The cell is the technology: still air trapped against the glass, working in both directions.
A cellular blind is folded so that the fabric forms rows of honeycomb cells in section. Each cell traps a pocket of still air against the glass, and still air is a genuinely good insulator. Single, double and even triple-cell constructions exist; the more cells, the more insulating value and the deeper the stack when it is raised.
On the highveld that matters in both directions. The February afternoon that turns a west-facing room into a furnace, and the dry July morning where the same room is colder than the hallway, are the same problem seen from two ends. A cellular blind is the fabric answer to both.
In Sandhurst homes they earn their keep most often on high gable glass, skylights and double-volume windows — exactly the places you cannot reach, which is why they are so often motorised, and exactly the places where heat gain and heat loss are worst.
Practical notes
- Single and double-cell constructions; blockout and light-filtering fabrics.
- Top-down / bottom-up operation where you want light high and privacy low.
- Side channels or tensioned wires for skylights and sloped openings.
- A sensible pairing with motorisation, since the best windows for them are the hardest to reach.
Where we fit this
Cellular honeycomb blinds do their best work on the gable and skylight glass we see often in Dunkeld and Inanda, and just as readily in Hyde Park, Atholl and Illovo.
What a cellular blind costs in Sandhurst
A honeycomb blind needs more material and more building than a plain sheet: R1,500 to R2,800 per square metre installed hand-operated, single-cell fabrics low in that band and twin-cell or blockout-backed cloths at the top of it. Motorised, that becomes R3,000 up to R4,800 for each square metre.
A minimum charge applies on narrow windows. As always the band is a planning tool and the real number arrives with the written per-window quote after your free measure.
Often specified together
