Wood or aluminium blinds? What to choose for a terrace?

You want to make external blinds. However, you don't know which ones to choose. In this article, we will help you decide, which blinds to choose for the terrace, balcony, to build a gazebo.
To make a fully informed decision, read the article further: "Vertical or horizontal external blinds", in which we focus on the consequences of mounting the development in each of these ways.

Wooden or aluminium blinds - price

Brackets for external blinds  OpenUpSystem make it easy to make a wooden or aluminium louvre fitting. They are adapted to work smoothly with a 9.8 cm x 2 cm infill, regardless of whether you choose wooden or aluminium blinds.
Our offer includes built-in boards from 40 cm to 110 cm in length. The use of longer boards may hinder the operation of the system. Aluminium laths are available in lengths from 100 cm to 250 cm. The laths can be cut to size on request.
Aluminium louvres are more expensive than wooden infills. Unpainted aluminium louvres are approx. fifty per cent more expensive than a development with the same length of wooden pine louvres. The proportion may vary slightly due to the cost of the raw material. Question: Is it worth paying for a more expensive solution? By all means. Because the cost of investing in aluminium blinds will start to even out or even reverse over time.

Wooden blinds for the terrace

Wood patio blinds have many valuable features:

• Wood is easy to process. You can cut them to size yourself. You don't need special tools for this. Usually a hand saw will do.
• Wooden planks you can paint in many colours. In fact, every season your terrace can be a different colour.
• Wood is natural material. If properly cared for, it will age beautifully. Well-maintained wood lends class to the body of the housewhere it is located.

Like any material, wood also has disadvantages:

• It is not resistant to moisture. Wood naturally absorbs water vapour from the atmosphere. Rain, snow and dew are deadly to wood in the long term. 
• The consequence of a change in the moisture content of wood due to absorption and release of water from the atmosphere is shrinkage and swelling. This is the cause of warping of the wooden planks. 
• In order to reduce the negative effects of exposing wooden blinds to moisture, the boards should be treated regularly on all sides with impregnation. This means removing the boards from the brackets, cleaning them and painting them thoroughly. The impregnator must dry before the next installation of the boards.
• Wood is not resistant to fungi. Mould naturally settles on untreated boards. It weakens the structure of the wood and also forms ugly grey or black stains. You can protect yourself against mould growth on your boards by cleaning them regularly and using anti-fungal products available on the market.
• Blinds with wooden boards are flammable. Do not use an open flame with them. Keep this in mind when setting up a barbecue.
• The ease of working with wood also has another side - wood is easily damaged. Especially soft pine or spruce wood. Wood blinds are less resistant to mechanical damage than blinds.

Aluminium blinds for the terrace

Aluminium external blinds are worth considering for the following reasons:

• Painted blinds have a wide choice of colours. As many paints in the RAL colour chart, so many possibilities. This is a huge advantage, as you can match the colour of the building exactly to the shape of the house or the character of the garden.
• Aluminium is a material damage-resistant mechanical. It is not as easily damaged as wood.
• The aluminium laths are resistant to moisture, fungi and pests.
• Aluminium blinds are hassle-free to use. You don't need to paint or clean them regularly. To maintain the full aesthetic experience, you only need to wipe them occasionally with a cloth.
• Aluminium is fire-resistant. 
• It has a uniform structure throughout. If you are bothered by knots or micro-cracks in your wooden boards, aluminium blinds are the right choice.
• Unlike wood, aluminium does not evaporate. The laths do not change their cross-section, they do not twist. 

Minuses? 

• It is more expensive than wood, but...
  

Wood or aluminium blinds - summary

As you can see, the answer to the question of whether to choose wooden or aluminium blinds requires a clever calculation.
Our calculations show that after just three years the price difference slowly disappears. If you count the time you have to spend on keeping your wooden blinds in good condition and the cost of impregnation products, you may find that the cost-saving solution may not be so good for your pocket after all.

Exterior blinds for many years - advantages of a solution

Movable external blinds will change the way you use your balcony. Once you have fitted your terrace with blinds, you become independent of the weather conditions. When it is raining, windy or the sun is too strong, simply close the blinds. On sunny days, use the adjustability to open up to the beauty of the surrounding world.