What Can You Do to Keep Your Room Cool?: Use Sun Protection
What can you do about heat in the room? This is a question many people ask themselves every year when temperatures rise and living spaces heat up despite closed windows. The good news: with effective window sun protection, you can solve this problem without air conditioning. Roller Shutters, External Venetian Blinds, and Textile Screens are the perfect solution for blocking heat before it even enters the room.
Are you tired of the uncomfortable heat inside your home? Then let our experienced ROMA Distributors advise you on the right sun protection for your home.
Table of contents
How to Deal with Heat in a Room: The Most Important Points at a Glance
Why heat builds up in a room: Sunlight is converted into heat inside the room, which can only escape slowly, causing the room to overheat.
Myths about heat in a room: Fans, interior blinds, or windows left open during the day do not effectively lower the room temperature and are often overrated.
Interior vs. exterior sun protection: Exterior sun protection blocks the sun’s rays before they reach the window glass, thereby providing significantly more effective protection against heat.
Exterior sun protection to shield against heat: Roller Shutters, External Venetian Blinds, and Textile Screens offer various options for heat protection, light control, and privacy, depending on your needs.
ROMA Smart Home Solutions: Automated control systems respond to sunlight and weather conditions, ensuring a comfortable indoor climate without manual operation.
Why Heat Builds Up in a Room and Lingers So Long
Sunlight passes through window glass almost unimpeded. Once inside the room, the rays strike the walls, floors, and furniture, where they are absorbed and converted into heat. The room slowly radiates this heat back out—both outward and inward. The result is an effect similar to that of a greenhouse: energy comes in, but doesn’t escape as quickly. As a result, the room heats up.
Once heated, rooms cool down very slowly without active measures, especially in . Therefore, sunlight must be blocked before it penetrates the glass.
Myths About Heat in the Room: What Really Helps?
There are a number of assumptions circulating about heat protection that have proven hard to dispel—even though they lack scientific basis.
Myth 1: “A fan cools the room.”
A fan circulates the air in the room. This air comes into contact with the skin, creating a subjective sensation of cooling. However, it does not lower the room temperature —quite the opposite, in fact, because the motor generates additional heat.
Myth 2: “Curtains and interior blinds protect against heat.”
Interior sun protection blocks light, but not heat. The sun’s rays have already passed through the glass by the time they hit the curtain. The rays then heat up the space between the glass and the fabric. From there, the heat inevitably continues into the room.
Myth 3: “Opening windows during the day cools the room down.”
Opening a window to cool down only makes sense if the outside temperature is significantly lower than the room temperature—for example, at night or in the early morning hours. During the day, in the summer heat, warm air flows in through open windows and further heats up the room.
Many supposed tips for combating heat in a room therefore merely create a subjectively more comfortable feeling. However, they do not effectively lower the room temperature. The key is to block sunlight before it reaches the windowpane. This is precisely why exterior sun protection systems are considered the most effective measure against summer heat.
Interior or exterior sun protection?
Not allsun protection systems are the same. The key factor is where they are installed. Generally speaking, there are two categories.
Interior sun protection: includes all systems installed on the interior side of the window. These include, for example, curtains, interior roller shades, pleated shades, and interior venetian blinds. Their primary functions are light control, glare protection, and privacy.
Exterior sun protection: is installed on the outside of the window or directly in front of the facade. This category includes Roller Shutters, External Venetian Blinds, and Textile Screens. These systems are weather-resistant and can be operated electrically or manually. Depending on the system, they offer different options for controlling light, privacy, and shading.
Exterior systems thus provide more effective protection against heat, while interior solutions primarily provide privacy and glare protection.
Comparison of Exterior Sun Shades for Heat Protection
ROMA offers three proven sun protection systems to keep heat out of your room. Which one is right for you depends on the room, how it’s used, and your individual preferences regarding light and views.
Use the ROMA Product Navigator to find the right sun protection for cooler living spaces in just 8 steps!
Cooler Rooms Thanks to Roller Shutters
Roller shutters offer the highest level of heat protection among all exterior shading systems. When closed, the roller shutter curtain —especially one made of aluminum—completely reflects and absorbs solar radiation before it reaches the glass. This reduces heat gain to a minimum.
