A.
It is important to familiarise yourself with these key roller blind characteristics. So you have a full understanding of the product, and so you are aware of what can occur with roller blinds. These characteristics are present across the industry. While a poor manufacturer can amplify these effects, no one is free from them all entirely. Blinds Online use a reputable manufacturer that focuses solely on the production of roller blinds; one which is well renowned, even among competing manufacturers, within the blind industry. We go to great lengths to lessen these effects where possible. In short, it isn’t possible to make fabric hang entirely flat; and in many instances fabric has a life of its own beyond our control.
FABRIC VEE’ING
As roller blinds get wider there will be some deflection (slight sag) in the head tube (this spans between the brackets) from which the roller blind fabric hangs. This deflection is caused by gravity. That deflection can then cause slight 'vee-ing' or 'sagging' in the fabric which presents itself as a wrinkle or V-shape, usually down the centre of the fabric. 'Vee-ing' is a characteristic of wider roller blinds. This can usually be expected on blinds over 2.5m wide, and usually when drops of 2m are involved. The bigger the blind, the more obvious this effect will be. Minor undulations, slight creasing or wrinkling are normal and are not considered a fabric or manufacturing fault. It is impossible to hang roller blind fabric completely flat. I’d encourage you to also read FAQ: ‘Are there any potential concerns to be aware of with wider blackout blinds?’ for a further understanding of this and suggestions to consider when approaching wider window and door openings with respect to vee-ing.
FABRIC PUCKERING
Fabric ‘puckering’ can occur above the bottom-rail. Puckering are wrinkles in the fabric that appears at the point where the fabric and the bottom rail meet. The standard method of attaching an aluminium base rail to a flat piece of fabric involves attaching a 10 or 15mm plastic spline that has a strong adhesive strip stuck to it. This is then pressed onto the edge of the fabric skin. Staples are fixed through the spline and fabric at intervals of around 250–300mm. The fabric is then folded 180 degrees around the spline and slid into a slot in the aluminium profile so that it sits snug and cannot fall off or be pulled off with force. Although puckering is not always present on blinds there is no way of knowing from one batch of fabric to another if blind skins will pucker, or not. Heat, humidity and other room conditions can contribute toward possible fabric bowing and puckering. Fabric manufacturers have no way of knowing when puckering will occur, however it is a well known and frustratingly intermittent issue world-wide. Rollease Acmeda, a leading blind parts manufacturer, have spent significant amounts, testing and developing adhesives and alternative methods of attachment to overcome this problem but have come to the current conclusion that there is no full and final fix to eliminating puckering. What we have found is that fabric will move around with temperature fluctuations and that the daytime heat from the sun tends to relax the fabric and can see the puckering reduce or disappear to only reappear at night. If this is likely an issue for you, we can supply a sewn-in bottom rail in place of an aluminium bottom-rail which can omit the puckering issue altogether. The extra cost of sewn-in bottom-rails is $20+gst per metre (ie: all the widths of your blinds requiring sewn-in bottom rails, totalled). There is also another bottom-rail system worth considering, which is known to greatly reduce the risk of puckering; the ‘Large Teardrop’ bottom-rail sees the fabric wrapped around the bottom-rail instead of a spline and staple approach. The manufacturer of this system when pressed on whether it will 100% eliminate puckering states: ‘it tends to eliminate the issue of puckering’. The extra cost of the ‘Large Teardrop’ bottom-rail system is $TBC+gst per metre (ie: all the widths of your blinds requiring the ‘large teardrop’ bottom-rails, totalled). Please ask me for photos of these two alternate bottom-rail systems if considering. Puckering is not regarded as a manufacturing or fabric fault. Puckering is considered normal and does not constitute a failure in either workmanship or materials. Slight wrinkling, puckering or bowing is inherent in textile products across the board and should be considered normal, acceptable quality.
LIGHT GAPS
All roller blinds which are fitted inside a reveal (inside mounted) will have light gaps down the sides of the roller blind fabric (even when a blackout fabric is used). This is because the overall width of the blind including its brackets and componentry is always wider than the fabric width itself. Our light gaps are some of the narrowest in the industry; measuring approximately 17mm on the control chain side of the blind and 15mm on the idle end (opposite side) of the roller blind. If light gaps on the sides of your blackout blinds are going to be an issue for you, you may want to consider ’outside mounting’ and back rolling them. Please also read FAQ: 'How do I further reduce the light gaps on the side of my inside mounted blackout blinds?' for another solution worth considering.
