Do sunscreen roller blinds give privacy at night?
Updated
Sunscreen roller blind fabric is an open woven mesh that cuts glare and keeps the view out by day. At night, once a room's lights are switched on, the effect reverses and people outside can see in. It does not give privacy at night with the lights on, so it is often paired with a blockout blind or a curtain.
Sunscreen or screen fabric is an open, woven material. By day you can see out through it while it cuts glare. At night this balance flips. Once a room's lights are on, the room is brighter than the street, and from outside the weave is far easier to see through than it was in daylight.
Why the effect reverses at night
What can be seen through the fabric depends on which side is brighter. In the daytime the brighter side is outside, so you can see out through the fabric. After dark, with lamps or downlights on, the brighter side becomes the inside of the room, so the same fabric can let a silhouette, and sometimes more detail, show through to the street.
What people usually do about it
- Pair a sunscreen roller blind with a blockout roller blind as a double roller blind, also called a dual roller blind, and lower the blockout blind once it gets dark.
- Close a curtain over the top of the sunscreen blind in the evening if the window already has one.
- Ask your retailer about a light filtering or blockout fabric instead for a room where evening privacy matters more than the daytime view.
- Avoid relying on sunscreen fabric alone for a street facing bedroom or bathroom window.
What to check before ordering
If a window faces a street, a shared path or close neighbours, it is worth deciding on an evening privacy plan before the blind is ordered rather than after, since a single sunscreen roller blind was never designed to solve both daytime glare and night time privacy at once. A double roller blind puts a second blind at the window, so ask your retailer how it would look and fit at yours.
What to ask your retailer
Ask your retailer to explain, with a sample fabric held up to a lit window at night if possible, how much can be seen through from outside once the lights are on. Ask whether a double roller, a pairing with curtains, or a different fabric altogether suits the room better, especially for a bedroom, bathroom or any window close to a footpath or neighbouring property.
Other ways people ask this
Can a sunscreen roller blind be made more private at night without adding a second blind?
Not with sunscreen fabric alone. Without a second blind, the choices are a curtain closed over it at night, or a light filtering or blockout fabric in its place.
Do all sunscreen fabrics behave the same way at night?
Sunscreen fabrics differ in openness, and a lower figure means a tighter weave, less glare and less view. At night with the lights on, though, none of them gives privacy the way a blockout fabric does.
Is a double roller blind the only fix for night time privacy?
It is one common fix, but a curtain hung over the same window also helps, as does choosing a blockout or light filtering fabric in place of sunscreen.
This answer is general information. For your own windows, your retailer's advice and your order with them come first.