5 Benefits of Installing Solar Screens

Living right here in Salt Lake City means we get to enjoy stunning mountain views, but we also have to deal with an incredibly intense sun that just loves to bake right through our windows. Honestly, trying to keep a living room or a commercial office space comfortable during a Utah summer usually means clamping the blinds shut and living in a dark cave. But there is a much smarter, highly effective way to block that uncomfortable heat without losing your connection to the outdoors.

Wait, what exactly are solar screens anyway?

Let me explain the basics before we get into the main benefits. You might hear the term and immediately think of those flimsy bug screens you buy at a hardware store. That is definitely not what we are talking about here.

Solar screens are heavy-duty, specially woven meshes designed specifically to block out the sun’s heat and glare. They are usually made from highly durable synthetic materials like PVC-coated polyester. You can install them on the inside of your windows, but they are incredibly popular as exterior installations. Think of them as high-tech sunglasses for your entire building.

Here’s the thing. They come in different weave tightness levels, which the industry calls the “openness factor.” This is just a fancy way of saying how much empty space is in the fabric. A 1% openness factor means the weave is super tight, blocking 99% of the UV rays. A 10% openness factor has larger gaps, letting more light through while still offering decent protection.

You know what? A lot of people assume any old window covering does the same job. We often hear from folks who just bought standard Blackout curtains, thinking that will fix their heat problem. Mild contradiction here: standard curtains do block the light, but they are actually terrible at keeping your house cool. We will get into exactly why that happens in a minute.

For now, just know that window shade solutions have evolved tremendously. If you are looking to upgrade your property, these screens are arguably the best investment you can make. Let’s look closely at five reasons why you should seriously consider adding them to your Home or business.

Benefit 1: Slashing those terrifying summer cooling bills

We all know the feeling. It is mid-August, the temperature outside is hovering around 103 degrees, and your air conditioning unit is screaming outside trying to keep up. Your energy bill arrives, and it is honestly a tough pill to swallow.

A massive portion of that cooling cost comes directly from heat entering your home through the glass. In the window business, we call this the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient, or SHGC. It basically measures how much solar radiation comes right through a window and turns into heat inside a room. When the Utah sun hits unprotected glass, it creates a greenhouse effect. The heat gets trapped.

Now, remember how I said standard interior curtains are bad at keeping your house cool? Here is why. When you use interior blinds, the sun’s rays still pass through the glass. The heat is already inside your house. The blind just stops the light. The heat then gets trapped between the glass and your curtain, and it inevitably radiates out into your living room.

Exterior solar screens completely change this dynamic. They intercept the sun’s energy before it even touches the glass pane. They absorb and reflect up to 90% of the solar heat on the outside of your house.

By stopping the heat before it enters, your HVAC system does not have to work nearly as hard.

• Less AC runtime: Your unit kicks on far less frequently during the hottest parts of the day.
• More even temperatures: You will stop noticing those weird hot and cold zones in different rooms.
• Longer HVAC lifespan: Because your system is not running at maximum capacity all summer, the mechanical parts simply last longer.

For businesses running large commercial spaces, the energy savings are even more dramatic. Keeping an expansive office cool in downtown Salt Lake is incredibly expensive, and these screens can dramatically lower those overhead costs.

Benefit 2: Saving your furniture from the fading graveyard

You just bought a beautiful leather sectional or installed gorgeous hardwood floors. Six months later, you notice a weird, faded rectangle on the wood right where the afternoon sun hits it. Infuriating, right?

Ultraviolet light is incredibly destructive. Because we are at a higher altitude here in Utah, the UV exposure is much stronger than it is at sea level. The sun will literally bleach your carpets, dry rot your window frames, and ruin expensive artwork.

This is where UV protection window treatments really earn their keep. Solar screens act as a physical barrier that filters out the vast majority of harmful UV rays. You still get plenty of natural ambient light, but the destructive radiation is blocked.

Choosing the right openness factor is crucial for this. Let’s break down how different weaves protect your interiors.

You can easily mix and match these percentages across different sides of your building. A west-facing window that gets brutally roasted by the setting sun might need a 1% screen. A north-facing window might only need a 10% screen just to soften the morning light.

And protecting your stuff goes beyond just fading. Intense sun can warp certain plastics and cause wood veneers to peel over time. By filtering out the harshness of the sun, you are significantly extending the life of virtually everything inside your room.

Benefit 3: Keeping the gorgeous Wasatch Front views

There is a distinct reason people love living in Salt Lake City. The mountains. Whether you are looking up at Mount Olympus or out over the Great Salt Lake, the scenery is a huge part of our lifestyle.

It is incredibly frustrating to buy a home specifically for the view, only to realize you have to pull the curtains completely shut every afternoon just to comfortably sit on your couch.

