If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

I bought one maybe a decade ago for when I might need it, a complete
kit including the rail, brackets screws and etc. all you need and ready
to fit. Today I needed it. The suggestion was to put the track in hot
water and it will straighten out, er no it didn't. A waste of time and
will need replacing.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

On 23/07/2015 21:21, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

I bought one maybe a decade ago for when I might need it, a complete kit
including the rail, brackets screws and etc. all you need and ready to
fit. Today I needed it. The suggestion was to put the track in hot water
and it will straighten out, er no it didn't. A waste of time and will
need replacing.

The trouble is it has had a long time to "creep" into the wrong shape.
You might try winding it up the other way in hot water, or pinning it
down flat on something like a patio or a felt roof on a hot day. How
long is it? If no more than 3 metres, put it inside a length of tube
(scaffold, gutter downpipe, waste pipe?) and feed steam into it from a
wallpaper stripper. You will probably still have to "reverse bend" it
while hot.

On Thursday, 23 July 2015 21:21:57 UTC+1, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

I bought one maybe a decade ago for when I might need it, a complete
kit including the rail, brackets screws and etc. all you need and ready
to fit. Today I needed it. The suggestion was to put the track in hot
water and it will straighten out, er no it didn't. A waste of time and
will need replacing.

I've not found them a problem. You just need more fixings to keep it held straight. I prefer straight ones, but rolled are cheaper.


NT

On Thursday, 23 July 2015 21:21:57 UTC+1, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

Any curtain track which can be rolled up is insufficiently rigid, even if you can remove the curve it will still bow under the weight of anything more than tissue paper.

Owain

On 7/23/2015 6:51 PM, wrote:
On Thursday, 23 July 2015 21:21:57 UTC+1, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

Any curtain track which can be rolled up is insufficiently rigid, even if you can remove the curve it will still bow under the weight of anything more than tissue paper.

Yes.
That's why I replaced mine with proper wooden rods.

On Thursday, 23 July 2015 23:51:05 UTC+1, wrote:
On Thursday, 23 July 2015 21:21:57 UTC+1, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

Any curtain track which can be rolled up is insufficiently rigid, even if you can remove the curve it will still bow under the weight of anything more than tissue paper.

Owain

They don't actually, they're fine.


NT

wrote
wrote
Harry Bloomfield wrote

If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which
comes rolled up - best avoid it like the plague.

Any curtain track which can be rolled up is insufficiently
rigid, even if you can remove the curve it will still bow
under the weight of anything more than tissue paper.

They don't actually, they're fine.

Presumably because they are asymmetric and aren't used with the
weight of the curtains on the axis in which they are rolled up.

On 23/07/15 21:21, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

I bought one maybe a decade ago for when I might need it, a complete kit
including the rail, brackets screws and etc. all you need and ready to
fit. Today I needed it. The suggestion was to put the track in hot water
and it will straighten out, er no it didn't. A waste of time and will
need replacing.


And it will be wobbly and horrid anyway.

I'd throw it away and go and get a decent brand (I rather like the
aluminium I-beam type that is an exact replica of the old edwardian
brass I-beam type - very smooth and very easy to fit and very very strong.

newshound used his keyboard to write :
On 23/07/2015 21:21, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

I bought one maybe a decade ago for when I might need it, a complete kit
including the rail, brackets screws and etc. all you need and ready to
fit. Today I needed it. The suggestion was to put the track in hot water
and it will straighten out, er no it didn't. A waste of time and will
need replacing.

The trouble is it has had a long time to "creep" into the wrong shape. You
might try winding it up the other way in hot water, or pinning it down flat
on something like a patio or a felt roof on a hot day. How long is it? If no
more than 3 metres, put it inside a length of tube (scaffold, gutter
downpipe, waste pipe?) and feed steam into it from a wallpaper stripper. You
will probably still have to "reverse bend" it while hot.

Its a 3m one, but I only needed 2x 30" lengths of it. The instructions
said hot water, so I tried hot on the entire roll, which made not much
difference. In the end I cut off the two 30" bits and just tried to get
those straight - it looks awful.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

On 24/07/2015 12:29, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
newshound used his keyboard to write :
On 23/07/2015 21:21, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

I bought one maybe a decade ago for when I might need it, a complete kit
including the rail, brackets screws and etc. all you need and ready to
fit. Today I needed it. The suggestion was to put the track in hot water
and it will straighten out, er no it didn't. A waste of time and will
need replacing.

The trouble is it has had a long time to "creep" into the wrong shape.
You might try winding it up the other way in hot water, or pinning it
down flat on something like a patio or a felt roof on a hot day. How
long is it? If no more than 3 metres, put it inside a length of tube
(scaffold, gutter downpipe, waste pipe?) and feed steam into it from a
wallpaper stripper. You will probably still have to "reverse bend" it
while hot.

Its a 3m one, but I only needed 2x 30" lengths of it. The instructions
said hot water, so I tried hot on the entire roll, which made not much
difference. In the end I cut off the two 30" bits and just tried to get
those straight - it looks awful.


These long plastic things are expensive to move, which is presumably why
the 10mm tile trim I was after is £6 a length in Topps Tiles. £2.38 from
a BM

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
. uk...
newshound used his keyboard to write :
On 23/07/2015 21:21, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

I bought one maybe a decade ago for when I might need it, a complete kit
including the rail, brackets screws and etc. all you need and ready to
fit. Today I needed it. The suggestion was to put the track in hot water
and it will straighten out, er no it didn't. A waste of time and will
need replacing.

