The Benefits of Motorised Blinds

Motorised blinds earn their keep on four things: no cords anywhere near a child, heat and glare you can actually control, windows nobody can reach, and blinds that run while the house is empty. Everything else is convenience, and convenience is fine, but it is worth knowing which of these applies to your rooms before you spend the money.

This page covers what changes day to day, what it costs to keep them running, and which of our blinds can be motorised.

No cords, which is the one that really matters

A motorised blind has no chain and no pull cord. On our Perfect Fit range that is the whole point of the design, and our Roman blinds carry a child-safe breakaway headrail insert as standard. If you have a nursery, a bunk bed against a window or a playroom, this is the reason to motorise rather than the smart-home features.

Heat and glare, which is where the money is

A blind you can set to close before the sun hits the glass does more than one you remember to close at four o'clock. Our skylight and lantern blinds use a cellular fabric whose honeycomb structure acts as a thermal barrier at the glass, insulating in winter and absorbing heat in summer. The pleated range includes solar reflective treatments for the same job on south-facing windows.

If a room genuinely overheats, the honest answer is to stop the heat outside the glass with external blinds rather than to manage it once it is already in. Motorising an internal blind helps with glare and with routine. It is not a substitute for shading the outside of a roof lantern.

Windows nobody can reach

This is the case where motorising is not a luxury but the only sensible option. Gable ends, apex windows, roof lanterns and the top of a tall stairwell window all need either a pole, a ladder or a motor. Our gable end blinds and skylight and lantern blinds are both available motorised, and the lantern blinds can run on a solar motor so there is no cabling to hide above a kitchen island.

Running while the house is empty

A blind on a schedule opens and closes whether or not anyone is in, which keeps a house looking lived-in while you are away and stops a south-facing room cooking all afternoon in August. It is also the feature that drains a battery fastest, so see the running-cost section below before you set every blind in the house to twice a day.

How you actually operate them

Remote handset, phone app, or voice through a Google Home or Alexa device. Our own standalone system covers all three. If you already run a home automation system, our blinds can be linked into Lutron, Control4, Rako, LightwaveRF and Crestron, so they answer the same scenes as your lighting rather than needing a second app.

Power is either a battery in the tube or a 240V mains feed. Mains is the better answer on anything you will run several times a day; battery keeps the install simple where there is no power near the window.

What they cost to keep running

Less than most people expect, and the figures are published. Somfy rates its WireFree motors at twelve months between charges, measured at one full up-and-down per day on a 1.2m by 2m blind. Louvolite puts its One Touch lithium motors at around six months. A Somfy solar panel on the motor is claimed to stretch that to as much as five years.

On durability, Somfy's UK terms warrant a motor for an interior blind for five years from manufacture and the battery inside its WireFree motors for two. Louvolite gives five years on the current One Touch range. So the motor is a long-term fitting and the battery is a consumable inside that. Our guides to how often motorised blinds need recharging and how long motorised blinds last go through both in detail.

Which of our blinds can be motorised

Roller, vertical, Roman, wood and faux wood Venetian, pleated, Perfect Fit, gable end, skylight and lantern, bifold door blinds and awnings. The roller range alone runs past 300 fabrics from sheer to full blackout, so motorising does not narrow the choice. On wide openings, the bifold door blinds use extra-wide motorised rollers so one drop covers the run.

Not sure which of your windows are worth motorising? That is what a measure-up is for. See the full motorised blinds range, or call 01635 866600 for West Berkshire and 01189 509449 for Reading.

If you already have motorised blinds and one has stopped behaving, start with motorised blinds not working.

Fitted locally in Reading, Newbury, Thatcham and Caversham.

Last updated 25 September 2026.