BLIND TRACKING
If for any reason the fabric of your roller blind starts to roll up unevenly, tracking to either the left or right, and is in danger of contacting the brackets or control mechanism, the following action should be taken. Start by rolling the blind right down to its lower limit, take hold of the bottom rail and guide the fabric back up in the line it should take, while operating the control chain. Depending on the size, position, and drop of the blind this operation may be best performed as a duo. Perhaps as a mother and daughter bonding exercise. For best results perform this action on a regular basis over some time, to allow the fabric to make and retain its new memory. All roller blinds leave our factory having been jigged and tested and are operating correctly, as they should. While sometimes roller blinds and their fabric’s weave have a life of their own and may be the cause, more often it’s actually operator error that starts blinds down the blind ‘tracking’ route. Roller blind control chains shouldn’t be yanked, pulled too hard, or too fast. Nor should control chains be pulled on weird and outrageous angles either. ‘Pre-load’ the chain slightly (take up any slack) and with long, steady, fluid action pull the control chain down and in-line with where the control chain hangs (vertically) or up to a 30º angle or so out from vertical but still in line with the control mechanism’s wheel. Blind tracking is not considered a fabric or manufacturing fault and sometimes roller blinds just need a little on site love and understanding.
FABRIC CUPPING
Fabric ’curling’ or ’cupping’ down the edges of your roller blind’s fabric can be caused by fabric weave, where in a manufacturers roll the fabric piece is cut, temperature variations, etc, etc. In the majority of cases the curling may gradually diminish over time however it may not disappear altogether in other cases. Cupping can seem more prevalent in narrower roller blinds (however it is not exclusive to narrower roller blinds by any means) because the edges are closer to each other visually. Fabric cupping or curling is not considered a fabric or manufacturing fault.
LINKING BLINDS IN A ROW WITH ONE CONTROL
Sometimes to span wider openings (usually sliding or bifold doors) it’s necessary, or preferable, to butt (link) multiple roller blinds together, side by side. We use an innovative ’intermediate bracket’ system when butting blinds. Good reasons for using one intermediate bracket rather than butting two standard brackets back to back, is that it reduces the light gap considerably between roller blinds, the finish looks so much better (less clunky and clumsy looking) than having two brackets, and potentially reduces the number of control chains needed (depending on how many linked roller blinds there are altogether). With this system you may have two butting blinds controlled off one control chain, which both raise and lower together, or you may have two butting blinds with a control chain either side, which operate blinds independently of each other. You can in fact even have three blinds butting and controlled off one control chain however from my experience I recommend sticking to controlling two blinds maximum off of one control chain. Now that I’ve describing how cool this intermediate bracket system is, here’s the compromise in some instances. The linking mechanism between each blind gives a slight amount of independent movement and this can present a slight difference in the horizontal line of the roller blinds’ bottom-rails. Usually two blinds of the same size with one intermediate bracket line up perfectly or may have a 1mm difference. Two blinds that are of different widths, but have the same drop, with one intermediate bracket may have a difference of 2 to 3mm when trying to line their bottom-rails up. Three linked blinds the same size with two link brackets will most likely not line up well, horizontally, with up to a 5mm difference. This is largely why I don’t recommend controlling 3 roller blinds off of one control chain. We also do not recommend linking roller blinds of more than 20% difference to each other, in terms of width. In short, when linking roller blinds in this way it is not always possible to have your bottom-rails line up perfectly. Not everyone notices these alignment differences however I feel it my duty to make you aware of these things. Alignment differences in bottom-rails are normal and is not considered a parts, manufacturing, or installation fault.
FABRIC MEMORY
Roller blinds have fabric rolled tight around an aluminium tube and generally have an extruded aluminium bottom-rail at the bottom. They are packaged in such a way so they can be transported safely. Roller blinds retain a fabric memory for a period of time depending on the type of fabric. The bottom-rail can leave a line near the bottom of the fabric where it has pressed up against it, in its packaging, during transit. This line may leave additional memory lines for several revolutions up the fabric. These memory lines should drop out over a period of time. This is totally normal and not considered a fabric or manufacturing fault. Also, when the roller blind is installed and left in an open position; the fabric hangs over the top of the top tube and the fabric may retain some curve memory for a time until you lower the roller blind and gravity straightens it out again. Different fabrics behave in different ways; fabric memory is totally normal and not considered a fabric or manufacturing fault. Blind fabrics are flexible by nature and generally hard wearing but if a blind sits on a sharp item during transit but has not punctured a hole through the fabric this indentation should also drop out in time.
DOWNLIGHTS
If your home has down-lights near roller blinds with any sort of vee-ing, cupping, puckering, or memory lines, these characteristics can go from unnoticeable to the eye, to quite apparent, within the flick of a switch.
IMPERFECTIONS IN FABRICS
While New Zealand doesn’t actually have any formal blind manufacturers guidelines, we can look to Australia and take cues off their much larger blind industry and associated standards and guidelines when evaluating imperfections, marks, and dots in supplied roller blind fabrics. The BMAA (Blind Manufacturers’ Association of Australia) Industry Guidelines for Faults state that: • If an imperfection is visible with the naked eye in natural daylight at a distance of 1.2 metres, it is not acceptable. • If an imperfection is not visible with the naked eye in natural daylight at a distance of 1.2 metres it is acceptable. NB: The ‘characteristics of roller blinds’, as mentioned above, are not considered imperfections. Faults as described here relate to ‘imperfections, marks, or dots, in the fabric itself.
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