Install External Shading on your Roof Windows

Last year, we employed a building firm to convert the loft of our terraced home into a bedroom and shower room. Our house looks like every other on the street. At one moment in time, during a heat wave in 2023, the temperature in our loft was a comfortable 22°C, but in our next-door neighbours’ loft, it was a stifling 28°C. Why was this?

The key difference was that we had employed a solution to keep out the heat from the hot sun: £80 Velux external awning blinds, a fantastic but little-known product.

Both houses are similar in how they are used. We both have busy families, and one of us works from home in each house. Both lofts are nearly identical. They are adjacent to each other, have the same orientation, and were built to the same specifications by the same firm in 2023. Because the street is in a conservation area, the planners have taken an interest in the loft's form and have ensured the glazing is the same.

We have a bog-standard Velux roof window in our loft. Roof windows point towards the sky, letting in more light than a standard window, which is fantastic in brightening up what would otherwise be a dark space. A downside is that they also let in a lot more heat in the heat of the summer.

Velux has developed some fantastic external anti-heat awning blinds that you can retrofit to an existing roof window. When deployed, they reflect 78% of the sun's heat. The blinds are made from transparent mesh fabric, so you still get a view when deployed. They fit into a purpose-made pocket in the roof window and are entirely concealed when not needed.

I looked up the product code for our roof window and ordered the corresponding awning blind. The one we needed was £80. Our roof window is within easy reach, so the cheapest, manual version was viable. I installed it within half an hour of DIY. Now, it takes 20 seconds to deploy or hide away as necessary.

During the first heatwave of 2023, we were so impressed with its performance on the rooflight that we asked a handyman to fit hooks above the West-facing windows in our loft so we could fit two more of these awning blinds to shade those from the sun, too. The perforations mean that when they're deployed, we still retain a view and some ventilation from the windows. After the heat wave is over, I take them down and store them away.

Velux Anti-Heat Awning Blinds Applied to West-Facing Windows

So, how do we keep our loft much more comfortable than our neighbours' loft during a heatwave? We use Velux anti-heat awning blind products*. We don't see many of them around, but they're a fantastic product, and we couldn't recommend them more.

Want to try this idea out but want to spend so much? How about applying a more temporary perforated shading material directly to the glazing to test it out?

Want something more robust that can also provide blackout? These Velux anti-heat blackout external blind* products offer up to 90% reduction in heat.

Check out more rapidly-deployable and low-cost ideas on how to mitigate the impact of a heat wave in the UK on the solutions page.