Our bedroom has a 8ft sliding door. When I bought the house I had fabric vertical blinds installed but with pets that was not the best choice. It seems like a 8ft pull is a long way to pull blinds. Is there a way you can put up a "dummy" curtain or anything to cover half of the opening and then have blinds for the rest of it. Lets say a 4ft dummy something and then a
4ft blinds. My other question is can you get wooden blinds, vertical in 8ft sizes or would that be too heavy? Thanks.Tom
I am tryin very hard to picture this. Is this a 8ft wide or 8ft tall sliding door, etc.........you need to give more info here.....such as
8ft wide X 6ft tall, etc etc.........and the same for this dummy vs. blinds such as a 4ft x 6ft blind directly below a dummy sliding door of 4ft x 6ft.When you give this info.....I am sure someone out there can help you out.
No, it is clear that it is an 8' slider. When talking doors like that, it is always hte width as the height, with very few exceptions, is standard. That is why it is a long pull for the 8' vertical blinds. Vertical blinds are often used on sliders since they can move to the side.
I am going to have to think about your "dummy" option. Off the top of my head I can not think of anything that I would choose to look at. :)
Your question about wooden blinds. I don't think anyone makes a vertical blind with wood slats. You can get fabric, fabric with a vinyl casing, all vinyl and I think you can still get aluminum ones.
If you meant an 8 foot wide horizontal wood blind, you don't want it even if some company is dumb enough to make it. It is much to heavy to raise and lower. Any wood or faux wood blind gets really heavy when you go over about
48" wide.Wood blinds do not stack tightly when pulled up. To allow normal clearance you would almost need to mount them 12-16" above the door casing to allow head room for the door.
Okay I thought as I typed. A pricey but sharp looking option would be to use CUSTOM made interior plantation shutters. Two panels that cover the "dummy" side that equal 32-36" less than the opening and one panel for the actual passage way. These are sold in 1.875, 2.50 and 3.5" louver widths. All panels would be moveable. Two bifolding to the "dummy" side and one folding to the passage side. A 36" panel size is the absolute max. The hinges just can't carry more than that.
I can go over mounting requirements if you want to pursue this.
Colbyt
But I still don't get it. You don't have to pull the rope 8 feet. It starts to open immediately. If you pull the rope 4 feet it will be half way open, and the rest of the curtains will cover the closed part.
OT, I have my bed below the window. The window is wider than a king size bed. The rope that came with it was verrry long, so I put a pully at the bottom right side of the window frame, and the spring- mounted pully at the bottom left side. The original rope was long enough. Now the rope goes along the entire window sill along the entire head of the bed, and I don't even have to sit up in bed to open or close the curtains. It's been working great like this for more than 20 years. Every few years I check the right side pully and once I had to adjust it a little.
A lot of people don't realize you can string traverse curtain rods to be center opening or one-end-opening, like you describe. That is exactly what I did in my previous apartment with the slider there, and seldom had it open all the way. The curtain rod could care less where the end-brackets are in the loop. Just take one of the overlapping brackets off, tie the cord ends together, and move the little plastic things to the other side of the remaining bracket. Lay it out on the ground and play with it- it isn't hard to figure out. (If I can do it, anyone can do it.)
aem sends...
Aha. You got it. Now I get it. I'm sure you're right. That's where the OP's problem lies. Hmmm. He said he had them installed. A bit amazing someone took money for the job and got it wrong.
Yes, my window curtains open in the middle and my door curtains open at the same end that the door opens. Pretty clever. That Isaac Shade (the reputed inventor of shades) doesn't get all the credit he deserves. (just kidding)
A very good point!
Adding to that you can also have what is called an "off center draw". Just for the sake of illustrating the point one panel 60" wide and one panel 36" wide. When opened the 60' panel never stacks tight but the 36" panel does. When closed they form a complete cover over the opening.
We do this every now and then when someone has a door with a single sidelight and they want traversing drapes.
For the OP the overall measures would need to be about 20% more than the opening to allow for full entry. This is called "stackback allowance".
Colbyt
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