The KFM Blog Vertical Blinds Skyscraper Video Repair List Post
KFM gives an Ultimate Video Vertical Blinds Skyscraper Video repair list of links to the most likely vertical blind repairs you will need to make in your lifetime.
Vertical blind headrails are often very sharp being made from thin sheet metal and slats can also cut you as they are often thin plastic. Extra care should be taken around these sharp parts. Make repairs at your own risk. I have donated blood many times and would spare you those experiences.
Perhaps the most common vertical blind repair needed is Vertical Blind Slats Broken Repair.Vertical blinds often break off the portion of the slat where the vane is inserted into the stem.
Vertical blind vane breakages are often caused by wind through an open window, not turning the blinds open before sliding them open, and sometimes these just get pulled on and broken off.
There are many ways to repair broken vertical blind slats.
ThePunch Method you use a hole punch to punch three holes side by side on the opposite end of the blind slat to make a new hole for the slat to hang from. Than, if preferred, the broken side can be trimmed off to be straight. This does make the slat shorter than the others. Sometimes the last blind slat overlaps baseboards and shows less. So this is sometimes a good slat to trade with to give a better appearance.
The Knife or Chisel Methodis similar but uses a different technique. You can see each method by clicking on the video links. This procedure you use a small chisel or knife to puncture a new hole similar to the punch method and having the same problem of a shortened blind slat. Again changing the slats to one of the ends can leave the blinds with a better finished look.
TheHot Glue Method does work and does not shorten the blinds but sometimes can be a bit of a mess. I think it is better used for broken blind stems that have fixed grommet ends where stems are not as easily changed.
TheVane Saver Methodis I think one of the best methods of repair short of replacing the blind slat with a new one. These slat savers are especially useful for special finish designer blind slats with unique finishes that are not easy to find or replace. Here is link http://amzn.to/2kKrdoY(Amazon Link) to the Vane saver repair clips. This is the best way to repair these in my opinion as the repair does not shorten the blind slat. Repair clips are usually made of metal and slipped over the broken portion of the slat making a new place to hang the repaired vane.
IfAll The Blinds Wont Turn this is often a case off all the slats overlapping the wrong way. The way to quickly remedy this situation is to poke the top corner of the wrong way blind slat(as shown in the video) to change the way the blinds overlap.
If anIndividual Stem Wont Turn the cause is often a broken stem or missing comb gear. ABroken Stem often has broken teeth so it may only rotate partially or it may keep popping out of step. This can also be caused by a Broken Comb Gear.
Missing Stem And Comb Gear Replacing as shown in the video is not too difficult but the parts are very small and the repair takes a little patience. The easiest way is to rotate the blinds open center. Hold the replacement stem with its gears inserted into the replacement comb gear and push it up and into the carrier with the missing stem.
If you can not get them to go in together another way is to put the comb gear in first, teeth up, ridges facing the opening, with a pair of needle nose pliers. Than insert the stem and pop it into the carrier. Often when you do this the stem will pop in but the comb gear might not have popped in all the way. The trick here is to examine the comb gear. Look to see which way rotating the wand will draw the comb gear into the carrier. If rotated the wrong way the blinds will often fling the comb gear and stem out like a pair of tiddly winks.
Here is a Trick To Replace Gear Stems For Fixed End Blinds. The trick as shown in the video is to carefully drill through the top of the vertical blinds headrail. Position the hole according to the stem position. If centered drill the hole in the center. If off center drill the hole off center. This will create a place that you can push up the old gear stem through the headrail and than insert the new gear through the hole into its place. Often the grommets that hold the headrails together are one time use only. Drilling through the rail can make a way to make repairs in the present and future.
If you haveVertical Blinds Stems That Popped Out.the procedure is similar as above and shown in the video. This sometimes happens when something is in the way such as a toy or couch and the blind wand is rotated. This sometimes forces the stem and or comb gear to pop out. This happens quite often with self aligning vertical blinds as they are engineered to pop over into line a bit easier if out of step.
With self aligning blinds first make sure all blinds are overlapping the same way or correctly and than you can just gently rotate the wand all the way one way and than the other way. Each gear has a little stop on the outward facing end that cause the gear to pop over as needed to bring the slats in step.
With other blinds do not try to force the master control to turn the blinds or it will break the control. For these you will want to take off the corresponding slat than grasp the offending stem with a pair of pliers and gently pop the stem over into the correct orientation. Yes this procedure sometimes breaks the stem, comb gear, or carrier, so be ready to make further repairs if needed.
If you have Vertical Blinds Individual Stems That Won’t Turn the repair is often similar. Sometimes it is broken stem gears and sometimes the comb gear will have popped out. Sometimes you can find the little comb gear fallen on the floor or in the window track.
