Venetian blinds repair

turu21

Hi,

Occasional lurker but first-time poster here.

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on repairing venetian blinds.

The blinds in question (see 1st pic below) belong to my aunt. She had them installed in her kitchen a couple of years ago and have worked fine until recently. They still open and close okay, but an issue has developed with moving them up and down correctly, apparently caused by one of the cords coming loose (see 2nd and 3rd pics).

Does anyone know if this is easy to fix, and if so, exactly how to do it?

Thanks for any help.

Belenus

Can you post a picture of the pull cords on the side. The one that lifts and lowers the blind, not the one that changes the angle of the blinds. They are usually at opposite ends of the blind.

There should be a few cords bundled together, each operating a different section of the blind. 

The cord operating the section in your 2nd and 3rd photo may have loosened and needs pulling back. That should be straightforward unless the end has disappeared into the top of the blind. 

Have a look on the pull cords at the side and see if one is a lot shorter than the others. Pull that one on its own and the loose cord in the middle should tighten up. Get it the same as the others.

If not that, then it may be the angle changer mechanism cords. Have a look at those for a similar issue.

If a cord has actually snapped or broken then it will need replacing which is a lot trickier.

turu21

Hi Belenus, thanks for your reply.

I've added a few more photos below to show the side cords and the top part of the loose one.

As you can see, there's just a single cord on the side that lifts and lowers the blind.
In the third pic you can see where the loose cord enters the top part of the blind. It's actually possible to push the cord up into that hole so that it straightens out, but the cord just seems to bundle up inside the top of the blind, rather than correctly re-enter the mechanism of the blind.

Does this additional info make any clearer what the problem might be?

Thank again.

Norman_Castle

Is it supposed to be attached to the bottom of the blind, if so look for a plug, support the bottom of the blind, remove then refit the plug with the cord properly fitted.

If you take the blind down, there's normally a decorative panel accros the front and openable brackets at each end, you will see all of the strings inside the top piece.

Jeepers_Creepers

Wow - that's a blind and a half.

That loose cord - has it come loose from the bottom slat, or from the top, inside the top rail? From what you said about pushing it back into the hole at the top, I'm guessing it's the latter? In which case you need to remove the blind and take it down to fix this.

Before you take it down, tho', make sure that loose cord has been threaded through the centre holes in each slat - which I think you have done. Then thread it through the top hole as far as it'll go so you can catch it from above when you remove the blind. Finally, with someone gently helping to take the weight, pull the blind right up until there's only a foot or so to go.

Now remove the blind and lay it flat on the floor.

How many pulling cords are there in total? (I don't mean the cord YOU actually pull, but the separate cords like the loose one that come down from above, and connect with the bottom slat). If 3, then it'll be a LH, a RH and the loose middle one?

These must all meet up inside the top mechanism at some point, so that they are all pulled together, and at the same time. It could be that this happens here:

Look at where that cord comes through that hole - almost certainly there will be a pulley-roller there for it to go over, and there might be other guides too as it heads over to the RH side along with the other cords. Thread it through, and then down to that connector.

The only final detail is, the three cords should really be at the same length so they pull evenly together. Hopefully the curled cord end will show where it was knotted, but it might need a bit or try-it-and-see. Lay the blind flat on its side, pull the bottom slat down until it's completely parallel with the top rail, and gently take up the slack in all three cords together so they are all the same length. You could even knot them all to secure that position, but bear in mind that any knot further up from that connector won't go through the hole when you lower the blind!

Jeepers_Creepers

If there are more than 3 'lifting' cords, then I guess there must be a mechanism up there with a drum that rolls them all up? You'll soon find out...

Belenus

I think there are more than 3 lifting cords. I can see 6 in the first picture in the first post and there may be more out of picture. As far as I am aware, each visible vertical run of cords is 1 lifting cord in the middle and 2 angle changing cords, 1 front and 1 rear.

The lifting cord is only attached to the bottom slat as it passes through the holes in all the other slats. The angle cords are attached to each slat front and rear so they change the angle evenly across all the slats. Pull one way and it tilts all the slats from the front. Pull the other way and it tilts all the slats from the rear.

That is how all our similar blinds work. 

The lifting cords take the most stress and are the most likely to break. They have to lift and hold the weight of all the slats. The angle cords are not stressed much.

That is a big blind. Our kitchen window blind is wide and it only has 4 lifting cords.

Jeepers_Creepers

There must be some sort of roller mechanism in the top section, then, where these cords are rolled up together and which is operated by a single 'pull' cord that comes down the RH side.

I'm also guessing that this roller will be spring-assisted due to the size of the blind, and that it's seemingly 'pulled up' by a single cord!

I fear, unless you are a very good DIYer, that this will be a difficult fix. But, hey, what's the harm in trying :-) 

Belenus

turu21, you may be able to solve this by removing the slack lifting cord completely as the other lifting cords should still work as normal. See if you can carefully detach it from the bottom slat and remove it. That does mean the other cords are taking more stress.

Alternatively, if you remove the blind from the wall you may be able to get at all the cords and mechanisms as the top section is probably three sided with an open top. 

Good luck