Coolaroo outdoor shades
 

I have been looking for shades for my lanai and I have seen these Coolaroo at the big box stores...does anyone out there have them and can you give me some advice..or is there an alternative for privacy...would like something that we can see out a bit but block some of the view looking in....thanks in advance

We have Cooler shades on our west facing screened lanai. They look and operate good. They block the sun enough to cool down the lanai, but you can still see through them somewhat. We bought them at Home Depot and their installer did a very nice job. They are approximately 8' × 7'and total cost was just under $500 for 2 shades. We are pleased with them.

We bought ours at home depot, ditto on the satisfaction of installation...but when the wind really blows, they flap.

We have black ones and you can't see in, except if you have lights on inside at night.

We have coolaroos as well. If we had it to do over with, we would get the kind that run in a track on either side so they wouldn't flap so much.

I agree.

We have them also. DH did the install, and he put cup hooks with a closer into the aluminum near the bottom of the screen. Not perfect, but it does stop the flapping. And it is cheap!

We did our whole lanai with them. I wanted them to match the vertical rails so we custom cut each one-- the top and bottom tubes and the shade to each width. Really easier than it sounds. Mounted them up high so the 8' length went to the bottom and then purchased extra holders for the first bar up. We like to have the air movement this allows. Ours are brown and 95% sun block from Home Depot. Very happy with whole job and it was only about $700 or so compared to $2600 or more.

Just an alternative. We looked at coolaroo and other "roll up" shades. We discovered they can be seen through with lights on and you are constantly adjusting them with the sun going down. They were EXPENSIVE to do one wall on the lanai. $2200 installed for just the west wall! 4shades with still a gap in them.
We than thought Rick at 48 Hour Blinds installed our house blinds including the verticals on the patio doors. He laughed when talking to him and said many think don't like the idea. We WISH now we would have saved the money on the patio verticals and put them only in the lanai. (Glass enclosed)
1. They are completely private like the patio doors
2. Come in various colors
3. Can be turned for privacy but blocks the sun 100%
4. Looks like part of the house. More "elegant". Valances, etc
5. Can be moved out of the way one side or other
6. Easy to clean
7. 33% the cost INSTALLED of the rollup type!!

All that see them on shake their heads and say what a good idea.
Hope that helps

For us, a no brainer

We also did our lanai with them and love them. We installed them ourselves. 5 years later they still look like new. We enclosed our lanai now and they no longer fit. Hubby was able to trim them down and rehang them only having to buy one additional shade. The new one matches the 5 year old ones perfectly. We are very happy. Total cost for 15 x 20 ft lanai under $450

We also have the installed ball and ring at the bottom. No issue with blinds blowing in the wind when we have them all the way down.

We have the ball and ring at the bottom and also halfway up. We are on quite a bit of a wind tunnel on that side of the house, and they do still make noise. I would like the option of having them continuously secured, which the side tracks allow.

But we still like them a lot, especially in the morning with our west-facing lanai, and also when it's raining.

We have them and we love em. We got custom fit from Loews.

So what exactly did you have installed?

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Does the cool Roos ease the rain coming in the screens and the dirt

We had the vertical blinds identical to the type installed on patio doors put on the sliders (glass) that is in our lanai. Two blinds for 36 ft. They are the PVC type, textured, colored, and does not let light through when closed. However, they can be fully opened, or closed and tilted to block the sun but still see out. If you don't have glass though, probably not work as well since they would probably rattle in the wind. Water doesn't hurt them though.