Curtain Rails?

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.

The runners are usually cheap enough. Just buy the spares when you buy the rails.

MBQ

I got a pack of circa 1980 Swish runners on EBay recently. Obviously sill manufactured, but shops aren't prepared to stock them.

Donwill ( snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid) wibbled on Tuesday 08 March 2011

I have avoided plastic rail for the house refurb. I am using this:

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.

HTH

Tim

Could do but how do you store 'em so that they aren't also brittle in twenty years time?

Lovely word that *Swish*, I suppose they could call a motorised version

Don

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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

Could try this outfit:

I'm puzzled as to why an electronics company stocks parts for curtain runners, but there you go.

It may not be what you want, but we used steel poles and steel rings from Jim Lawrence. Very period-ish.

I'll bet you they don't go as brittle kept in a drawer somewhere as they do in bright sunlight behind a curtain.

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.

Swish are still going, but I'm not sure they are still making curtain accessories.

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

NT

Thanks to all for the useful info. Regards Don

It's the same stuff that I used in my youth, Brilliant!! & the nylon runners should improve the slideability :-)

Have ordered from the linked site. Excellent !!!!!. Many thanks Tim. Don