A closed Roller Shutter helps keep the room cool. This makes it the ideal solution for bedrooms and children’s rooms, for example. When closed, almost no sunlight penetrates the room. Ventilation Slats in the Roller Shutter curtain still allow air to circulate.
External Venetian Blinds – Flexibly Directing Sunlight
External Venetian Blinds are among the most efficient shading systems available. Their adjustable aluminumVenetian Blind slats specifically reflect sunlight and prevent rooms from overheating. They provide excellent heat protection and are infinitely adjustable; depending on the slat position, you can enjoy complete darkness or pleasant, diffused natural light in the room.
The slat angle can be precisely adjusted— either manually or fully automatically —to the sun’s position, allowing daylight to enter the room without letting in heat. Depending on the slat position, the view to the outside may be partially obstructed. This makes External Venetian Blinds particularly suitable for living rooms, dining rooms, home offices, and offices —anywhere where both heat protection and natural light are needed at the same time.
Textile Screens for a natural lighting atmosphere in the room
Textile Screens provide effective heat protection, the effectiveness of which depends largely on the fabrics selected. The open area ratio—that is, the proportion of the fabric’s surface that allows light to pass through—is the key factor. ROMA textile screen fabrics with a 5% open area ratio offer balanced sun and glare protection while maintaining transparency.
With fabrics having an openness factor close to 0%, it is no longer possible to see outside during the day. However, depending on the fabric chosen, visual contact with the outside is maintained. This type of sun protection is particularly suitable for rooms with beautiful panoramic views.
ROMA Smart Home Sun Protection for Greater Comfort
ROMA Smart Home solutions make controlling sun protection even more convenient. Using sun sensors, the system detects current sunlight levels or wind speed and automatically lowers the sun protection as soon as defined thresholds are exceeded.
ROMA sun protection systems are compatible with leading Smart Home platforms: Somfy TaHoma, Loxone, KNX, Elero Yubii Home , and digitalStrom can be seamlessly integrated. This allows you to intuitively control Roller Shutters, External Venetian Blinds, or Textile Screens via smartphone or tablet—even when you’re on the go.
ROMA Solar Shades for Ideal Light Control
ROMA solar sun protection systems are also practical. They use solar modules that are integrated directly into the system. This makes them completely independent of the power grid—no wiring in the walls, no need to replace windows. A solution that’s also suitable for existing buildings and can be easily retrofitted.
Find the right ROMA sun protection system
With its automated controls, modern sun protection systems, and eco-friendly solar-powered solutions, ROMA offers the right solutions for a wide variety of installation scenarios. Use the ROMA dealer locator to find knowledgeable representatives who can provide personalized assistance in selecting the right sun protection system for your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Sun Protection to Keep Rooms Cool
What can I do to keep my room from getting too hot?
The most effective method is external sun protection, such as Roller Shutters, External Venetian Blinds, or fabric screens, since the sun’s rays are blocked before they reach the window. In addition, windows should be kept closed during the day, and rooms should be ventilated only during the cooler morning or evening hours.
Do closed Roller Shutters actually help keep the heat out of a room?
A closed Roller Shutter is extremely effective; it blocks the sun’s rays before they even reach the window, thereby preventing the room from heating up. Unlike interior solutions, it acts at the physically correct point—before the heat penetrates the glass.
Can I still let daylight into the room with External Venetian Blinds and still protect against the heat?
Thanks to the stepless adjustment of the aluminum slats, the External Venetian Blinds can be precisely adjusted to the position of the sun: Outdoor protection remains active, while diffused daylight continues to enter the room and a limited view to the outside is maintained.
What are the advantages of Textile Screens compared to interior roller blinds?
The difference is fundamental. An interior roller shade blocks light but allows sunlight to pass through the glass unimpeded. A Textile Screen , on the other hand, is mounted on the outside and blocks solar heat and glare before they reach the window. At the same time—depending on the fabrics—it maintains a clear view of the outside, which an interior roller shade cannot do.