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Differences Between Roller Shades and Solar Shades

December 14, 2020

There’s many different varieties of shades commonly available on the market today, and we, the expert bling installation team here at Design Your Blind, have a deep professional understanding of the various aesthetic, practical, and functional benefits of every variety of shades and blinds under the sun. In this blog entry, our professional blind installation team, will explain the difference between roller shades and solar shade – two distinct (although rhyming) types of window treatments that can help provide beauty and functionality to your home or business.

Roller Shades

The main definition of roller shades are window coverings made of a solid sheet of material that rolls down the window – as opposed to doing so with slats like with blinds. Imagine a roll of paper that when you pull it down, the central tube turns and the material extends – and when pulled the other way, the material wraps back around the tube.

Roller shades are affordable, sleek, minimal, easy to operate, and a fantastic choice for any home or business. Their simple and streamlined design allows for a huge multiplicity of materials and fabrics to be used – you can choose a solid color or a neutral color together with fabric to help unite the existing colors and textures in a room, or you can choose a bolder color to make the shade an accent to the room itself. Roller shade material is almost always opaque or solid, not see through.

Solar Shades

Just as with roller shades, solar shades don’t have slats, and are pulled down. However, solar shades are usually more expensive than roller shades due to their composition of a woven material, almost like a screen. The woven pattern of this material allows for a bit of transparency – and blocks UV rays from coming into your space, allowing for more retainment of ambient temperatures. Solar shades come in iterations based on how many UV rays you want to come into your home. A ‘10 percent openness’ solar shade blocks 90% of UV rays into your home, while allowing 10% in. The higher the ‘openness number’ of a solar shade, the more transparent it is.

Similarities Between Roller Shades and Solar Shades

  1. Roller functionality
  2. Smooth appearance, without pleats
  3. Subtle, low profile look
  4. Customizable light control
  5. Options available for blackout functionality
  6. Similar measurement and installation process
  7. Options for features like reverse rolls, cordless spinning rollers, metal chain lifts, nylon chain lifts, and much more.

Differences Between Roller Shades and Solar Shades

  1. Solar shades block out UV rays while Roller shades just block out light
  2. Roller shades are available in brighter colors, while solar shades are more neutral colors
  3. Solar shades can be seen into and out of – roller shades cannot be seen into and out of.
  4. Roller shades are available in a wider variety of fabric and vinyl based materials while solar shades are available in a screen-like material.