With exterior facade louvers, external slats on the facade, you have control over incoming daylight and influence on the heating by the sun. There are also plenty of possibilities to beautify the exterior of the building. For example, by choosing aluminum or wood in combination with one of the many treatment options.
Daylight management
With horizontal slats you can very precisely dose how much daylight you allow. If you open the louvers completely, the light incidence is maximum. We humans prefer to live and work in daylight, we are in a better mood and more energetic then. During the day, the blades are usually opened completely.
If the sun is too bright, you suffer from reflection on screens or you want privacy, then you close the slats. Completely or just enough, that is infinitely variable. Aluminum louvers fall over each other, when completely closed no light comes through. If no sunlight comes in, direct solar heat is also blocked.
A major advantage of horizontal slats is that you do not have to close them completely in the summer to keep the sun out. The sun is high then, which means that sunlight is already blocked when the louvres are slightly lowered. The big advantage; you retain daylight and a view.
In winter, all the warmth is welcome and you can open the louvers completely. The sun is lower then, but it is not as bright. With louvers, you have a lot of control over the amount of daylight that fills the room. You simply set the slats to the desired position between completely open and completely closed.
Architectural sun protection
Apart from the functional characteristics, louver also have aesthetic properties. Louver systems are always custom-made and are available with tiltable slats in any desired shape and many colours. This gives the architect enormous freedom in shaping his ideas and possibilities for distinction.
Whether you like sleek and modern, or prefer natural and rustic, there is always a blade that suits you. For the material of the louver, you can choose from extruded aluminium and wood.
Aluminium and wooden louvers are available in different widths. The width of the slats partly determines the appearance of a louver system and therefore the character of the home. Aluminum and wooden slats are available in widths ranging from 68 to 155 mm.
The most popular louver widths are around 10 cm and around 15 cm wide. The choice for one or the other width is primarily determined by your taste. The proportions of the window also often play a role. Wider louvers usually come into their own better with larger glass surfaces.
In principle, the wider the slat, the larger the step size. The step indicates how far apart the slats are when they are fully open. So the larger the step size, the more view between the slats. For slats of approximately 10 cm wide, the step size is 9 cm, for those of approximately 15 cm the step is 14 cm.
Surface treatments
Aluminum parts are usually coated, often in the same RAL color as the frames. You can choose a gloss level of 70% (high gloss) or 30% (matt). A matt gloss level can be combined with a fine structure. The result is a visible and tangible relief with an exclusive appearance.
If you live near the coast and the air is salty, you can consider a seaside coating. In this process, the aluminium is pre-treated a little more intensively than usual. The slats are then often coated a second time.
Instead of powder coating, you can also opt for anodising. This makes use of the natural metallic shine of aluminium. Anodising is not only possible in the natural colour of aluminium, but also in blue, green or red and even in exclusive shades such as gold, copper and bronze.
With anodising, you can increase or decrease the natural shine of aluminium. If you want more shine, have the aluminium polished before the anodising process. You can achieve less shine by brushing, this pre-treatment actually makes aluminium slightly duller.
You can stain, oil or paint wooden slats. Not treating the wood is also a popular choice. The wood will then turn grey over time under the influence of the weather conditions. This is a natural process and the big advantage is that you do not have to worry about it.
Finally, there is the option of coating aluminium louvers in a wood print. In this case, the aluminium slats are coated multiple times. First, you apply a base colour, approximating the colour of the desired type of wood. Then the grain is applied. The result is an aluminium louver with the appearance of wood.
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