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?

I imagine a film wouldn't last well if the what is that direct.

We have just the same problem, but it’s two walls of glass. We’ve got an awning on the south side, but it still gets very hot. The reflective film looks great, but having looked at the photos on the website, that will be an absolute nightmare for birds flying into it

Actually might have been £800 I forgot a blind.

But something along £200 per door frame.

@DdJames

Do they not get in the way of the sliding? Especially when they are up and not covering. Can you have them go to the top - in all the pics on their website they seem to start a way down the window.

I know you said a pergola wouldn't work, but if you have a canopy above the doors made of a trellis / wires that a climbing plant grows across, then in the summer it will shade your doors, but in the colder months when it does back you'll still get sunlight into the room and solar gain.

We had these on the French doors in our last house. They were brilliant
www.hillarys.co.uk/blinds-range/perfect-fit-blinds/

Also a Schottis fan. We've got 3 sets of bifolds in an extension, these are a brilliant cheap solution. They are so cheap and so good that I've replaced them with more when they got ripped and I could do about 10 times again for the price of doing it with other ones.

That's fine if you're at home but what if you're not?

A awning screwed to the wall that comes out of its hot to make shade ?

I don't think so as most of the blind sits in the recess but I have a non sliding patio door so can't say for sure.

Yes you can have it all pushed up to the top or bottom if you want - photo for size of the blind fully closed.

How about a garden sail shade? You could drill some eye attachments into the brickwork outside, above the doors quite easily. I’d have thought it might be less hassle than positioning large parasols?

Like this.

We had french doors in our old apartment and fitted blackout blinds. They worked really well if they were fully closed from the night before. It still got a little hot indoors but you could really tell the temperature when you stepped outside. Someone else put up a sheet across them.

My DGPs used a home made awning thing with a sheet and hooks onto a laundry line. I know it's not attractive.

I like the idea of fitted blinds. I’m going to get a couple of companies in to have a look.

My worry with film is damage to it, if the dog jumps up at it and scratches/tears it then it will look awful, whereas the blinds can be positioned up higher to avoid that.

I have no where to plant stuff for a pergola, it would be a nightmare.

To the person who was asking, yes, the doors are designed to be open but if it’s boiling it doesn’t much help, plus I am at work all week, so the house heats up through the day horrifically.

My doors don’t slide, they concertina which is probably my only worry really, hence why I might get someone in to look first!

@Tiptoptum Concertina is better for the trustik cellular blinds as then you don’t have to worry as much about them sliding past each other if the blind sticks out slightly. We went to a local blinds shop to look at the luxaflex blinds before we ordered them online from Crosby blinds. With the cheaper version I just ordered them from Crosby blinds and hoped for the best (as they were so much cheaper than the luxaflex ones). I fitted them last week. We have had the luxaflex ones about two years now.

My doors are concertina and I have the Blinds 2 go fitted ones. No problems at all. Hope the pic makes sense

Get some solar film to put on glass.

@Tiptoptum I very much doubt that you are poor if you can even afford a house which has bifold doors in the first place!!!

I would try the sail cloth option first, it’s cheap and should make a difference.
Our friends have an awning and it’s brilliant but not in windy weather when they have to roll it in.

You have to stop the light heating the glass, so shade from the outside is your best bet. The light coming through the top third of the window is the strongest, but you will have head reflecting off your patio into the house too. So these are the problems to solve.

best thing would really be a pergola you could grow green vines (in pots) over or a retractable awning/ external blinds. More plants outside to diffuse and baffle the light as it hits the house would also help.

You mention a pergola. I'd grow a grapevine over the pergola. The leaves will provide lots of shade in summer, but they'll be gone at other times of year when you want as much sun as possible. And grapes are delicious! We have a vine growing over the pergola outside our south-facing sitting room, and it really helps.

I have a mirrored film on south facing windows. It makes the room noticeably cooler, also a little bit darker but not dark at all. If the heat is that intense you will probably need to get a film with a strong filter. That’s a shame about the cupboards, I’d also assume the strong sun will fade the cupboards/flooring etc. quite quickly. I haven’t had any peeling or anything, the film is still firmly stuck on the window and I can scrub the window seals without the film lifting. The only annoying is that plants don’t do massively well in there anymore. The room below has dark external walls and gets so warm that the skirting board tries to escape the wall each summer. In a previous house we had a wall of south-east facing windows and we had vertical blinds, they reduced the brightness and helped a little with the heat, but not really enough. I would try film first as it’s so much cheaper than anything else if you do it yourself

The entire back of my house gets hit with the afternoon sun and it's awful. We have shutters on the back doors and upstairs we have roller blackout blinds that have thermal covering on the back to stop the heat coming in, they work well. We got them from blinds to go.

@Shania7788 where did you get your film from? I'm thinking I need to get some as our house is like a greenhouse!

I have south facing bifolds, at the last minute I opted for the glass with blinds fitted inside best decision I ever made. In your shoes I would go for the clip on blinds you mentioned. In the summer we keep our blinds shut first thing in the morning until the sun moves round just after lunch, it is then fabulous to push open the bifolds and have inside outdoor feel. You absolutely need to protect your kitchen from the sun rays and keep the temperature down, the blinds will do both. Also feels a bit cosier to draw the blinds in the evening and if you are overlooked at all gives you some privacy.