This is the brilliant paradox of solar screens in Salt Lake City. They block the sun, but they do not block your vision.

During the daytime, these screens function almost exactly like a two-way mirror. Because it is brighter outside than it is inside, your eyes naturally see right through the tiny holes in the fabric mesh. You get a perfectly clear, slightly tinted view of your backyard, the street, or the mountains.

Meanwhile, anyone standing outside your house looking in will just see an opaque screen. It offers fantastic daytime privacy. You can walk around your kitchen in your pajamas with the windows wide open, enjoying the breeze, knowing your neighbors cannot see a thing.

Now, I do need to mention a quick caveat because transparency matters. This two-way mirror effect reverses at night. When it is dark outside and you have your living room lights turned on, people outside can see in through the mesh. So, if privacy at night is a big concern for a bedroom or bathroom, you will still want an interior secondary shade or curtain to pull closed after the sun goes down.

But for daytime living? There is simply no better way to maintain your visual connection to the outside world while staying completely comfortable inside.

Benefit 4: Taming the glare (Without plunging into darkness)

Have you ever tried working on your laptop at the kitchen table, but the glare on the screen is so bad you can barely read your emails? Or maybe you have friends over to watch a football game on a Sunday afternoon, and half the television screen is just a bright, blinding reflection of the window.

Glare is a massive annoyance for both residential homeowners and commercial office workers.

Traditional blinds handle glare by completely eliminating the light. You shut the blinds, the room goes dark, and now you have to turn on the overhead lights in the middle of a sunny afternoon. That feels entirely counterproductive.

Energy-efficient exterior screens filter the light instead of blocking it completely. They diffuse the harsh brightness of the sun, softening the ambient light that enters the room. You get a beautifully lit space without the piercing rays bouncing off your television or computer monitors.

And let me bring up a very specific Utah problem: winter snow glare.

People often think of exterior shades as a summer-only product. But if you have lived through a snowy January here, you know how blinding the sun can be when it bounces off a fresh blanket of snow. The reflection comes up from the ground, hitting your windows at a low, harsh angle.

Solar screens are incredibly useful during the winter for this exact reason. You can roll them down to cut out the blinding snow glare, making your living space instantly more comfortable, while still enjoying the beautifully snowy landscape outside.

It creates an incredibly productive environment for home offices. You stop squinting, you stop getting headaches from the bright reflections, and you do not have to work in a sad, artificially lit room.

Benefit 5: Boosting your property’s curb appeal and value

Let’s talk about aesthetics for a moment. Historically, window coverings were viewed purely as functional necessities. Today, they are a major architectural design element.

Modern exterior screens look incredibly sleek. They lay flat against the window frame or hang cleanly from a patio overhang. They do not flap around loosely like old canvas awnings. They give a home or commercial building a very tailored, upscale, and contemporary appearance.

For businesses, this aesthetic upgrade is huge. A restaurant with an outdoor patio can install these screens to keep diners cool during the summer, instantly making the space look more high-end and inviting. It shows customers that you care about their comfort.

And then there is the Technology side of things.

We are living in the era of the smart home. Motorized solar shades are becoming standard for modern homes in our area. Instead of walking around yanking on manual pull chains, you can operate your entire shading system with the push of a button on your smartphone.

Even better, these systems can be completely automated. You can tie your exterior shades into smart home hubs.

• Sun sensors: You can set the screens to automatically lower when direct sunlight hits that side of the house.
• Timers: You can program them to roll down every day at 3:00 PM during the summer months.
• Wind sensors: This is a big one for Utah. If a sudden canyon wind kicks up, a wind sensor will automatically roll your exterior screens safely up into their housing so they do not get damaged by the gusts.

Integrating this kind of smart technology dramatically increases the value of your home. Buyers absolutely love walking into a house and seeing automated, high-end window treatments that are already installed and perfectly configured. It is a premium feature that sets your property apart.

Let’s wrap this up

Keeping a home or business comfortable in Utah requires a bit of strategy. You want to enjoy the natural beauty around us, but you absolutely have to manage the intense heat, the damaging UV rays, and the blinding glare.

Solar screens manage to solve all of these problems simultaneously. They stop the heat before it bakes your living room, they protect your expensive furniture from fading away, and they look incredibly sleek while doing it. Whether you want a simple manual screen for a single problematic west-facing window, or a fully automated, motorized smart-system for your entire commercial building, the investment pays off every single day.

If you are tired of hiding in the dark to stay cool, we would love to help you find the perfect shading system for your space. You can easily reach out to the experts at PowerShades Utah by phone # 801-518-5242 to discuss your specific needs. Alternatively, you can browse our website or Request A Free Quote online to get the process started today!