Sometimes, with wand controlled vertical blinds, if I need just one comb gear I will take it from the first carrier. That takes away the rotation of the first slat but it turns the first slat into a window viewer to see if anyone is outside easily. It being right next to the wand control makes it convenient to control that first slat by hand.
If you have a Vertical Blind Wand That Came Off it is a fairly easy task to set it back on. Just position the wand at the correct angle and you can hook it back on to the master control. There are a few other types of wands. Some have a slide that slips up to cover the hook opening. Some have a hook that rotates into place to open and close the hook.
Vertical Blinds Master Control Brokenis often caused when something is in the way of the blinds turning (couch, toy, box, broom, mop, chair, clothes, curtains, out of line slat etc..) and the master control is forced in an attempt to rotate the blinds closed.
To get at the master control for either repair you will need to remove the end cap. There are many types of end caps. Some use a clip, some use a grommet, some a screw, some multiple screws, some various combinations of the above and more to hold on the end cap. Just understand that these were engineered to be able to be easily assembled plus somewhat easily disassembled (even if a little less so) and repaired.
After removing the end cap you will often need to release the rear carrier catch or stop so that you can slide things out of the headrail. Some of these use a c clip. Some a hook. Some you can can just press up on the hook, others you will need to remove the hook by removing or loosening the end cap screws. One trick if you have a c clip break when you try to remove it or re seat it is drive a small screw through the headrail to create a new stop to act as the final carrier catch stop.
Vertical Blinds Sticking When Sliding is often caused when manufacturing, shipping, or installing. (See my tip towards the bottom of the page for getting less damage when ordering.) This can also be caused if the headrail was hit or dented somehow. Anyway what happens is a slight bend, dip, or twist. in the headrail causes that carriers to hang up, click, or even cause the carriers to come out of the track completely.
Sometimes damaged headrails can be repaired by first sliding the carriers back on track properly and than bending, twisting, or hitting the headrail back into proper shape. Sometimes it is best to just change out the offending headrail.
Headrail damage is also the most often cause of Vertical Blinds Carriers Separated although if something was in the way such as a broom fell between the slats and the blinds were forcefully slid open that could also cause some carriers to separate. Sometimes you can repair the carrier link or sometimes you can link the separated carriers together.
To relink the carriers you will need to follow the instructions above for removing the end caps and releasing the back stop. Once done you can slide the assembly forward out of the headrail far enough to expose the broken portion of carrier linkage. Sometimes you can just reinsert the carrier linkage by rotating it back into the corresponding next carrier slot. Sometimes you will need to change out a broken carrier. The video Vertical Blinds Carriers Separated makes this a bit clearer.
Vertical Blinds Hard To Slide can sometimes also need the headrail to be bent into shape but before you go there it is a good idea to lube the blinds first. Petroleum jelly will work in a pinch however I think it is best to use a silicone sprayhttps://amzn.to/2BF7SzW(Amazon Link) as it dries and still maintains its lubrication qualities. It is a little smelly when first applied but a dry lube will be less likely to collect hair and dust.
Silicone spray is also great for patio door sliders, window tracks, garage, and screen doors!
Vertical Blinds How To Lubricate.So you have your silicone spray ready. What you want to do is slide the blinds all the way open. Then spray the entire track of the head rail with the silicone spray. Wait about twelve minutes for the spray to mostly dry. Next slide the blinds closed and rotate them opened and closed a few times. Waiting the twelve minutes will keep the spray from dripping onto the slats but still leave it a tiny moist to work onto the teeth of the comb gears. If you see any dripping before sliding wait a bit longer before sliding closed to prevent getting any drips on the blind slats.
One of the main causes ofVertical Blinds That Wont Turn Open All The Way is brackets that do not extend far enough from the wall or a portion of the wall. This can also happen from blinds out of step or from anything else that would block the blinds. Also sometimes a whole set of blinds can have a portion of the the slat stems rotated out of step and need to be rotated as discussed above in the section on Vertical Blind Slats Out Of Step.
Check out these videos also on Vertical Blinds Hitting Wall and Custom Extension For Vertical Blinds Hitting Wall In the custom extension video I wound up using the existing brackets and than adding the new brackets to the old so that I could slide out the headrail to get the further needed clearance. There is always a way!
Vertical Blind Slats That Are Too Long can be trimmed down with strong scissors such as butcher scissors. It is a good idea to use a template such as already trimmed to size slat. Slide the top end of your template blind and the blind you want to trim and cut the bottom of your new blind to size. Continue to use the same template for your new blind slat and cut one slat at a time for best results.
If you have Vertical Blinds With Loose Bracketsthere are a number of ways to tighten these up. Sometimes you can just tighten up the screws but sometimes you will run into some stripped out screw holes. In some instances you can just run new screws or larger screws into the studs.
