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Topic: Day/Night blinds (Read 1612 times) previous topic - next topic

Day/Night blinds

Well, I decided to remove and re-string all of the day/night blinds after I had strings break in two of them.  As I was searching for hints on how to accomplish this feat, I came across the following website:  Fix My Blinds. Blind and Shade Repair Parts and String.  Lucky for me, they're located about ten minutes from my house.  Went there today and purchased new string and associated hardware..a whopping $50.  As I write this post, I'm surrounded in my living room by all seven blinds.  The first one I did took about an hour.  The second and third, 15 minutes each.  Three down and four to go.  :D

Re: Day/Night blinds

Reply #1 –
Quote from: aspenpilot –
Well, I decided to remove and re-string all of the day/night blinds after I had strings break in two of them.  As I was searching for hints on how to accomplish this feat, I came across the following website:  Fix My Blinds. Blind and Shade Repair Parts and String.  Lucky for me, they're located about ten minutes from my house.  Went there today and purchased new string and associated hardware..a whopping $50.  As I write this post, I'm surrounded in my living room by all seven blinds.  The first one I did took about an hour.  The second and third, 15 minutes each.  Three down and four to go.  :D

Barry Leavitt wrote some instructions on how he did it awhile back.

Re: Day/Night blinds

Reply #2 –
It is a very simple process that can be done by anyone-it's just the repair guys try to make it look tough to make some money. The same with creapy window seals. I had one last year that I took to the local "experts" and watched them for an hour. I priced the best seal in a roll (66ft) at $50.00 and that will do around 4 windows and they charged me  $200 for 1, so now I will do my own and save a bundle. it is as simple as making sure the glass is real clean and putting it together the way it comes apart.

Re: Day/Night blinds

Reply #3 –
Hi John,

I need to repair some of my windows as well.  Where did you get the roll of material?  On a scale of 1 - 10, who hard would you rate the process?  Was it hard, or just tedious?

Re: Day/Night blinds

Reply #4 –
Id like to know the answer to that also!

Re: Day/Night blinds

Reply #5 –
After some Internet searching, I found this company: http://www.daverootrvglassrepair.com/  The pricing seems VERY high in comparison to what John paid.

Re: Day/Night blinds

Reply #6 –
Quote from: aspenpilot –
Went there today and purchased new string and associated hardware..a whopping $50. 

Sounds a bit much for a roll of cord and some plastic bobbins.  I don't remember the price, but I bought the same stuff from the manufacturer (Elkhart?) for a lot less, enough string to do all the blinds a couple of times.  Drilled holes through the bottom of the valence for the string and installed a screw in the bottom end of the side piece to tie off the string.  Easier to adjust the string tension and doesn't loosen like with the plastic thingies.  I turned some bobbins out of wood but they didn't work any better than the plastic ones.  Drill slowly through the fabric as the drill bit may catch it.  MCD may be the way to go, if price is no objection. 

Re: Day/Night blinds

Reply #7 –
As far as the cord for day/night shades, I got mine at Joanne's Fabric in the blinds section. Buy it by the foot.

Re: Day/Night blinds

Reply #8 –
Hi John H,
  I would like to see/read more about your window repairs. When you get to it, remember, as many pictures as possible.

Thanks,

Raymond
 

Re: Day/Night blinds

Reply #9 –
Quote from: aspenpilot –
...................Lucky for me, they're located about ten minutes from my house.  Went there today and purchased new string and associated hardware..a whopping $50.  As I write this post, I'm surrounded in my living room by all seven blinds.  The first one I did took about an hour.  The second and third, 15 minutes each.  Three down and four to go.  :D ..............................................

For those not so lucky as to have a high quality replacement cord readily available, the OEM does and they are very easy to deal with on the phone:

United Shade, Inc.
28605 Country Road
Elkhart, IN 46514
(219) 262-0954

It cost me $7.50 for 200 feet of new 1.4 mm cord.  The new cord is a triple concentric thickness and very durable.
BTW, I have been using metal sewing machine bobbins for the Motorcoach Day/Night Shades tensioning cord anchors for years.  The metal bobbins never fail and they look better than the plastic to begin with. 
The trick is to find the cause of the fraying and get the new cord tension correct (enough to prevent road vibration slipping but not much more, so that shades move easily).
Once I figured out what was chafing the cord and starting the deterioration, (sharp edges created by missing grommets.....cured by installing new grommets) and using the new, higher quality cord, I've had no more tension cord failures on the problem shades and the rest of my shades are still original and doing fine (no fraying or visible deterioration). 
It takes longer to take a valance and shade down (and put it back up) for repair than it does to totally restring a Day/Night shade.  I use Barry's technique of welding the ends of the cord together to thread a replacement cord through the shades and trim headers.  I use a hooked, straightened coat hanger to fish a new cord through a trim header that has a broken cord in it.
FWIW,
Neal