As can be seen, replacing your old vertical blinds is easy, with options ranging from vertical cellular shades and sliding panel tracks to sheer vertical blinds and designer-inspired draperies.
Whatever the damage, the good news is you don't necessarily need a whole new blind. If everything else is still in working order, it's easy to replace and fix your blinds with just a new slat or two -- without even taking your blind out of the window!
Vertical blind stems sit inside a C-shaped holder, and they pop out of the open side with a firm tug. Carefully stand on a step stool if needed, and use a flashlight to easily identify the open side of the stem holder. Then, grasp the stem and pull it sideways out of the C-shaped holder.
Check whether the draw cord is obstructed. Blinds open and close either with a pull cord or with a stiff wand that you turn to open or close the slats. If the cord is tangled or knotted or if the wand is twisted beyond its natural range of movement, the slats may not close properly.
Changing the Opening Direction
Pull the bottom of the headrail out of the retaining clips. This should detach them from the window frame, but pull carefully to avoid breaking the clips. Rotate the blinds 180 degrees, so you switch the side that was facing the front to face the back.
How to shorten vertical blinds? Even though it may take longer, we recommend cutting the slats one by one to make them the same. You can only shorten vertical blinds from the top of the slat, because you need to use the folded pockets for the bottom weights, which keep the blind in place.
Slats which won't rotate are a sign that something is wrong with your tilter mechanism. Take your blind off the window and lie it on a flat surface so you can look inside the headrail. If you have a chain pulley system, examine the chain control mechanism and make sure the chain hasn't come off the sprocket wheel.
If one or more of the lift strings becomes frayed or breaks, you can remove the broken strings and restring broken blinds strings so your blinds can work like new.
Insert the cord into a pleated shade restring needle, which is a 0.9-millimeter large fabric needle. Thread the needle through the right hand side cord guide, down through all of the holes of the pleated fabric and out the other side. Then thread the needle through the next column of holes on the pleated shade.