Like others, just wanted to give everyone thanks for the ideas and to show my experience (based on everyone’s suggestions). Was always afraid of cleaning my HD’s as they appear so shear. Even though my HD Silhouettes have been up for just over 20 years now, I have been hesitant to professionally clean due to costs (over $1000 dollars estimated-was told it was this or spend over $6000 to replace). Given inspiration by this thread, I decided to do it myself and wanted to “payback” the thread with my experience. Given the cost of professional cleaning, I decided to DIY since it I messed up, I would replace with something else that was not so delicate (called HD and they would not sell “replacement” fabric so would have to replace all units). I could not use the bathtub method as many of my shades are too large (7ft W x 5ft L). Also, did not want to use sheets on the ground or swimming pool method as I did not wish to risk tearing/delaminating the shade vanes and it would have been tough to get to the center of the shades to clean and rinse. I did purchase then returned a cheap $39 inflatable pool but decided it was not worth the effort. Bissel was an option but some said it was messy and I didn’t want to risk dripping onto white/beige carpet if using when shades were still hung. Instead, I hung the shades up on a pergola in my backyard with some bungie cords and 1” nylon webbing with plastic buckles I bought on Amazon for $7. I rinsed the shades (first with the vanes in an open position, then again on each side with the vanes closed) to get rid of as much grime as I could using a variable spray garden nozzle (started with flat spray, and increased to a jet spray). I then sprayed each side (vanes closed) with about 1/2 ounce Dawn (as degreasing detergent) mixed with 1:2 Oxyclean/water in a spray bottle. This was followed by a thorough rinse on each side using the garden hose on jet spray to get rid of all the remaining grime and stains (started from the top, working out from the middle to ”eject” the dirt out to the sides). I followed up by using a leaf blower to dry the Silhouettes so I could immediately hang them back up. I already had a cheap one that I use to blow excess water out of molding/crevices and grill work when I clean my cars but a SunJoe electric leaf blower can be purchased on Amazon for as little as $19. Again, I started blow drying from the top, working my way out from the middle to the sides to expel all the water (and get any excess water out of the headrail and bottom rail). I found that this worked best first with the vanes closed, then a light going over with the vanes in the open position. Because the material (at least of the standard Silhouettes) is some form of polyester, the material dried very quickly, with no puckering nor delamination. A couple of observations. First, much to my surprise, the polyester material (at least on the standard) Silhouettes is not as delicate as I first thought. I can’t speak for any other brand or material, but the Hunter Douglas standard ones are very resilient, just don’t poke the shear material! You can be quite vigorous with the water pressure, much more so than I thought, to thoroughly clean and rinse the shades. They are a quality product (at least the ones I bought over 20 years ago, and the price I guess reflects that). Secondly, I would recommend leaving them in a “down” position with the vanes in an open position once you hang them back up to ensure they thoroughly dry. They will not pucker so you don’t need to roll them up as one person suggested as this may lead to the headrail components remaining wet and the shades not completely drying. From removal to reinstallation, I got it down to about 20 minutes per shade (had a lot of practice, lots of shades, lol). For those that were asking for photos: Before (right side before cleaning), after cleaning (on left) of two adjacent shades, left side started even worse than right side (see second photo) since left side window opens. After is back to original color #128 misty almond: Another before photo of the left side (pretty gross!) Hanging from pergola before cleaning: After cleaning: Variable spray hose attachment: Spray mixture and bottle: Summary: about $35 worth of equipment used (plus the cost of soap and water) vs. over $1000. Can’t imagine that the +$1000 method would have significantly better results. Anyway, sorry for the long post. Hope it helps someone, YMMV.

oh those are a dime a dozen search up downlight.

Hi there! If you need more privacy than the solar shades offer the Silhouettes are a great choice. Since solar shade fabrics have different fenestration properties depending on things like how open the weave is, what color the fabric is, it's hard to tell if Silhouettes would block more or less u.v. when the vanes are open. However, with the Silhouettes, you also have the option of closing the vanes. When you close them they would definitely block more u.v. than solar shades. Keep in mind they are not as kid and pet friendly as solar shades. Another option could be zebra shades. https://www.hunterdouglas.com/window-treatments/roller-shades-solar-shades/designer-banded The roller shades you have could probably be retrofitted to be dual shades which would add another layer that could provide privacy. (I know we could do that.) Depending on the top treatment you have on your shades, it might be as simple as changing the bracket to a dual bracket and then getting another shade to put in front of or behind the one you have now. Or you could get new dual shades like this: https://www.hunterdouglas.com/operating-systems/manual/dual-roller There are window films that block about 99% of u.v. rays, too. Since solar heat gain is a problem for you, you might like window films that help with that. There are some that don't have much of a tint to them. (Check with your window manufacturer on whether or not film would void your window warranty.) http://www.johnsonwindowfilms.com/residential-commercial-products/sunlight/ We manufacture Open Light roller shades in Ann Arbor, Michigan. If we can help, please let us know. Good luck!

HAVE you asked where the difference came from? That could be as simple as your choice of fabric! ASK!!! We certainly have no way of knowing. We don't know the size of the windows, we don't know anything. But there is a huge variance in pricing, depending fabric selection, veins, al of it. Including width of the window and length. Jeesh. Get all the estimates you want. but there needs to be certainty in every aspect of pour selection, to do that. Apple to apples, not apples and a banana. "Decent sized" makes about as much sense as "standard window". There simply IS no such thing.