If the holes are in a spot where there is not a stud you can use a drywall anchor or a molly to strengthen things up. Sometimes you will want to move the bracket to a stronger location where a stud is available. In some instances you may want to just add a new bracket to add strength and avoid the need for patching and painting.
Vertical Blinds Fell Off Brackets. Yes this does happen. Sometimes one way to keep it from happening again is to squeeze the freedom loving bracket or brackets a little bit, either with your hand or a pair of channel locks. Than you can insert the side ridge of the headrail into the groove hook of the bracket and rotate it up, snapping it into place of the flatter release tab portion of the bracket. Freedom is good but we still have a job to do to keep things going!
Vertical Blinds End Cap Came Off. As written before there are many types of end caps. Some use a clip, some use a grommet, some a screw, some multiple screws, some various combinations of the above and more to hold on the end cap.
Vertical Blinds Dragging On Floorcan happen from headrails that have fallen out of the brackets. This can also happen from blinds that are positioned to low or sagging mounting brackets as shown in Vertical Blinds Dragging On Floor Cheap Trick. If something is added behind the bracket you want to make sure that it can not fall out and become a choking hazard.
Before you reset a Vertical Blinds Valance That Came Off you may want to watch this video. I show how to reset the valance clip without breaking it. Okay, okay. I will just tell you the secret here. What you want to do is make sure that you clip the back on first and then rotate the front portion on. The back portion has a bit more of a hook and is more likely to crack if you put the front on first. This type of valance clip the valance portion is rotated into place inside the valance to hold it.
Vertical Blinds How To Replace Bent Slats. Replacing broken or bent slats is not to difficult. For many blinds slats you just lift up on the vane/slat and pull it to the side to remove it. For other types you have to pick up the back of the stem a little bit. For those once you remove one slat you can use the slat to slip under the next stem so that you can pull out the next slat.
Uh Oh. Backwards blinds. Look. Door handles on this side. Blinds are backwards. OK. Going to show you quickly how you can flip these around. What you want to do is take the valance off. The valance has these clips that clip on. Just like so. So take the valance down. We will just put it right there. And we just need to turn the whole set around. What it has is on the blind mounting brackets. You just push up on the release tab this one is actually on the front so. We’ll just push that up. Release it. Unlock the other two and than turn the whole thing around and clip it back in. Should be straight forward in theory. OK just rotate it back in place.
With this one we will have to tilt it this way up and in. This is how the blinds are set. Show you a little closer up. Up here. So we tilted this so that the back side rests in and clip it in. Now is our valance clips. These well set the back on first and than tilt the front side down. Let’s see here. Just like so. Slide it down. Just like that. OK. And now our blinds are all set so that it works with the handle there. We’re good to go. The curve is not toward the back on this one but that’s OK. At least the blinds will open and stack up the way that they should.
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Kung Fu Maintenance Series continues ~ this time KFM shows how to replace a blind chain on a small set of vertical blinds that has two screws passing through the top of the end cap.
Chain Repairs For Type Two Vertical Blinds
Here’s how to replace the chain on a different type of vertical blinds. It’s got two set screws that hold the end bracket on. So you just undo those screws with a Philips screwdriver. Pull these out. Pull out the end bracket and than you can replace the chain.
This little sprocket here you wrap your chain around and just insert it back in. So you got this little sprocket here and you can just wrap your chain around that. Reset your end bracket and secure it with the two screws. These just go in like so. And we are all set there.
Check for rotation. Everything’s good there and we’re all set. Good to go.
Kung Fu Maintenance shows how to replace broken self aligning vertical blinds gear stems that spin in place or won’t rotate.
Self Aligning Vertical Blinds Gear Stem Replacing
These. This particular style you can pop up individual gears. You got to take off this clip here and than you can just press this down and pull the gear out. If you needed to or wanted to replace one in place you could drill a hole through the head rail in the center. And than you can pop your gear up through that center hole. You know just drill a good sized whole and than pop it up. Be careful as your hole will be sharp because it is sheet metal.
If the blinds are in place it might be a little bit trickier cause you will need to push these up pretty hard in order to get it to come up. But you will have to find a creative way to support it and you can give it a good strong tap. Like so, to pop up the old one. Show you another one. Same deal. Not too bad but anyway just a nice. There you go. And that’s how you can pop them right out. If you have this kind of clip on there. You’ll need to remove that clip first. You will need to remove your blind slat first. Drill the hole in the top of your headrail. Pop it on up through. It’s probably a little better with a little mallet or a little hammer. But you get the idea.
Kung Fu Maintenance shows angle mounted vertical blinds search for better triangle window coverings any good ideas ?
