West facing lanai. Advice needed please.
 

We just purchased a home with a west facing lanai. It has insulated glass , a mini split a/c and the ceiling is insulated. All this keeps the room cool but we would like to keep the afternoon heat and sun to a minimum
We currently have manually rolled shades that help but aren't very attractive. We have seen shutters, dark screens and tinted glass and we just don't know what is the most effective. We would like to hear some opinions based on your experiences.

I bought insulated sheer panels with grommets online and my husband installed rods across each section. On really hot days we slide them across. They are not like the old insulated drapes with rubber backing. They are a couple layers of sheer material. It brought color to the lanai and really cut down on the sun if we're sitting out there on the hottest times of the day. My house it's usually 2-4pm. I've received many compliments and surprise that they cut the heat so much.

Be careful with tint as it voids the glass warranty from most manufacturers as they heat up between the panes. Our lanai faces north of west and except for two hours or so in the late afternoon the AC keeps it comfortable. If we were to want to keep the sun out I would not go with dark screens as that also will darken the room as well as your living area and would probably go with electric roll up sun shades.

We don't have a lanai, but our birdcage faces west. Our advise would be to get a good blender and make up some frozen Margeritas and kick back and enjoy a beautiful sunset : )

Thanks for the advice folks. The blender is probably the easiest of the ideas.

Bringing this back up hoping for some more suggestions.

Girl. Show us pictures, please. I have been trying to think of something like this to soften the room.

The home I purchase had verticals, which I hate. I just made double wide, lined sunbrella fabric white drapes. Going to use black clip on rings. Bought wood closet poles at Lowe's and painted black. Will install when I get down. Now I have to find out how to dispose of verticals for 9x15 laini. Habitat won't take them.

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Here you got the answer
 

Sounds expensive but also sounds like it solves the problem. Have a friend who has this or something just like it and he only nods when you talk money. :popcorn:

Several years ago we had a cool breeze roll motorized screen installed by Lonnie in our west facing lanai. It's been worth every penny we spent to have shade at the push of a button.