How do I remove pleated shade and or Valance?

[Dave A]

Have a '07 Adventurer, and I need to replace thr cords in the plaeted day/night shade over the dinette. How do I remove the shade, or do I need to remove the whole valance to get to the shade? Does anybody have any tips on how I need to go about this project in the easiest manner? Any thoughts or commets would truely be appriciated.

Best to All us RV'ers,
Dave A

[cutrell01]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave A Have a '07 Adventurer, and I need to replace thr cords in the plaeted day/night shade over the dinette. How do I remove the shade, or do I need to remove the whole valance to get to the shade? Does anybody have any tips on how I need to go about this project in the easiest manner? Any thoughts or commets would truely be appriciated. Best to All us RV'ers, Dave A

Most valances have L brackets to hold them in place. Look behind the valance to see how they are attached. It would probably be easier replacing the cords day/night shade if you could get the valance out of the way.

[JBDISCOVERY]

Dave,
If you examine the top of the shades, you most likely will see brackets that clip the whole shade onto the top of the window valence. Take that out and restring the blinds. Not easy, but gets the job done.
JB

[ernieh]

I'm not sure about your 07, but I just removed mine to install MCD shades. My old shades were secured with one bracket that snaps near the middle and two screws through the top of the shade into the valance.

You don't, in fact you can't, remove the valance until the shade is removed.

[Doug Sage]

There is a screw through the top of the blind near each end that needs to come out. Then there is a clip that you can feel with your finder. It is near each side. You push up on the clip and that end of the blind comes down and out.

By the way, I found my blinds wore through a small "O" shaped grommet and this is what caused the strings to break. I repaired several blinds and they broke again (we live full time in our motorhome) so I finally replaced all the blinds with Levolars. We love them. It is easy to open and close, you can angle them to keep out the direct sunlight but still allow ventilation.

[jdefant]

Doug,

Can you give us some information on the Levelor blinds you chose? We have pulled all the shades and valances out of our RV and we are looking for new shades.

Thanks

[wa8yxm]

Valance: No need to remove

Shade.. With the shade lowered LOOK UP.. You should see 2 or 3 screws through the top rail into a board above the shade.. Remove screws, shade falls out into your hand.

You will have to either cut the strings at the bobbins or remove those screws as well.

Just finished re-stringing one of mine.

[LibbyLA]

If you're interested in miniblinds, www.selectblinds.com has a nice selection. We got the cordless, wandless ones. They also carry Levelor. Don't know how the price on those compares to local, but they're having a sale right now.

liz

[Doug Sage]

Most blinds come in 1" or 2" widths. We wanted the wider width but 2" wouldn't fit under the valance and the lambrequins on the side. We discovered that Levolar makes blinds in 1 1/2" widths. This was what we got from Home Depot and we chose metal blinds so they would not warp or crack from the heat and UV light. The 1 1/2" width just barely fits and was a bear to install but I got it done. I replaced every pleated blind in the rig. The results are great! We pull the blinds up when traveling because I like maximum visibility and it keeps them quieter. When parked, we tend to leave them down most of the time and just change the angle so that it keeps the sun out but lets us still see out. We occasionally pull the blinds up if it is a dark and cloudy day to let in more light. The metal blinds do not let any light pass through the blind so no one can see in or see shadows at night.

[Dave A]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave A Have a '07 Adventurer, and I need to replace thr cords in the plaeted day/night shade over the dinette. How do I remove the shade, or do I need to remove the whole valance to get to the shade? Does anybody have any tips on how I need to go about this project in the easiest manner? Any thoughts or commets would truely be appriciated. Best to All us RV'ers, Dave A

Thanks for all the valuable info, shades are removed, without to much effort. Now waiting for replacment parts, thanks again to all that responded.

Dave A
Canoga Park, Calif.

[ayotte]

Just getting ready to do this......any place local that I can find the cord I need to replace/repair?
Louise

[Clay L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayotte Just getting ready to do this......any place local that I can find the cord I need to replace/repair? Louise

I found it at a JoAnns Fabric store. They had two sizes and the smaller size matched what I had.

Later I bought 50 yards of the cord (about $30 as I recall) at the Winnebago factory along with a bunch of the nylon grommets the cord goes through.
Shortly after that we installed MCD shades throughout the coach. Hows that for planning?

[ehhackney]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave A Have a '07 Adventurer, and I need to replace thr cords in the plaeted day/night shade over the dinette. How do I remove the shade, or do I need to remove the whole valance to get to the shade? Does anybody have any tips on how I need to go about this project in the easiest manner? Any thoughts or commets would truely be appriciated. Best to All us RV'ers, Dave A

We recently removed and repaired the Roman shades in our '99 Bounder, that had been all but destroyed by the sun. I don't know if your are similar.

After being puzzled for some time, I noticed that they were simply screwed into the top of the valance from below. With the shades lowered look up under the valance from the front. Our's were held in with three Phillips head screws. They were very hard to see and on a couple of them the material had pulled out from under the screw heads enough that the screws were covered.

Good luck,

Hack
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[Dave A]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayotte Just getting ready to do this......any place local that I can find the cord I need to replace/repair? Louise

Hello to all that repied to my inquiry, and thanks! However, I have found the ultimate solution to the problem: There is a company named "The Dirt Blind Man LLC" that makes (actual) repair kits (in three colors) for Day/Night Shades. Depending on wheather you have a 2, 3, or 4 cord shade the price ranges from (at this time) $14.99 to 19.99 for a kit. And it includes a CD-ROM that explains the "how-to" of a repair. The kit is simply called the RV SHADE REPIR KIT so, check with your local RV parts place for the kit.

Hope this helps all us do-it yourself repair folks.
DaveA
Canoga Park, CA