Well here is kind of a different option for these vertical blinds. You might of seen in my pendant light video where I had some vertical blinds that went straight across these triangle windows and this is a different option that could be either outside mounted like this one or inside mounted.
Angle Mounted Vertical Blinds
The main draw back on this one is you’re not able to slide the blinds. This only allows you, these are self aligning so I might need to align these, but this only allows you to rotate the blinds. You can’t slide them open for light. So I am actually going to be taking these out. Just curious if you guys have seen any other solutions for something like this for these triangle blinds. This has these special anchors on it. Just give you a closer look. These anchors basically allow the blinds to hang in a different way but not really my favorite design here. So I am going to be taking these out. No big deal. But just wanted to show you another option for vertical blinds.
Kung Fu Maintenance demonstrates how to repair vertical blinds when one or more slats are not turning at all by checking the stem and replacing the comb gear.
Comb Gear For Vertical Blinds Spinning Freely
Alright. Today I want to show you how to replace a comb gear. You can see how this one is just turning freely where as the other ones are stationary. So that is not right. What we need to do is pop the gear stem out of the carrier. So here goes. I am just going to hold it with my finger on the side here and than push it out. Now we want to examine the head of the gear to make sure there is no breaks in the gear itself which this one is OK.
What I have here is a new comb gear. First thing we want to make sure there is no pieces of the comb gear inside there. Which there is not. So now I am going to hold the comb gear up against the side of the stem as I insert it into the carrier and snap it into place. Now I may need to pop it over. It still appears to be moving too freely so maybe we have something else going on here. I am going to try at the wand. So it looks like somethings broken there.
Holding Vertical Blind Stem Plus Comb Gear Together To Install
This maybe a bit difficult here to figure out what is going on there. Let’s take a look. My comb gear didn’t go in the right spot. It fell out. I think I see it there on the ground. Get that going. So here goes attempt number two of putting the comb gear back in here. Hold this in place. Try again here. There we go. OK. And it is in there. Popped it over. And the second time did the trick. So now our blinds are all repaired there. You can see the comb gear in there and everything is doing what it should. Job complete.
Kung Fu Maintenance shows self aligning vertical blinds getting incomplete rotation easy diy repair video #diy.
Incomplete Rotation
OK. Today I got some blinds that I am just not getting a good rotation when I try to rotate it back this other way. Things are not lining up. Let me show you. It is a good chance of what is going on here is that these are just turned the wrong way.
I’m going to do a one finger push at the top corner. Turn these all the other way and than we will see if we get a better rotation. A lot of times that’s what happens is that these just get stacked up the wrong way. And now we’ve got full rotation.
Vertical Blinds Incomplete Rotation
This particular style is a self aligning head rail. Looks like I am just missing a couple of slats here and now it is back in business. Good to go.
Kung Fu Maintenance goes through the steps on how to remove plus replace vertical blinds stems and comb gears.
Today what I have to show you is how to replace these blind stems. You can see this one here is broken off part of it. So it is not really holding the blinds on properly. What I am going to do is remove the next couple slats. Just to make this a little bit easier to get at.
If the gear back there is bad there is this little comb gear here. You can see that there. This one looks like the gear is actually there. So let me pop this out. I’ll show you here how to replace these. What you do is just pop it over. General pressure it comes right out. See if my gear is in there. It looks like it is in there. There is two ways to replace it if it is not. One is you can take your new blind stem and you can hold the gear right up against it and than insert both of these in there. The other way is to take a pair of pliers and try to push this over in there first and than set your blind stem in there.
My gear stems gear is actually already in there. All we have to do is just pop this in.It just pops in with general pressure, generally speaking that is. If it out of step than we can just pop it over. This one looks like it is out of step by one. So we just grab it and rotate it over.
I should tell you when you are popping these in. Right here this is like unfinished sheet metal so be careful. It is sharp. I’ve donated blood a few times there.
How To Get Out Of Step Vertical Blinds That Self Align Back In Line
Kung Fu Maintenance shares how to get vertical blinds that self align back in line repair video.
Don’t try this on regular vertical blinds. Only Self aligning. Watch to the end to see the difference.
OK. Today I got some self aligning vertical blinds with a bunch of slats that are out of step. These are just kind of misaligned with the rest of them. They are not turning in the right order. What you can do with these is go ahead and turn the wand until it starts to click. Keep turning it a few turns past the click.
Just turning it up here just like normal. Go back the other way. Same thing. Back the other way. Now we are good to go. All fixed. We got our full rotation. Now all the blinds are in order. Like they should be. Good to go.
Self Align Left Of Non Aligning Vertical Blinds Right
Just don’t try that on this type of blinds. It will pop the gear and break the gear. Only on this particular type does that work. Self aligning blinds. On this particular type you have to pop each individual slat over in order to get them in line.