The trouble is it has had a long time to "creep" into the wrong shape. You might try
winding it up the other way in hot water, or pinning it down flat on something like a
patio or a felt roof on a hot day. How long is it? If no more than 3 metres, put it
inside a length of tube (scaffold, gutter downpipe, waste pipe?) and feed steam into
it from a wallpaper stripper. You will probably still have to "reverse bend" it while
hot.

Its a 3m one, but I only needed 2x 30" lengths of it. The instructions said hot water,
so I tried hot on the entire roll, which made not much difference. In the end I cut off
the two 30" bits and just tried to get those straight - it looks awful.

Temperature sensitive flexibility is possibly a property of a
specific type of plastic which deterioratates over time.
Although time alone doesn't normally appear to be a factor
with plastic deterioration.
i.e. exposure to UV light will eventually render some types of plastic
brittle rather than flexible, but presumably this kit hasn't been
exposed to any UV.


michael adams

....

In message , Tim Watts
writes
On 23/07/15 21:21, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

I bought one maybe a decade ago for when I might need it, a complete kit
including the rail, brackets screws and etc. all you need and ready to
fit. Today I needed it. The suggestion was to put the track in hot water
and it will straighten out, er no it didn't. A waste of time and will
need replacing.


And it will be wobbly and horrid anyway.

I'd throw it away and go and get a decent brand (I rather like the
aluminium I-beam type that is an exact replica of the old edwardian
brass I-beam type - very smooth and very easy to fit and very very
strong.

Yes, I've not used that particular type, but I am gradually replacing
the old plastic track with metal track as it wear out.

Much better stuff
--
Chris French

On 24/07/2015 12:29, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
newshound used his keyboard to write :
On 23/07/2015 21:21, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

I bought one maybe a decade ago for when I might need it, a complete kit
including the rail, brackets screws and etc. all you need and ready to
fit. Today I needed it. The suggestion was to put the track in hot water
and it will straighten out, er no it didn't. A waste of time and will
need replacing.

The trouble is it has had a long time to "creep" into the wrong shape.
You might try winding it up the other way in hot water, or pinning it
down flat on something like a patio or a felt roof on a hot day. How
long is it? If no more than 3 metres, put it inside a length of tube
(scaffold, gutter downpipe, waste pipe?) and feed steam into it from a
wallpaper stripper. You will probably still have to "reverse bend" it
while hot.

Its a 3m one, but I only needed 2x 30" lengths of it. The instructions
said hot water, so I tried hot on the entire roll, which made not much
difference. In the end I cut off the two 30" bits and just tried to get
those straight - it looks awful.

It *might* have lost its plasticiser, as someone else suggested, but I
still think you have a reasonable chance of straightening it with heat.
Ordinary domestic hot water might not be hot enough though. I am
reasonably sure that steaming would work. For a 30 inch length, another
thing you could try would be clamping it along the top of a central
heating radiator for a period of time. The type with a rectangular
header, not a round one, and not in the summer of course.

On 24/07/15 14:11, Chris French wrote:
In message , Tim Watts
writes
On 23/07/15 21:21, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

I bought one maybe a decade ago for when I might need it, a complete kit
including the rail, brackets screws and etc. all you need and ready to
fit. Today I needed it. The suggestion was to put the track in hot water
and it will straighten out, er no it didn't. A waste of time and will
need replacing.


And it will be wobbly and horrid anyway.

I'd throw it away and go and get a decent brand (I rather like the
aluminium I-beam type that is an exact replica of the old edwardian
brass I-beam type - very smooth and very easy to fit and very very
strong.

Yes, I've not used that particular type, but I am gradually replacing
the old plastic track with metal track as it wear out.

Much better stuff

One thing I like about I-beam is that you can top fix it very close to
the surface - and the ability to shape it (and it to hold the shape)
made it very good for my bay window that has a lower ceiling. I formed
an overlap in crossing the two tracks by about 5" in the middle.

The disadvantage is of course it does not (to my knowledge) take cords.

On Friday, 24 July 2015 14:40:12 UTC+1, newshound wrote:
On 24/07/2015 12:29, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
newshound used his keyboard to write :
On 23/07/2015 21:21, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
If you ever think to buy a curtain track, which comes rolled up - best
avoid it like the plague.

I bought one maybe a decade ago for when I might need it, a complete kit
including the rail, brackets screws and etc. all you need and ready to
fit. Today I needed it. The suggestion was to put the track in hot water
and it will straighten out, er no it didn't. A waste of time and will
need replacing.

The trouble is it has had a long time to "creep" into the wrong shape.
You might try winding it up the other way in hot water, or pinning it
down flat on something like a patio or a felt roof on a hot day. How
long is it? If no more than 3 metres, put it inside a length of tube
(scaffold, gutter downpipe, waste pipe?) and feed steam into it from a
wallpaper stripper. You will probably still have to "reverse bend" it
while hot.

Its a 3m one, but I only needed 2x 30" lengths of it. The instructions
said hot water, so I tried hot on the entire roll, which made not much
difference. In the end I cut off the two 30" bits and just tried to get
those straight - it looks awful.

It *might* have lost its plasticiser, as someone else suggested, but I
still think you have a reasonable chance of straightening it with heat.
Ordinary domestic hot water might not be hot enough though. I am
reasonably sure that steaming would work. For a 30 inch length, another
thing you could try would be clamping it along the top of a central
heating radiator for a period of time. The type with a rectangular
header, not a round one, and not in the summer of course.

You don't need heat, just screw it to the wall. Seems a lot of people lack experience with these rolled types, there's nothing wrong with them, they just need more fixings than straight ones to hold them straight.


NT

Straightening it gently and gradually along the full length in a sink of very hot water, then ironing out the remaining creases on maximum heat under a tea towel seemed to do the trick 😀�

About to fit it now so I hope so lol!

Good luck to anybody reading and trying this �

--
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