We get called out to some really interesting jobs and it never ceases to amaze me what corners some our our competitors will cut to make an extra few pounds.
We were asked to call out to replace a blind because Mrs Bettinson was having a number of problems with her roller blind.
Mrs Bettinson had a very wide kitchen window (nearly 2.5 metres wide) that she had had a roller blind installed at.
Now 2.5 metres wide is very big for a roller blind but it can be done, just not the way her current blind had been done.
Roller Blinds are installed with only 2 brackets no matter how wide the blind is.
This can create a problem on wide blinds because we can support the middle of the blind so it can dip in the middle.
This causes 2 problems:
- The blind bounces as you roll it up and down.
- The fabric ripples cause a ‘V’ shape towards the centre which doesn’t look great and long term isn’t good for the fabric.
The way we get around this problem is by using different diameter barrels depending on the width of the blind.
We have 5 different size barrels that will suit most roller blinds up to 3 metres wide (3 of which are shown below).
The reason Mrs Bettinson was having so many problems was that is was a very wide blind that had been made with one of the smallest diameter barrels available (25mm).
So the blind was bouncing so much when she operated it that it would fall out of the brackets and the supplier of the blind was no longer willing to visit to re-fit the blind.
The problem was very easily solved with a new blind on a 63mm diameter barrel (not the 25mm).
Size limitations exist for a reason and are designed to make your blinds as reliable as possible.
Barrel size Maximum Width
25mm 1200mm
32mm 1800mm
40mm 2000mm
45mm 2200mm
63mm 3000mm
These are the limitations we use and they are cast in stone. Bigger barrels can be used for smaller sizes if they are in the same room as larger blinds, but we will never exceed the width limitations.