Chartwell

Chartwell sits alongside Dainfern in Johannesburg's north — a belt of large stands and custom-built mansions rather than a single tightly-planned estate. Many properties run to a hectare or more, with sweeping views instead of a fixed golf-course frontage, which changes the shading brief compared with a standard estate erf next door.

What suits a Chartwell property

• Motorised external venetians or awnings for larger, more exposed glass and outdoor entertaining areas — wind sensors matter more given the open aspect
• Wide-span roller blinds, motorised or centrally joined, for expansive custom-built living areas
• Zip screens to close in an outdoor entertainment area against wind without losing the openness

The measure, on a bigger property

Larger stands usually mean more windows and more variation between them — a Chartwell measure typically runs a little longer than a standard estate home, which we build into the appointment rather than rushing it.

An open stand has no borrowed shade

The practical difference between a hectare stand and a tightly planned erf is that nothing next door is helping you. On a compact estate plot a neighbour’s roofline, a boundary wall and a row of established trees all take a bite out of the low sun before it ever reaches your glass. Out here the sun arrives whole. West-facing living glass takes the full late afternoon, and because there is no building in the way it comes in flat and horizontal, under the eaves, at the height people are sitting.

That is the argument for shading outside the pane rather than behind it. External venetian blinds intercept the heat before the glass warms, and because the slats tilt you keep the outlook while they do it — on a property bought for its views, that is not a small consideration. Where an exterior system is not practical, a low-openness sunscreen inside will take a genuine bite out of the glare, and we will say plainly that it does less about the heat.

Wind, distance and a longer measure

Open ground also means wind that has not been slowed by anything. On an exposed entertaining area that makes a wind sensor part of the specification rather than an accessory, whether the shading is an awning or a screen, and it changes how we would fix the brackets. A zip screen closes a patio against a moving breeze and insects without any building work, but it remains a screen with a stated wind rating and we will give you that figure rather than a reassurance.

Because so many houses here are one-off builds rather than repeats of a plan, there is far less that can be assumed. Ceiling heights vary, reveals vary, and it is common to find three quite different window types in one room. That is why a measure on a property like this runs longer, and why we do not shorten it: every opening gets its own dimensions and its own line on the quote. If it helps, send a floor plan beforehand and we will arrive knowing what the house is doing, though what we cut to is always what is measured on the day.

One honest limit worth stating early. A very large expanse of glass cannot be covered by one blind — fabric width runs out at roughly three metres — so a wide span becomes either a visible central join or several linked blinds moving together on one control. Which of those you prefer is a decision to make while looking at the actual wall, not from a photograph, and it is part of what the free measure is for.