Shade, blackout and quiet — a different job to a security gate
Rigid aluminium slats that roll down outside the glass on their own guided track. Ours are specified and sold for sun, heat, glare and light control — not as a security product.
A roller shutter is a curtain of interlocking aluminium slats that rolls down from a headbox above the window, on the outside of the glass, guided in side channels. Lowered fully it blacks a room out completely; lowered partway it cuts glare and heat while still letting air and a slice of light through the gaps between slats.
What it's actually for
The job is sun control. On a west-facing Paradyskloof window that takes the full brunt of the afternoon, a roller shutter stops heat and glare at the facade rather than at the curtain rail. Lowered fully at night it gives a guest bedroom or a shift-worker's room proper blackout, and the closed curtain of air-filled slats takes the edge off outside noise too — useful on a terrace-facing room that would otherwise carry every conversation from the deck below.
What it is not
This is a shading product, not a security-rated shutter. It looks substantial and it does add a physical layer over the glass, but it isn't engineered or certified as a security barrier, and we don't sell it or describe it as one. If security-rated shuttering is specifically what you're after, that's a different, heavier-duty product — ask at the measure and we'll be straight with you about whether it's the right fit.
Product reality
- Foam-filled aluminium slats, powder-coated to match the facade colour.
- Headbox surface-mounted or built into the reveal on a new opening, for a cleaner line.
- Motorised as standard, with manual override and a wind-sensor auto-retract for exposed elevations.
Where it earns its place in Paradyskloof
West- and north-facing rooms behind big glass, where an interior blind alone can't keep pace with the heat load; guest suites in a house that hosts often and wants real blackout on demand; and any window that also picks up the noise of a terrace below it. Because the closed shutter is visible from outside, it's another product we bring drawings and a colour spec for before installing on a facade inside a gated estate.
Numbers on the mountainside
Roller shutters are costed on covered area, fitted. Hand-operated: R3,500 at the simple end and R5,500 at the serious end for one square metre, with the size of the opening and the headbox detail deciding where. Motorised — which is where most of these land, once the shutter is above head height or running across a wall of glass — R5,000 to R7,000.
A headbox, side guides and a facade fixing are needed whatever the width, so small openings are billed to a base figure. The ends are for planning only: each opening is measured, the facade assessed and the price confirmed on paper before anything is ordered.