Removing Pleated Shade

[Airstream12557]

One of the strings came loose in our day/night pleated shade in our 2004 Land Yacht. Any suggestions on how to remove the shade for repair?

Thanks,

Sam

[Lily&Me]

If it just detached/loosened from the fastener at the bottom, should be able to tighten it and rethread through the fastener without removing. (This happened to ours) JC can fix it for you if all else fails.

Good luck.

Maggie

[Airstream12557]

Our loose end of the string disappeared into the shade. I think I will have to take the shade down to find the loose end or get it restrung.

p.s. -- Thanks Lew (lewster), for your comments.

Sam

[Airstream12557]

I took the shade out this morning and took it to a shop north of Melbourne, FL. They will re-string it for $54.00. Price is based on the number of vertical strings and ours had four.

Again, thanks.

Sam

[gloran]

There is instructions for re-stringing pleated day/night shades at www.fixmyblinds.com.

[Paul Dobbin]

I've purchase the string and read the instructions. Now I need to know how to get the shade out of the wooden box that holds the top of the shade?
Anybody done this on an Airstream?

[gloran]

Paul, I'am not sure you can get at the screws that hold up the blinds without removing the wooden valance box, its been quite awhile since I removed mine. But on my day/night shade at the top on both sides, just outside of where the string goes into the bar, you will see a hole in the sheer part of the blind, it hangs down a bit hiding the screws that hold up the blind. I used an extention shaft for my battery screw gun to reach the screws. Its a very tight spot so its helps to lower the shade completely leaving only the sheer part to deal with. The more I think about it, with that extention the screws that hold on the wooden valance were easier to reach, so I'm almost certain I removed it to make it easier. The shade I was removing was the one in back of the fold down couch so it was one of the larger blinds so it helped having more room. Let me know if you have anymore questions.
Randy























i

[Paul Dobbin]

Randy,
While I'm not in th Airstream now, it seems I couldn't see an easy why to remove the wooden cover at the top of the shade. I now have 3 to repair
and had a hard time seeing upside down up into the box.
I'll try again to find the screws you describe. anybody know how to get the wooden valence off the shade?
I'm sure it's easy if I knew what I was doing.
Thanks for your ideas.
Paul

[gloran]

Paul,
My valances are attached at the top corners to the wall with small angle brackets. You only have to remove one screw from each side of valance, leave wall bracket attached to wall. Then under the bottom of the valance there are two support brackets with two screws in each to be removed from valance,leave brackets attached to wall . On the larger valances mounted under the over head cabintry , I think there is also a center support bracket with one or two screws that need to be removed. Not a whole lot holding them on 6 to 8 short screws, some you can reach with a regular phlipps head screwdriver, others you might need a long or short handle screwdriver to reach.
Randy

[BarnacleBill]

On our '95 the shades are mounted in clips. You push up on the edge of the clip and rotate the top of the shade down and out they come, with out removng any screws, valances or anything.

[2airishuman]

Originally Posted by BarnacleBill

On our '95 the shades are mounted in clips. You push up on the edge of the clip and rotate the top of the shade down and out they come, with out removng any screws, valances or anything.

this is how they have almost ALL been for a lotta years.

the clips screw into the valence or wall skin, depending on model.

one can PUSH TOWARD the wall, while ROTATING the shade top DOWN and AWAY from the wall...

and they'll pop out.

doing both clips at ONCE takes more effort/force and some practice,

but releasing ONE CLIP at a time is a little easier till the technique is acquired.

it's not necessary to remove the BOX/valence but sometimes doing ONE that way helps understand how the clips function.

and remember that REattaching is the same thing done sbrAwkcad

cheers
2air'

[Paul Dobbin]

Great advice from all of you. I'll get a bright light and try again as soon as I get near the Roadhouse again. Thanks

[possummamma]

I discovered yesterday, while continuing the removal of my roof, that the blinds on the '92 are screwed into the the back of the bottom of the overhead cabinet. My shades are aluminum mini slats. I'll do any repair while I have the cabinets down.

[WeLoveToCamp]

Hi,

I just did this very repair to four of the shades in my motorhome.

I found the rear shade unscrewed easily from the roof, up inside the frame, using an electric screwdriver. It took about 2 minutes to remove, another 5 minutes to get the string back through the bottom, ends of the blinds and tied to new anchors. Re-attached the thing and it was just like new again. The price was a few minutes of work, two new flat metal washers that I drilled new holes into for the string to thread through. The problem with these blinds is the plastic anchors used to tie the string to. They fail, and the string gets pulled into the bottom rail of the shade.

The other three shades were the two bedroom shades on the sides, and the large shade over the dinette. All of these were easiest to take the wood frame the coach, then remove the shade, fix, and re install. My wife helped me attach the large one over the dinette when I finished repairing it.

I figure that the original poster has already taken care of this problem, but there will be others checking out this thread. This problem happens to everybody that has these type shades with the plastic anchors.

Good Luck,

Steve

[kposey]

Thanks for the instructions. There are 2 shades in my MH that need repair and I didn't know how to do it.

[Airstream12557]

Steve, glad you were able to make a quick fix on your shades. Way to go!! I have had one fail as you described, but the one in my original post had a string break up in the shade.

Sam

p.s. -- It's too hot to camp here. Looking forward to the Fall, so we can get back at it.

[WeLoveToCamp]

Thanks Sam.

Sorry to hear that your string broke. These shades are pretty neat, but they do break a lot.

Most of the little plastic things tend to bread in our coach. Those plastic things that hold the panels in the cabinet doors break often too. I use metal flat washers with a dab of silicone on them to make the nipple to apply pressure while holding the panel in. I bought a pack of 30 flat washers, drilled another hole along the edge and painted them brown. Now I can use them on the blinds or the cabinets, and they seem to look fine. The age and heat will not harm the metal washers either. I think that the problem with all the plastic parts is caused from heat and age.

I'll tell ya, it is hot here too (Coastal North Carolina). We spent the weekend at a KOA about an hour from home. They have a nice pool and we enjoy the fire in the evening. Plus, I am not sure why, but I relax much better when out in the RV. I do enjoy fall the best though. We are looking forward to the changing of the colors and the cool weather that comes with it.

One of my favorite trips is in August. We head to Cherokee NC for the fly fishing tournament held for kids. We stay at the KOA there on the Res. It is fantastic, and it is 30 degrees cooler there than here at home during the day. That KOA is the largest one we have been to, and with all the activities and fun stuff to do, we enjoy the whole experience. The area is full of fun things to do. We would live there if we could, but that work thing keeps getting in the way.

We were in DC over the 4th of July. Man, it was hot there too. Too many folks around that town, though it is beautiful.

Happy Camping,

Steve

[Airstream12557]

Steve, I like your fix with the metal washer. That is a good idea and I see no reason that it should not work.

Sounds as if you had a good weekend at the KOA. I guess the Smokies would be about as close as we could go to get any heat relief. We are waiting on September.

[WeLoveToCamp]

KOA was good fun. This coming weekend, we plan on being at the beach. I'd love to visit the Smokies. They are one of my favorite places. It takes too long to get there, for a short trip. I would leave home about 6 pm on a Friday, and and get there about 1 am on Saturday morning. Then, Sunday we would have to head back home.

Hopefully, our motorhome will be back from the shop by Thursday evening. She is getting a completely new brake system installed. Had a little problem last Friday.

Have a Great One,

Steve