After 30 years, the wooden joinery of the Boydens family home in Nazareth needed replacing. The sealant around the window frames had worn out, causing more and more draughts inside. So, the family went in search of a sustainable alternative that would still provide them enough comfort. Their search prompted them to opt for new aluminium joinery. And, because comfort was high on their wish list, they also wanted the new windows to be fitted with screens.

Simply replacing the sealant on the wooden window frames may have seemed the most obvious solution in tackling the most acute problem, which was draught inside the house. Nevertheless, the Boydens family soon considered installing new joinery. And that brought them to Vitralux. Managing director Wim Vermeersch: ‘Two years ago, we installed a new bathroom window in their home. We were very pleased that they turned to us again when they were looking for someone to completely renew their joinery. When we were replacing the windows, it seemed logical to fit the new ones with screens straight away. There was hardly any need to convince them of the added value of putting these in at the same time.’

Screens with proven value

‘When we bought this house 20 years ago, the upstairs windows had already been fitted with screens,’ explains the owner. ‘The fabric had discoloured a bit in the course of time, but apart from that, the screens still worked perfectly. They had already proven their value in keeping the heat out of the house. So, it was almost self-evident that we would have our new windows fitted with sun protection fabric as well.’

Initially, Vitralux considered installing the Fixscreen 100 in front flush against the new windows (there was no room in the existing façade for them to be mounted on top of the window frames), but the family wanted the smallest possible cassette so that it would not protrude from the brickwork on the façade. The more compact cassette size of the Fixscreen Go (with a depth of barely 85 mm) offered the perfect solution. Moreover, as the narrow side guiding channels are the same width as the window profiles they do not protrude beyond the windowpanes.

It was important to the family that their view of the garden remained fully unobstructed, even when the screens were rolled all the way down. They therefore opted for a sufficiently transparent screen fabric. Additional blackout curtains would be installed in the bedrooms to ensure a good night's sleep. ‘The colour of the aluminium cassette and side guiding channels of the new joinery as well as that of the screens was matched to that of an extension that the family had built onto their house 12 years earlier. This ensured an aesthetically pleasing result,’ concludes Wim Vermeersch.

Strict instructions for optimum use

Screens may offer the most efficient form of sun protection, but you do need to use them correctly. The Boydens family keeps a close eye on this. ‘In summer, we keep our windows open as long as the sun does not shine on the glass too strongly. Before that point is reached, we close the windows and lower the screens until it cools down again in the evening. You can certainly say that we observe these rules rather strictly. We operate the screens according to the sun’s rotations, running down our row of windows according to the ingress of sunlight, from east to west.’

A lot of use is therefore made of the remote control for the screens in this home. Of course, the family does not rule out the possibility of switching to an automatic screen control device in the future. ‘It's nice to know that we can quickly and easily get an automatic controller for our Renson sun protection fabric without any major construction work,’ they conclude. ‘We’d like to keep that for another time.’