Perfect Fit Pleated Blinds

Hi

Does anyone have experience of fitting so called "perfect fit" pleated blinds to upvc windows?

Apparently these blinds come with a rectangular frame and attach to the upvc window frame via the internal beading. They look very neat and can be attached to panes that open inwards. We had a quote for our medium sized consevatory from Hillary's which came in at 3000gbp which is seems totally over the top.

Self-fit Perfect fit blinds are available at much more reasonable prices from several online firms but I have a few concerns:

- how easy are they to fit

- how critical are the measurements

- how much variation in quality is there - I don't want to be landed with rubbish,

- how small do they compact to when closed

So, has anyone fitted these and if so how easy was it and where did you get them from?

Thanks Jeff

Reply to
Jeff
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We had them fitted to our conservatory last year by a local fitter, you are correct - they aren't cheap ! We think that they are 'almost' worth the money though, they do fit very well, shading the room well and concertina down to a minimum size, I'll measure the closed thickness when I get home and post back.

I myself have looked at the self-fit option as we would probably like them in other locations in the house, and, seeing how easy they were to fit, would begrudge paying someone else to do something which I could do myself in a shorter time - as I wouldn't need to fart about and drag out the job so it looks like I'm getting value for money.

I just wish I'd looked into doing them myself prior to having them done, the missus booked the bloke without my knowledge though.

The measurement side of things would need to be quite accurate I would think, but not to the mm. The site I looked at (I think it was the Perfect-fit homepage) almost held your hand through the process and made it easy to place your order - and quite a bit cheaper.

This is the way I would do it, hopefully others will post on this and confirm it.

Cheers,

Franko.

Reply to
Franko

We have the reassuringly expensive Thomas Sanderson pleated blinds in our conservatory. They cost about £2k almost 10 years ago and are still going strong. They are very small when closed and are screwed to the frames top and bottom (well actually they are screwed to the beads rather than the front of the frames). They are on all the openers and fixed bits of window, and also the doors - I think there are about 20 individual blinds all together (our conservatory has a "5-sided end").

Although they were hideously expensive at the time (and came complete with the semi-hard sell salesman) we have been very pleased with them.

The only downside I can see for the "Perfect Fit" ones is that they seem to cover up a little bit of window at the sides. The screwed-on ones don't, as the only thing up the sides when they are open is the cords. I would imagine you have to get the measurements pretty spot-on to be able to get the frames to clip onto those little brackets that they show in their video - do those slip in between the window unit and the "bead" that holds it in?

Do the edges have rubbery extrusions to give a good seal where they rest against the glass? Considering how mouldy the seals on windows can go, you wouldn't really want a load of condensation running down the windows, slipping past the new frames and getting stuck between the proper frame and the new "Perfect Fit" inner frame - could be a recipe for mankiness after a while I'd have thought.

Good luck!

Simon.

Reply to
Simon Stroud

Many thanks to Franko and Simon for relating their experiences. It does sound like you have at least both been satisfied with the blinds - which is reassuring. I hadn't thought about the condensation issue - though in our south facing conservatory we hardly ever have that problem.

I think the best option would be to start with a single self-fit blind at around £75 and take it from there.

Thanks again Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Sorry Jeff, forgot to measure the compressed size last night. I hadn't given condensation a thought either as ours is well insulated, ventilated and heated so condensation wouldn't enter the equation.

If it were me I would do what you are planning - go for the smallest window you have to minimise cost, I feel sure that you will be pleased with the result.

Please post back here to let us know how it went.

Cheers, Franko.

Reply to
Franko

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