the gaps, more airflow. Of course anything with a plymouth is going to be even better again because it stops air flowing up from behind the blind up to the roof. So that  in a nutshell, is how it works. Now of course, the sun is going to be heating the back of the blind, now the blind itself will also be heating up. So once that blind gets hot, the blind itself will also start heating up the air inside. Though it takes a while for the blind to heat up. So if you are really trying to reduce the heat of your home, you probably want to go for a lighter colored blind. Or, we do have fabrics available that are dark on the inside so in other words, it matches your interior but the back of the blind is white to maximize the reflection of the sun. So white reflects more than black absorbs more. A white back means your fabric is not going to get as hot, so when you touch the fabric on the inside, you won’t feel the heat as much.

An alternative to blinds – The Awning

The best way to reduce heat is to put awnings or some type of covering on the outside of your home. Why is that? Good question. Of course, if the sun is not heating the glass in the first place, the glass is not going to get hot and no heat is going to be transferred inside. So best option for keeping the heat out would be to install an external awning however if this is not an option then internal blinds will be the next best thing. Probably one of the best internal blinds for heat is a honeycomb blind but we’ll talk more about that later.

Summary

So there you have it, an insight into how a home does heat up and why the thickness of your fabric does not make much difference, it’s just really about creating that barrier to stop the air circulation.

So I hope that has helped you, and please don’t hesitate to contact the team at Blockout Blinds if you’d like to have a chat about the best solution for your home or office.