In the opinion of the expert and / or experienced curtain hanger, which is the best rail to use and to be fixed on a vertical surface?
2 Curtains to cover a window approx 3.2 Metres wide x 2Metres drop, (medium weight curtain). The rails all seem to be plastic these days, and I'm not sure of the long term Slide-ability and Dependability of these things.
They last a long time, there are some plastic rails/runners here that are probably pushing 20 years old. Spares are a bigger problem, we can't get runners that fit anymore and it is those and the track brackets that have become brittle, the track is fine. I'd avoid shed own or unbranded stuff as they will change lines and not carry parts for the previous versions.
Slide-abilty is much improved by wiping with a cloth that has had a squirt of silicon based furniture polish on it at fitting and once in a while after that.
Donwill ( snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid) wibbled on Tuesday 08 March 2011
06:00:
I have avoided plastic rail for the house refurb. I am using this:
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's the same stuff your great aunt had, except hers was brass. They do brass BTW, though the price will make you cry. However, the painted ali stuff above is very reasonably priced.
It hangs off any surface - if you mean off a vertical wall face, the Universal Bracket (ignore the pic, they are white) are the ones to use. Actually, they fit to either vertical or horizonal.
The track hand bends nicely (I used a can of paint as a former because I have lots of cans in different radii).
You'll need runners and end stops of course. My advice, though it is optional, is to use the extention bracket and form an overlap in the middle
- gets a nice gap free closure.
The track is very stiff in the vertical plane - a clip every 18-24" is sufficient for light curtains, and heavy curtains would be OK with a clip every 12" or so.
Running action is beautiful, though some of the runners are can be a bit too tight out of the pack, so you may need to open them up a tweak.
john lewis rails seem good. went in recently to replace runners since mine were falling apart after 18 years. they wanted an unbelivable price for a small packet of replacement runners which turned out to be swish and then i got them really cheaply on ebay. sorted
Maybe but these runners and brackets are above the reveal and never get direct sunlight. The few spares we do have are also brittle. Not quite as bad as the ones in service but not far off.
Plastic rails are the cheap end of the market, and only last a few decades. They're better than the fashion for poles though, imho. Plastic rails tend to stick when the runner channels get dirty, taking down & giving a good clean restores them to working perfectly. Some people also use silicone furniture polish, I dont find it necessary though.
There are 2 main types of curtain hanger for plastic rails, C type and
9 type. The latter is easier to get hold of, and cheaper.
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