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I'm not a huge fan of them aesthetically, but I've just started ringing around for some quotes. Does anyone have them? Pros? Cons? Recommendations company wise? (can pm if needed)
Since being robbed just over a year ago, DH and I still leave the house everytime wondering if today will be the day we are robbed again. We have security screens and an alarm, but still have the worry. We're thinking maybe fortress style is the way to go ;) Any advice greatly appreciated.
we bought our house with them already installed including the front door!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yup!)
Ours are all electric
Anyway pros:
* They keep the house cooler in summer
* blocks out all the noise and sun
* great for the cinema room because we can watch movies in total darkness any time of the day
Cons:
* Expensive to call someone out just to look at it when the motor fails!
Ummm cant think of anymore, will get back to you when i can
Ours are manual and we loved them. We have a Victorian era house so were worried about the aesthetic implications but they actually blend in well. They are Nu Style and they have made a huge difference in terms of blocking out noise, light (especially in the girl's room), heat and cold (power bills down) and also security.
We were going to get the turning handle style mechanism but it wouldn't fit so we have one that is like a tension cord - it is much easier IMO, they go up and down so quickly - they actually saved our windows in a massive hail storm earlier this year as I got them down so quickly. If I hadn't the hail would have smashed the glass.
We have the manual wind ones just on DD window & the second bedroom. This was mainly to block out heat as my DD room gets the full afternoon sun and I had to have two inside blinds on her bedroom window to block out the light (sun) and heat. We had awnings at our other house but you had to go outside to put them up & down, which is a PITA.
We are seriously thinking of getting some other windows done now.
We have the battery form Oz Drive/Oz Roll (each company names it something similar but the imported name is OzRoll & is imported by an Adelaide company). We had them installed in Nov last year after moving in in September. We went this option mainly because our house has no eaves and the sun shades wouldn't really work. So far no cons have had fantastic customer service & communication took 3 weeks from measure to them being up. They were very competitive price matched & even opened the show room on a Saturday so that my husband could go & have a look at the different types. Pros keeps house cooler, heat in on the cooler nights, security, total black out, not much noise when putting them up & down. Can open them partially as they have small slits to let some light in on hot days. Blocks out some noise, but our neighbours are fairly close on one side. Increase value of your property.
One tip... don't fall for a certain company who advertise a lot on tv with different deals. They don't quote and expect an answer yes or no there and then using the hard sell.
We have all 13 windows inc 2 sliding doors & 2 larger than average front windows with shutters just over $11,000, one battery pack for 3 windows. The 2 big windows have one each.
We looked at electricity & electricity with battery backup and went with just battery purely because if there was a fire or another event then we would want us & the kids to be able to open the shutters & get out. With the electricity with battery backup you would still need to replace the battery every 3 years whether you used it or not and would need a place to install it ie a wardrobe or cupboard. The OzRoll are individually connected next to the window and you have controller that slides in which you operate it from. Moving the controller to each window as you go or you can get a controller for each window depends on what you want. For bay windows they have a 3 button controller at one side and each window is connected to it select which window you wish to open/close and use the controller to open/close.
Hope this helps ;-)
Hansie
Some great feedback - thanks. Sounds like there are a few positive angles to them, I like the heating/cooling aspect too. As we'd be looking at getting the whole house done, or maybe in two sections, it's going to be costly so we'd probably go manual or wind up etc not sure, have to see what the quotes involve. We are getting several companies to quote and have readied ourselves for the hard sells that many of them are famous for, it's going to be interesting, but I feel we'll have a good cross section of who and what's available.
Thanks again!