While roller blinds are one the most straightforward and reliable types of blinds out there, this doesn’t mean that you won’t run into troubles with them every now and again. Whether it’s a slow mechanism, a fast mechanism, or one that’s just stuck completely, there are a number of issues you might run into, all of which we aim to tackle in this month’s article. So let’s get into it.

The anatomy of roller blinds

Before we get into the issues, let’s talk a little about how roller blinds actually work. Roller blinds are composed of a sheet of fabric, a hollow tube, a ratchet and a spring. The fabric is wrapped around the tube when the blinds are up and extends down as the tube rotates. The ratchet holds the fabric in your desired position and the spring ensures the blinds go up and down smoothly. They’re one of the more simple types of blinds in terms of pure engineering, which is why they’re often not too difficult to fix.

My roller blinds are extending too slowly

If you are finding that your roller blinds are indeed rolling, just not at the pace you’d like, then you could well have a problem with the fabric becoming twisted in the tube. To remedy this, roll your blinds all the way down and remove the blinds from the bracket, then start manually rolling the fabric back up to around the halfway point. This should remove the twist and allow your blinds to function properly.

My blinds are extending too quickly

If you are having the opposite problem to the one mentioned above and your blinds are rolling down too quickly, then the chances are the fabric is too loose. Like above, you’re going to want to remove your blinds from the bracket, but this time you will need to roll them all the way up first, and manually roll it down halfway. This should be enough to ensure the fabric is properly redistributed in the tube.

My roller blinds won’t stay in place

As we mentioned earlier, it’s the ratchet’s job to ensure that your roller blinds actually stay in the place that you want them to, so if your blinds won’t stay in place, the ratchet is probably to blame. In this case, we probably wouldn’t recommend trying to fix this yourself, instead, call your local blinds repair specialists to give you a hand!

My roller blinds extend but won’t roll back up

If your roller blinds aren’t rolling back up, this indicates that there’s a problem with the tension. Usually, most roller blinds will have a pin at the side of the tube; if this is the case, you want to turn this pin as much as possible until it no longer moves. Remove your blinds from the bracket if that makes things easier.

If there isn’t a pin in the side of your blinds, you might want to get in touch with a blinds repair specialist who will be able to take a look at your roller blinds for you. They will be able to sort your tension issues out right away!

Fraser James Blinds is the leading supplier of made-to-measure roller blinds throughout Leicester, Coventry and Northampton.