Solar Shades are Great for Light Control

solar screen shades offer good protection against sun damage to flooring, artwork, woodwork, furniture and other furnishings

Solar Shades are Great for Light Control

via Install-Window-Blinds.com by blindsInstaller on 7/16/09

As this picture shows, solar shades can make a room more livable by reducing glare and radiant heat from a sunny window without blocking the view or making you feel like a cave dweller.

Click the photo to see a better quality image

Solar shades are made from open weave synthetic fabrics with numerous patterns and colors and levels of transparency to choose from.

• solar shades give a clean, modern look
• these shades offer good protection against sun damage to flooring, artwork, woodwork, furniture and other furnishings
• they are an excellent choice for high traffic areas that receive a lot of active use
• solar shades are easy to keep clean - just wipe with a damp cloth
• they stand up well to humid environments like spas and greenhouses
• the moving parts are uncomplicated, durable and reliable
• installation is easy

Here's another photo, this one has a lighter colored fabric.

Now for the down side - you knew there had to be one didn't you? In areas of the house where privacy is a concern, solar shades may not be your best choice. As these photos clearly show, unless you make them wider than the window and mount them on the outside, you will be able to see around them at the edges. At night, when the lights are on inside, you can see right in from the outside.

I live in the high desert of western Nevada. The sun here can be brutal. Most of the upscale residences and vacation homes in the nearby Lake Tahoe area have rooms full of windows situated so as to take advantage of spectacular mountain or lake views. Solar screens have proven to be a workable solution to the problem of how to protect from the high altitude sun without losing the high dollar views. I recommend them without hesitation.

By the way, the first picture was shared by a staff member from The Westside Local Restaurant and Beer Garden in Kansas City, MO. They just had their grand opening this past Tuesday so if you are in the Kansas City area be sure to stop in to check out their shades. While you're there you might as well have a cold one - have one for me too.

 

How to Replace a Broken Window Blind Cord

How to replace a broken pull cord in a cell shade.

How to Replace a Broken Window Blind Cord

via RepairWindowBlinds.com by Dave on 8/29/10

The replacement of cord for blinds is one of the most common repairs.

Cords often break as the result of normal wear and tear or from exposure to the sun. They can also be damaged through repeated contact with a damaged or defective part on the blind or shade itself.

The repair is easy and inexpensive.

It's likely that your blind or shade still has a lot of miles left in it and you can save quite a bit of money by taking the time to do this simple repair.

There are some differences between brands, but the basic procedures remain pretty much the same. If you pay attention when you take the blind or shade apart, you won't have any trouble putting it back together again.

This video shows you how to restring a Hunter Douglas Duette honeycomb shade.

Inspect the cord guides and cord lock for excessive wear.

This is one topic that deserves much more emphasis than it receives in the video.

If your shade has defective or damaged parts that come into contact with your new replacement cords it won't be long before the cords are broken again. You won't be happy when that happens.

Now is the time to perform a thorough inspection of the old parts to identify and replace all of the bad ones while you already have the shade taken apart. Here are some things to look for....

Damaged shade cord guides.

The video shows a shade cord guide with a small amount of wear where the blinds cord has cut into the plastic of the guide during normal operation. With the shade in the video, rotating the guide so that the cord runs over a smooth, undamaged surface is a good idea. However, sometimes the damage is more severe than that.

Here are some photos of shade cord guide damage from a repair that I did last June. The cord shown is a new one that was installed just for the purpose of taking these photos. The old cord was no longer available.

In this case the cord has cut so far into the guide that the part had to be replaced. The important thing to remember about this is that while the cord was cutting into the guide, the guide was also cutting into the cord and probably had a lot to do with the failure. If you try to reuse a part like this there's a chance that your new blind cord repair job won't last very long.

Damaged Cord Guide - Top View - Click to Enlarge

Damaged Cord Guide - Side View - Click to Enlarge

 

If you look closely at these photos, you will see that the cord had started cutting into the shade fabric too.

On this shade a thin aluminum strip similar to a mini blind slat was used as a stiffener inside the first pleat and the cord cut right through that as well. Even though it is only 0.9 mm in diameter, that nylon blind cord is some tough stuff.

Here are some more photos showing how the cord cut into that thin strip of aluminum. The first photo shows the strip removed from the shade so you can better see what's going on. The second photo shows the bottom side of the stiffener as it came out of the shade.

Damaged Cord Guide & Stiffener - Click to Enlarge

Damaged Fabric Stiffener - Click to Enlarge

 

Damaged cord locks.

The video doesn't really touch on this, but damaged cord locks are much more common than damaged cord guides. Be sure to inspect yours carefully when you have it out on the workbench.

Here are some photos of examples of what you might expect to find. These cord locks are all from Hunter Douglas Duette cell shades, but many brands use this same style of cord lock and experience the same kind of wear. I'm sure you can see that if you were to start dragging your brand new replacement cord through one of these old grooves that it might not last too long.

Undamaged Cord Lock - Click to Enlarge

Damaged Cord Lock - Click to Enlarge

 

And here's one that's really pretty extreme. I only show it because it's so impressive just how strong nylon blind cord really is. All the more reason to protect your children or pets from becoming entangled in it. Be careful with this stuff, it's surprisingly strong and it can be dangerous.

 

Extreme Damage Cord Lock - Click to Enlarge

 

How to Restring a Curtain Rod | Reno Blinds Repair

how to replace the cord in a two-way draw traverse rod

How to Restring a Curtain Rod | Reno Blinds Repair

via Reno Blinds Repair by Dave on 3/17/10

If you have to replace the cord in a two-way draw traverse rod, here's a video that will show you how it's done. This guy has obviously done this before.

And I thought I was the only one who knew about the old paper clip trick!

 

There is one more step in the process that he doesn't cover. When you are ready to rehang your drapery, you will need to anchor the second carrier to keep it from slipping so that the curtain panels will always come together in the center of the window. There is a good article about how to center a two-way draw curtain rod at RepairWindowBlinds.com. Enjoy.