Outdoor Roller Shutters

The shutter has three parts. A box, or pelmet, fixed above the window holds the rolled-up curtain. Two side channels, one on each side of the window, guide the slats and hold them against the wall. The curtain itself is a set of horizontal aluminium slats that hinge into each other, so it bends around the roll inside the box and hangs flat and rigid when it is down.

Lower it part way and the slats stay locked together with small gaps that let some light and air through. Lower it fully and the slats close up against each other and the bottom rail meets the sill, so the window is covered.

Glass lets radiant heat straight into a room, and a blind inside the window is dealing with heat that has already arrived. A roller shutter stops the sun on the outside of the glass, so a west-facing room stays closer to the temperature of the rest of the house on a hot afternoon, and the air conditioning has less to do.

The same slats hold warmth in on a winter night. Closed, they add a layer of still air between the shutter and the glass, which cuts the draught off a single-glazed window. And because the opening is covered edge to edge, a closed roller shutter gives a darker room than any internal blind, which is why shift workers and parents of small children ask for them.

Blockout roller blinds for inside the window

A closed shutter takes the edge off traffic, trains and neighbours. It is not soundproofing, but on a busy road the difference between a bare window and a closed roller shutter is the difference between hearing every truck and hearing a hum. Bedrooms at the front of the house are the usual place people start.

A closed roller shutter is a solid aluminium barrier over the glass. It cannot be lifted from outside when it is fully down, it hides what is in the room, and it makes an obvious statement that the window is not an easy way in. Many people close the shutters on the ground floor when they go away and leave the upstairs ones as they are.

Privacy comes with it. A shutter dropped to the sill stops anyone seeing in, day or night, without a blind or a curtain in the way.

A manual roller shutter is raised and lowered with a strap or a winder inside the room. It is simple and suits a window you close now and then, such as a spare room or a shutter that mainly stays down in summer.

A motorised shutter runs on a tube motor inside the box, controlled by a wall switch or a remote, and can join a smart hub for app control and schedules alongside motorised blinds inside the house. It is the right choice for shutters you use every day, for large shutters that are heavy to wind, and for a bank of shutters across the front of the house that you want to close together in the evening.

Motorised blinds and controls

Slats, box and channels come in a range of powder coated colours, so the shutter can match the window frames, the gutters or the render. Most Melbourne homes go for a white, a grey or a dark tone that reads as part of the window.

Fitting depends on the window. On a brick home the box usually sits on the face of the wall above the window and the channels fix beside the frame. On a rendered or weatherboard home we look at what the box and channels can fix to. Where there is a deep reveal, the shutter can sit inside it so the box is less visible from the street. We settle all of that at the measure.

Plantation shutters live inside the window: adjustable blades, a finished look from the room, and no help against heat until it has come through the glass. Roller shutters live outside it: no light control once closed beyond the slat gaps, but heat, noise and security handled before the window. Homes that want both put plantation shutters in the living areas and roller shutters on the hot or noisy bedrooms.

Outdoor blinds are fabric or PVC on a roller and suit alfresco areas, verandahs and windows where you want shade and weather protection with the view kept. A roller shutter is the harder, more secure option for a window you want to close down completely.

PVC plantation shutters for inside the house