Window shade broken

[GaryBro]

On our 2017 374TH, one of the window shades on the side of the slide somehow got a little crooked. While trying to get it straightened, it seems to have gotten worse. It will now only go up about half way. I can't see any way to get the shade off the mounts to try and fix it. Has anybody had this problem and were you able to fix it?

[Cate&Rob]

Gary - the strings cross sides through the lower bar and fasten in the lower corners to keep the alignment. Untie both lower corners and you should be able to square up the blind. Then you have to re-tension the strings to get the blind to slide smoothly and stay put at any height.

Rob

[GaryBro]

Our Solitude has the roller shades, not the old pleated type - same as we used back in the 60's! Can't seem to find out how to remove the roller as there is just not much room behind the frame to get your hands in.

[GaryBro]

Just in case you are following this, I got a reply from my contact at GD about how to repair the window shade:

On windows with the hard (wood) valance around the window, you have to pull off the face panel on both vertical legs (T-nailed in place) so you can access the 3 screws on each side securing the valance to the wall. Take the entire assembly down and the roller shade is mounted to the underside of the top hardwood valance. There are 2 clips (see attached picture) securing the roller to the valance. At the top of the clip is a spring loaded push button. Push both down and roll the shade towards you and it is now free.

On windows with soft side valances (hall way) just reach up over the top of the roller and find the 2 plastic push buttons. Push down both and rotate the shade assembly towards you and it will come off. The clips are screwed to the wall on this configuration.

FYI, there are 2 adjustments on the roller ends. Left side adjusts tension. Right side adjusts where the shade stops when retratced.

[rwoverman]

Gary, can you repost attached pictures? I don't see them in the post.

Bob

[GaryBro]

Ooops! Forgot that he sent me a pic of the holder, here it is. I have not tackled this issue yet - finding it hard to pull off the vertical boards not knowing if it will go back together and look nice.

[rwoverman]

I'm with you on that.

[GaryBro]

Well, I started fixing the window shade today. Side panels do come off quite easily, they are held on by 1 inch thin nails. I think that I can use my brad nailer to put them back on. If I didn't have a brad nailer, I would get some small black screws and screw the panels back on (after drilling pilot holes). There are two pocked screws on each side frame piece and removing them will get the entire frame off. I was not able to remove the roller from the frame as I could not figure out how the clips work. I will investigate further. One interesting thing I did find out is that there are roller wheels on each side of the shade. the one on the left adjusts tension (I did not play with this) and the one on the right adjusts how far the shade goes up. Mine would not go up more than half way and by turning the wheel it now goes all the way up. I also found out that you can get to and adjust the rollers without taking anything apart (wish I had known this in the beginning). I attached pics of the process.

[rwoverman]

I saw your post a couple of days ago about the shade. Ours were slow to roll up and, I just sent a email to GD. Got back the spec sheet on how to adjust. Your latest post confirms that adjustments can be made with out removing the valance. Knowledge is wonderful and this website is a wealth of knowledge!

[GaryBro]

Got the shade off and found out that my clips were mounted 180 degrees wrong - the push clip was facing the front of the frame and could not be reached with your fingers. I ended up using a screwdriver to reach in and push the clip to get the roller off. I could have spun the clips 180 degres so the next time it would be easier, but I don't think that I will be removing the frame again.

I'm glad that my investigation has helped others!