Zip Screen Blinds

Three parts do the job. A headbox above the opening holds the roller and hides the rolled-up fabric. Two aluminium channels, one on each post, carry the zipped edges of the fabric. A weighted bottom bar keeps the fabric taut and locks off at the bottom.

Because the fabric cannot pull out of the channels, the blind can be left down in wind that would have a strapped blind flapping and lifting. That is the whole point of the zip: the blind behaves like a wall of fabric rather than a sheet hanging in the breeze.

Sunscreen mesh cuts most of the glare, heat and UV while air still moves through it and you can see out. From outside in daylight it reads as a dark panel, so the deck is private. Rain in a strong wind will come through it; mesh is for shade and comfort, not for sealing the space.

Clear PVC keeps rain, wind and cold out entirely. Drop it on a winter evening and the alfresco heats up with a single outdoor heater. Tinted PVC does the same with some glare cut. Plenty of homes mix them: mesh on the north and west sides for the sun, PVC on the side the rain comes from.

More on PVC outdoor blinds

A spring-operated zip screen pulls down by hand and locks off in the channels, then retracts on the spring. It suits smaller openings and blinds you use now and then. A crank handle gives fine control on bigger blinds and keeps the bottom bar exactly where you want it.

A motorised zip screen runs on a tube motor with a remote, and can join a smart hub for app control and schedules. It is worth it on wide spans, on any blind above head height, and when three or four blinds around one alfresco should drop together before a southerly arrives.

Motorised blinds and controls

Alfresco areas and pergolas are the main job: between the posts on the open sides, so the covered area becomes a room. Balconies, especially upstairs where the wind is stronger, are the other big one. Zip screens also suit verandah openings, carports, the gap between the house and the garage, and large windows on a hot side of the house where you want the sun stopped before the glass.

They fix to timber posts, steel posts, brick or a fascia. Each surface needs its own brackets and fixings, so tell us what the blind fixes to when you order or book a measure.

An open-tube outdoor roller blind has no side channels. It rolls down between the posts and is held at the bottom with straps, clips or a bar. It costs less and is quicker to fit, and it does a fair job on a sheltered verandah, but in a crosswind the edges lift and flap. A zip screen holds the fabric on every edge, so it stays put, seals better against rain, and looks like part of the building.

If the area already has some shelter and the budget is tight, an open-tube blind is fine. If the deck is exposed, upstairs or on the weather side, go zip screen.

More on outdoor roller blinds

DIY zip screens ship Australia-wide with the headbox, channels, brackets, fixings and an install guide. The channels have to be plumb and parallel for the zip to run smoothly, so read the guide before you order and measure the posts top and bottom.

In Melbourne, book a free measure and quote. We check the posts and fixing surfaces, the drop and anything in the way, quote on the spot, and come back to fit the channels and the blinds. On an exposed site or an opening that is not square, that is the lane we recommend.

Read the install guide