As we speak wood blinds are one of the most common household items in the United States . Despite their popularity they are not the best option around. Faux wood blinds are seeing a rise in popularity mostly due to their lower cost.
A question thus emerges, which are the recommended blinds for your house: the traditional wood blinds or those cheap faux wood blinds? To keep the answer short I would say both of them. This is becoming rather confusing now issn't it? Now let's clear the fog and see what these have to offer. Obviously the faux wood blinds are preferred due to their cost, but do they really match the qualities of the normal wood blinds? The answer is no.
Wood blinds are made from one of the best materials nature has to offer. They offer good insulation, they are light, flexible and, if kept under the right conditions, they can last for years. Wood blinds are indeed affected by high humidity, but this sort of danger can be typically easily evaded.
Another downside to wood blinds is the fact that they tend to be affected by sun light and they lose that vivid color over time. The structural strength and the lack of a highly elaborate mechanism transform however these items into the choice of many.
There is also another issue surrounding this wood blinds versus faux wood blinds controversy. Nowadays everybody searches for that ethnic look, which avoids the use of artificial materials and focuses instead on a warm, friendly atmosphere. This is an area where those discount faux wood blinds will never quite reach.
From the ecological perspective the traditional wood blinds are still surprisingly the winner. This is because the faux wood blinds contain a high amount of plastic, which typically is not biodegradable and the technological process involved also releases harmful chemicals. There are indeed steps made in this direction, but the effort is far from convincing. Let's examine PVC for example, one of the most common ingredients in plastic. This material is made using chlorine which is very toxic to the human body and it is a known carcinogen. Now don't get me wrong faux wood blinds don't bring cancer as the chlorine is unlikely to ever leave the material, but during the manufacturing process some amounts are released. There is also of course the controversy of using wood, which is a material with a low replenishing rate, but as most manufacturers switch to bamboo; this problem has been bypassed in the most elegant of ways.
In this light, wood blinds show up as a more expensive, but cleaner alternative to the cheap faux wood blinds. As the technical processes are improved though and the industry becomes more environmentally friendly this is likely to change at least on a long term basis.
Wood blinds are made from one of the best materials nature has to offer