Uneven Plasterboard(?) in a window recess, cannot fit blind fitting - how to fix it?

Requiem

Hi there,

Hoping someone can give me some advice. We bought a roman blind which has a metal fixture at the top. We measured the window first, but stupidly measured the bottom instead of the top, thinking it was an even square! (The flat is a new build, only a few years old!). Turns out the blind won't fit inside the recess because the width of the recess is about an inch narrower at the top than it is at the bottom (which is hard to see without measuring as its quite a tall window).

We believe the walls are covered in plasterboard (they are very thin) but we don't really know anything about DIY and have no idea how to go about fixing this. We've phoned a few plasterers we found locally but most won't come out for such a small job - and since I'm no expert I'm not entirely sure I'm being clear on what the exact problem is, the plasterers I've spoken to on the phone seem rather confused.

Any suggestions on how we can fix it? Is it possible to rent a sander, sand until even and then re-skim over with a home plaster kit? Excuse my lack of DIY knowledge if this is a daft question!

Req

keith969

Requiem wrote: »

Any suggestions on how we can fix it? Is it possible to rent a sander, sand until even and then re-skim over with a home plaster kit?

Your best bet would be to get another blind which fits at the top, and live with the fact that your window is not square. Sanding is not an option...

Requiem

keith969 wrote: »

Your best bet would be to get another blind which fits at the top, and live with the fact that your window is not square. Sanding is not an option...

The problem is that: a) we already have the blind and cannot return it, and b) regardless of whether we bought a new blind or not, the material of the blind would be square and as the window tapers, it would mean we will end up with gaps at either side towards the bottom where it is slightly wider, I would rather attempt to get it repaired in some manner than ignore the problem.

wallbash

To correct fault in window , is not going to be cheap .
If it had been narrower at the bottom ( the more visible ) section .
You could correct it . But I think you may well be stuck with the problem.

But , you can normally cut roller blinds down , So the blind would work

BUT!!!!
quote ...would be square and as the window tapers, it would mean we wil etc

Would it be obvious ?? as the window is tall .

we already have the blind and cannot return it

Cut the blind to fit the top of window , what have you got to lose?

PasturesNew

How much did the blind cost?
You could flog the one you have on ebay/similar.

I bought nine fabulous long-drop venetian blinds, 3-4' wide ... for about £115 (£13 each). Or did you go mad?

Mankysteve

Create with blocks of wood two hangers on the wall outside the window gap and have the blind slightly outside the gap. Half an inch either side won't be a case of sanding down the gap will have to of plaster and redone to make square.

Requiem

Thank you for all the replies

wallbash wrote: »

Cut the blind to fit the top of window , what have you got to lose?

The top of the blind is a thick metal fixture, like a long metal bar and the strings and mechanisms for the roman blind are within this bar, so I am unsure if we could remove much of the metal from either end to make it a bit narrower, but it's something we will also be looking into.

PasturesNew wrote: »

How much did the blind cost?
You could flog the one you have on ebay/similar.

I bought nine fabulous long-drop venetian blinds, 3-4' wide ... for about £115 (£13 each). Or did you go mad?

The blind was just under £100 from Next, we have a somewhat open plan (dividing wall, no doors) between the living room and the kitchen/dining area, and bought the blind to match the curtains on the large living room window. It's similar to this one, which states that the blind cannot be cut to size (presumably because of the metal bar that houses the mechanisms and fixtures?).

Mankysteve wrote: »

Create with blocks of wood two hangers on the wall outside the window gap and have the blind slightly outside the gap. Half an inch either side won't be a case of sanding down the gap will have to of plaster and redone to make square.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean, sorry!

shirlgirl2004

If you can't change the blind yoursel you could contact someone that makes blinds and ask them to adjust it. There are people that advertise on Ebay that make blinds fairly cheaply. It may mean they need to buy a shorter mechanism but it can be done. It just might not be a cheap option. MInd you knocking part of the wall out, new plasterbord and plasterer won't be cheap either.

wallbash

Close to Mankysteve suggestion , wooden baton just above window.
Screw blind to the underneath .

Requiem

shirlgirl2004 wrote: »

If you can't change the blind yoursel you could contact someone that makes blinds and ask them to adjust it. There are people that advertise on Ebay that make blinds fairly cheaply. It may mean they need to buy a shorter mechanism but it can be done. It just might not be a cheap option. MInd you knocking part of the wall out, new plasterbord and plasterer won't be cheap either.

Thanks for the idea, didn't even think of sending it off to someone! If our DIY-shortening attempt doesn't work, we'll certainly try that route.

wallbash wrote: »

Close to Mankysteve suggestion , wooden baton just above window.
Screw blind to the underneath .

The fixtures we already have do allow the blind to be placed outside of the recess (it can hang on a normal vertical wall or from a ceiling) and that was our initial quick-fix solution, but as the width of the blind actually fits into the recess (with a little room to spare) at the bottom it means that when hanging down it hangs quite unevenly with gaps at either side (the material itself fits near flush to the walls, its just the metal fixture that is too wide at the top unfortunately!).



We've had another look tonight and we can actually fit the metal bar inside the recess at the top, but only a very odd angle, so the measurements aren't _too_ far off - though it doesn't help that the wall itself is an angled wall either! We've had another look at the mechanism on the back and as the material blind velcros to the metal bar, it looks as though all the strings/pulleys and such stop about a quarter of the way in, which means we have a good couple of inches we could take off the metal bar without affecting the mechanisms, we've had a play around with it and think if we were to saw off the end bit of metal, we could just un-velcro the top of the material and press it back on slightly "ruched" or with a fold.

So I guess my next question would be what type of saw we need to saw through unnamed metal substance, haha.

missile

You could use a hack saw but I find an angle grinder works very well. It is not difficult but if you are a DIY novice you might want to practice on a piece of scrap metal.