How to Tell the Quality of a Wood Blind Without Seeing it!

May 17, 2007 |

We try and pass on a few trade secrets here at the Blinds Bar Blog, here is a little tip that will help you spot a good quality wooden blind without even seeing it!

Forgetting the feather light Balsa wood like blinds that some of the big DIY stores sell, a feature of a wood blind is weight. They are and should be heavy, and that needs some robust components to cope with the weight.

The headrail of a wood blind, basically the top section which the blind is suspended from, is of crucial importance as this supports the entire weight of the blind. This headrail needs to be a consistent diameter across all of the sizes, otherwise if you fitted a number of blinds they would all look different.

So to cut a long story short the longer the width a range of wood blinds goes to the better the quality. The very smallest blind has a headrail that is the same as the very largest, just imagine how strong that makes the smaller blinds!

So when you are looking at wood blinds, particularly on the Internet, find out what the largest width and drop them are available in. If they stop before 2400mm be aware that they may be just a little flimsy.

We consider a wood blind to be a piece of furniture and the sort of item that should be built to last a lifetime. Our Hereford range is available up to 2400mm wide and 2400mm drop, the Wincester and Chichester ranges go to 2438mm wide and a massive 3500mm drop. That’s over 8.5 square metres of gorgeous wood!

Take a look for yourself at the Blinds Bar wood blind range.

Comments

1 Comment so far

Eleanor on June 24, 2007 3:21 am
“find out what the largest width and drop them are available in. If they stop before 2400mm be aware that they may be just a little flimsy”

I agree with you. However Basswood is a heavy wood. Making a feature out of its weight and telling people that wood blinds should be heavy is ridiculous. Just because you have managed to make the headrail & components strong enough to withstand the weight of a 2400mm blind doesn’t mean that the window frame/plaster it’s fitted into will withstand the immense weight over time!

Imagine if a 2400mm x 2400mm blind did pull away from the window - the damage that it could cause isn’t worth thinking about!

There is lighter-weight wood used to make blinds up to 3000mm x 3000mm; perhaps you should do an article on Basswood versus Obeche wood!

All we know about window blinds, including tips, tricks and a few trade secrets. News, views and opinions of the staff of www.blinds-bar.co.uk, a UK blinds retailer, who share their knowledge.

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