A Look At Roller Shades

Roller shades are a popular window treatment found in many homes. They have gained in popularity in recent years over other styles of window shades. Roller shades vary in the types of operation they use and the fabric types. A Roller shades can cover a lot of windows and be quite large, or cover only one window and be very small. This type of shading system consists mainly of the fabric on a tube, an idle end, a clutch end, two mounting brackets, and a weight bar at the bottom.

The style most people are familiar with is the spring roller. They are usually very inexpensive. The fabric is attached to a light hollow tube. On one side of the tube where the shade is mounted, there is a high-tension spring. When the shade is pulled down and let go, it stays locked at the desired height. With a quick tug, you can easily retract the shade back to its open position.

Most popular are clutch roller shades. You can see these very often in chain coffee shops and restaurants. They are very simple to operate with a continuous loop beach chain made of plastic of stainless steel. Sometimes a nylon cord operates them. A ball stop is placed at the point where it is most open on the cord or chain to keep the fabric from flipping over. The shade clutch comes in a few different sizes, each one with different capacities for the fabric weight.

The clutch roller shades can handle up to about twenty-four pounds of fabric, but you can expand the capacity by adding some other gadgets. Add a spring assist to the idle end of the tube to make lifting and day-to-day operation much smoother and easier. Other variations of basic clutches are available to make operating the shade easier as well.

Roller shade tubes are made either of a very stiff paper based board or wood dowels for smaller style rollers, and aluminum or steel tube for the larger ones. The tube width is exactly the same as the fabric in most cases and the diameter varies between 1 to 2 and a half inches.

Motorized window shades are also very common nowadays. The three most common motorized options are battery powered, AC powered, and low voltage. All three are very convenient as opening and closing the shade can be done with remote controls. This helps if a window is very difficult to reach.

Low voltage shades are the best option because you can converge them easily into existing home control systems using RS-232 connectors or dry contact style control modules. It's possible to control all you window shades with a TV remote control, set up scenes, and even control your shades away from home with your smart phone.

Roller shades are definitely an option for anyone redecorating their home should consider. With such a wide variety of options for this attractive design, there's something that's sure to please everyone.