When it comes to protecting your home from harmful UV rays while still enjoying natural light, we can’t recommend light-filtering shades enough. Many people love the soft, diffused light these shades offer, but they often wonder: do light-filtering shades block UV rays as well?
The team at EcoSmart is here today to answer that question. Let’s get into it.
What Are Light-Filtering Shades?
Light-filtering shades are designed to allow natural light to enter a room while reducing glare and maintaining privacy. They’re often made from semi-opaque materials, creating a softer ambiance without completely darkening the space. These shades are available in various styles, including roller shades and cellular shades, offering a wide range of options to choose from.
What Are UV Rays?
Before diving into why it’s essential to block UV rays, let’s first understand what they are.
UV (Ultraviolet) rays are a type of electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun. While invisible to the naked eye, they have a powerful impact on both our health and the environment. Even though UV rays are important for processes like vitamin D production, prolonged exposure to them can have harmful effects to both our bodies and our belongings.
Can Light-Filtering Shades Block UV Rays?
The answer is yes, light-filtering shades block a significant amount of UV rays, but the effectiveness varies depending on the shade’s material.
While most light-filtering fabrics are designed to allow light in while protecting your home from UV rays, different materials offer different transparency levels, meaning, they allow different percentages of light to filter through.
For example, some shades, such as those made with 1% transparency fabric, block up to 99% of harmful UV rays, helping to prevent fading of furniture, carpets, and artwork over time. At EcoSmart, we offer a few different styles of light-filtering shade fabric. Simply choose the “light-filtering” option under fabric type when you’re selecting your shades, and you’ll be offered a few different options to choose from.
Benefits of Blocking UV Rays
As we mentioned above, blocking UV rays is about more than protecting your skin. Prolonged exposure to UV light causes damage to both your home and the belongings in it. We’ve all seen items such as a well-loved sofa or that painting from childhood experience fading from sun damage over time. By using light-filtering shades, the amount of damage from the sun is reduced, extending the life of the items in your home.
However, protecting your belongings isn’t the only reason to choose light-filtering shades– they offer energy-saving benefits as well. By helping regulate indoor temperatures by reducing heat transfer, these shades assist in keeping your home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, leading to energy-saving costs.
Got questions about light-filtering fabric options? Our Shade Gurus would love to chat! Give us a call for advice tailored to your unique needs– and in the meantime, be sure to take a look at our collection of light-filtering cellular shades and light-filtering roller shades.