Community Forums

rvjimzhr · 07-16-2015, 04:26 PM

I've had good service from my original shades and have only needed to have one restrung. They work well enough so I've kept them and hoped I would not need to restring any more. To date my problem is with the bedroom shades and keeping them on the walls.

What I have constant problems with, is the boxes, or valances, which these shades are mounted in. The screws on top of the boxes are easy to get to and easy to keep tight so that upper mounting of the shade to the box is always secure.

The problems start with the brackets which attach the box to the wall and the string rollers to the wall. Try as I might to keep them tight, it's near impossible to do. Some of the screws have pulled out of the wall and require mollys or wall anchors but trying to get your hands, hardware and screwdriver into the spaces to do the work is near impossible.

I've had the boxes fall off the walls during transit and I'm weary of dealing with them. I'm not sure the answer is new shades as much as it is different boxes or different way of mounting the existing boxes.

A few months back I phoned a well known RV outfit specializing in shades and explained my problem. They had no answer and told me new shades would need to go in the same boxes. NOT a solution.

All that said.........has anyone experienced the same frustrations? Any solutions?

Thanks!

BFlinn181 · 07-16-2015, 08:45 PM

I removed screws that had worked loose in the wall and filled the holes with epoxy. After it had set, I drilled new holes in the epoxy and the screws now hold firmly.

rvjimzhr · 07-16-2015, 08:50 PM

Thanks for the thought but the locations of all the screws on mine are, as I said, nearly impossible to work with. I need to look at the issue from outside the box and consider removing all screws and brackets and relocating them. They are hidden so they can't be seen. Maybe the brackets and screws can be in plain sight. I really don't care if they're hidden or not as long as I can easily work with them and they hole the box and shade securely on the wall.

BFlinn181 · 07-16-2015, 09:13 PM

I taped around each hole to stop spread of epoxy and used a thick body filler type epoxy to fill the holes with a putty knife.

garyvont · 07-18-2015, 02:26 PM

I have overcome similar problems in all sorts of materials. I like J.B. Weld epoxy, as it contains metal particles, adding strength, and it bonds to virtually anything except rubber. It will flow slowly until it sets to some degree, but building a barrier with masking tape is a simple and effective solution to that. Continually moving the adhesive back into the desired position until it begins to harden will also work, but it can be time consuming. Applying hot air from a hair dryer will somewhat speed up the initial curing. Let is cure for 24 hours for best results. Also, be sure the surface to which it is applied, is free of silicon, wax, or oil, and abrade the surface with coarse sandpaper to give it some "tooth" upon which to bond. I have also successfully repaired similar problems of stripped out and enlarged mounting holes, by cementing small sections of a similar material, perhaps a bit thicker, or stronger, over the enlarged hole, then drilling new holes. A last thought, if your existing mounting system has failed, you will most likely need to add additional and/or stronger supports to prevent it from happening again.

rvjimzhr · 07-18-2015, 02:34 PM

All good solutions for new holes but still need to look at ALL the mounts and figure out where to move them so that I can forever get a screwdriver on them.