Thanks to bifolds we boiled last year. Not keen to do it again!

[Tiptoptum]

So, I did not design my house, and I bought it in Spring when the entire wall made up of bifolds seemed quite nice.

Summer came and I discovered in a South facing kitchen a wall of glass was not actually nice at all, and the heat has lifted the veneer on some kitchen units and it heated the floor so much we couldn’t step on it.

So. I can’t afford awnings, and the set up won’t suit a Pergola, and as they are bifolds rather than windows, I need to be able to freely move them.

I am poor, so looking for cost effective ideas

I toyed with Vertical blinds, but I don’t like them and they are a sod to clean, I was thinking of four large roller blinds, attached to the wall above them, which I can then raise/lower, but I’m worried they will get in the way or look weird.

Ive also seen a film I can put on the windows, particularly a mirrored one that means no one can see in? I quite like the idea of that, but I don’t know how well it works?

I will have to cover the units this year with a large sheet as they can’t cope with the heat through the windows, but would obviously like something that is effective. It’s difficult because it’s the kitchen, and it get steamy with cooking and dirty, so anything like curtains will look crap quite quickly.

Has anyone tried the film (especially the mirrored ones?) or tried anything else?

Agree with others that you really need an outdoor solution. Can you post a photo of the doors from the outside so people can make suggestions?

Just to add the TruFit fit onto the glass itself so there is no casing that clips to the frame. Photo shows what the top and bottom of the trim looks like. It clips the blind into place with a magnet

I wonder as well (no idea about price, but actually it might be possible to construct yourself if you're reasonably handy) about slatted "sun hoods" for the windows.

They look like this, and basically you angle the slats so that the sun can pour through it when the sun is low in the sky (i.e. winter) but not when it's high.

Alternatively I was googling and it looks like you could get 3x4m manual awnings for about £850. Yes that's a lot of money but it sounds like your house will be near unusable in summer if you can't resolve it, and exterior shade will be much more effective than interior.

Have you thought about Perfect Fit blinds that clip into the frame of the door?

https://www.blinds-2go.co.uk/bifold-door-blinds

Some great ideas here

Our huge skylights are solar reflecting glass which are amazing. In two houses I’ve had large skylights for south facing gardens and can say the glass makes all the difference.
Obviously to retrofit is a pain and they’re £££ so if I were you I’d try the film first. You can’t tell on the inside other than not baking but the difference is huge.

Currently I’m veering toward the fitted blinds. I would love an awning, but we are quite open here and I won’t be at home in the day to put it down if there is rain/wind, so more than likely it won’t last long. I can deal with the heat in here, it’s more the sun blasting onto my kitchen units and clearly melting the glue that troubles me more.

My dog is in the kitchen (didn’t have him last summer) so I’m also keen that it’s more comfortable for him

We had the solar reflecting film put in the inside of a conservatory roof. There were expensive electric blinds on all the inside but they were gross with so many flies dead and stuck to them.
The film was good. It was the neatest and quickest solution. It does change the colour of the window. I remember there was a blueish greyish tint to the one we chose. So ideal for a roof but maybe not idea for a garden view. Possibly there are options that are more transparent.
Oh and it worked! Kept it much cooler.

The advantage of fitted blind inserts is that they trap the heat in the honeycomb mesh and you can lower and raise as per the sun movement. I found awning which my mum has not quite as useful or adjustable for some reason

Google perfect fit blinds, you could get venitian blinds and tilt them to keep sun out.

Just have a tinted film applied.

Look at Blinds2Go Zebra blinds too.

Putting the window film looks easy, but it is not.
If you do it yourself you’ll end up with lots of bubbles and inclusions.
Employ the professional to do it, there is bound to be a subbie in your area who can apply it

The film does make a massive difference.

we Had the French doors in our guest room done with the film and it makes a massive difference

you can buy almost clear film that reduces a huge amount of heat, without compromising on light

get some samples, I’ll make a difference and you can always get blinds when you’ve saved up 🙂

Isn't the whole point of bifolds that you open them up when it's hot? Am I missing something?

@chocolatesaltyballs22 someone has to be home to have them open.

Check out blinds direct too

They have a good range of clip on blinds too

Luxaflex frame fix blinds. You can get light filtering or light dimming fabrics, and it doesn't affect the opening of the doors. I don't get the love of bifolds at all - turns the room into a greenhouse. Too hot in the day and bloody freezing at night.

If the air outside is also boiling that doesn’t really help chocolate. In fact when the outdoor temp is over about 30 degrees it’s actually cooler to keep our doors shut all day as they are triple glazed and help keep the heat out.

These temps don’t happen much in England but for the few times a year it does happen it can be pretty unbearable if you have lots of glass. Lovely the rest of the year though!

The perfect fit blinds would work I'm sure .

The window film works really well our friends got it last year in April.

we are jealous 😅

We have trufit from Luxaflex in the dining room but they are really expensive We just got these for the lounge and they are really good too and a lot cheaper though slightly bulkier than the Luxaflex ones. You just measure your windows and when they arrive you stick the fitting on to the glass and then clip the blind on. It’s really easy and no fitting or screwing into your window needed. I can definitely recommend them. We got the top down bottom up version so you can just have them sat wherever you fancy or need them. You can put the size you need onto the website and see the price. We got the luxaflex and the cheaper version delivered from Crosby blinds. The cheaper version quote was over a £1000 less than luxaflex and honestly they are just as good.

https://www.crosbyblinds.co.uk/product/trustick-cellular

A budget solution is to put up a large sail outside the doors. We have big bifolds and put up a couple of hooks above them and then put a sail out when it's hot, it stretches to our fence but you can attach them to whatever you can in your garden. We have curtains as well but stopping the sun before it comes in makes the biggest difference to temperature.

We have concentina? Individual blinds that are clipped into the frames, you can get ones you screw in as well. They each raise from the bottom up.

You can take your own measurements and order blinds and fit yourself, they looked easy ish to fit you just need to play with the tensions a bit to get them to stay up.

They fit in the frame and are great, but they might be on the pricer side of solutions.

You could order one and see if you like it/it works. We got ours fitted but we weren't as constrained with money

I think the X4 here including fitting were about £1k. But you can do it cheaper.

What budget do you have?

Putting up a curtain rail and hooking up a thick curtain fir dark days would be the cheaper or just hooks and material. It might not look pretty but would cost £30.

IKEA do some paper type blinds that you can stick on to each door individually. I am looking at them for our bifolds! Doesn't get as hot as you, but the sun can be blinding as it sets and gets right in our eyes.

www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/schottis-pleated-blind-white-20242282/#content