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Aluminum Mini-Blinds

Aluminum blinds for most people are considered a step up from vinyl blinds.  The aluminum mini-blinds that are sold throughout the world and the internet these days are blinds that have quietly crept up in popularity until it has become quite obvious that more and more people are falling in love with this blind material.  Love can be blind however and for that reason you need to carefully consider a purchase of aluminum mini-blinds before you make it.  Here are some good points and bad points of aluminum mini-blinds to help you get started.

Good Points

Durability would be the first good point worth mentioning about aluminum blinds.  The durability of these blinds will allow them to last a lot longer than their vinyl counterparts and that is something that can allow you to simply put the blinds in place and then forget about them once you have done so.

Sturdiness is another good point about aluminum mini-blinds.  One of the worst things that can happen with a blind is a minor error that is not enough for you to replace the blind, but noticeable enough for you to have to explain it away whenever you have company over to the house.  This can happen a lot with wood and vinyl blinds, but it is a lot less common with aluminum because of the general sturdy nature of this particular metal.

The main bad point of aluminum as discussed in more detail below is the lack of insulation that you get from aluminum blinds.  The main reason for this is that aluminum mini-blinds are fantastic at blocking light out and preventing it from entering the house to begin with.  There are often two sides to every coin and this one is the corresponding advantage to the first disadvantage discussed in the following section.

Aluminum blinds bring an important elegance to any room that they are in.  When aluminum material is combined with a really small slat size, you’ll find that the end result is blinds that look about as contemporary and elegant as blinds can look.  The fact that they also come with a huge selection of colors is something that is not bad at all.  The amount of choice you get in how your aluminum blinds look is something that is pretty much unparalleled as far as the industry of manufacturing blinds is concerned.

Bad Points

One major drawback of aluminum mini-blinds is the fact that they do not really have any insulation features.  When you look at some of the reasons that people would want blinds in their house, insulation for the express purpose of energy conservation is one of the big ones.  If that is your goal in purchasing blinds, you need to ignore the aluminum side of the marketplace because there is no energy conservation potential in these blinds.  They are good for other things, but not for insulating the glass panes of your house.

Even though aluminum mini-blinds are definitely durable and sturdy, they are also a lot more rigid than other non-wood blind types.  For that reason, you’ll find that folding and bending is a lot harder to do with aluminum blinds.  They either won’t fold, or you’ll create permanent crack lines in the blind that will be a lot harder to deal with later on down the road.  It’s an unfortunate truth, but one you should definitely know about if you are considering making this type of purchase.

Finally, another bad point regarding aluminum mini-blinds that is worth mentioning is that they are surprisingly poor when it comes to resisting scratch marks.  You’d think that a strong metal would be able to resist scratching better, but the facts are the reverse of this.  If you have trouble believing that, think of how easy it is to scratch the side of your car.  The same is true for metallic substances that are used to create blinds.  Aluminum may look great, but it will also scratch easily so you need to handle the blinds with care.

Conclusion

When all is said and done, you need to consider both the good and the bad of aluminum blinds and decide whether the good points outweigh the bad points.  For example, if you are normally a pretty careful person that doesn’t need insulation and would like to maximize the choice in how your blinds look, aluminum blinds are a great investment.  If on the other hand you are a person that prefers to save as much money as possible, aluminum might not be the best choice for you.  Figure out what you want and then purchase the blinds based on that decision.