Why Dover
Glare Across An Open Lawn
On a smaller lot the neighbor's trees do some of the work. Dover lots push the tree line a long way back, and from midafternoon until sunset the sun comes straight across the lawn and into a wall of glass. The great room heats up, the television is unwatchable, and the covered patio that was meant to be the shady spot is looking right into it.
Exterior mesh solves it at the source. Mounted outside the glass, it stops up to 90 percent of the solar heat before it gets to the window, and it cuts the glare the way sunglasses do, so the lawn and the paddock are still there when you look out. That is why we lean toward an open weave in Dover. There is rarely a neighbor to screen out, and an open mesh keeps the most of the view.
The openings on these houses run wide. An outdoor kitchen under a roof, a pool house with a covered side, or a porch that runs the width of the house can mean a shade well past eight feet, and at that size it should be motorized. The motor pairs with a wind sensor that retracts the shade into its aluminum housing on its own when the gusts come up across all that open ground.
Our exterior roller shades are made to live outside: marine grade fabric, aluminum housings, and wind rated side tracks. Kevin owns Sunset Shade Solutions and handles the site visit and the installation himself. Dover borders Natick, so the drive is short and a second look at a tricky opening is never a problem.
