My vertical blind slats keep dropping off the track

Work out which part failed

Pick up the fallen slat. If the punched hole at the top has torn through into a slot, the slat has failed and needs replacing, but the carrier is probably fine. If the hole is intact and a small plastic hook came down with it, the hook has snapped. If the slat came away with a larger plastic body attached, that is the carrier and it has come out of the track.

Then look along the headrail. Carriers should sit evenly spaced and all facing the same way. A gap where one is missing, or a carrier lying at an angle, tells you the fault is in the track rather than the slats.

• Torn slat hole: replace that slat, keep the carrier.
• Snapped hook: replace hooks, cheap and quick.
• Whole carrier detached: carrier or spacer chain failure in the headrail.
• Several slats twisted the same way: the tilt rod or a carrier has jumped alignment.

Why the holes tear in the first place

Almost always tension. Slats catch on a door handle, a pet, a radiator or a plant on the sill, and each snag stretches the punched hole a little more until it tears. Full length blinds behind a patio door take more of this than any other kind of blind in the house.

Sunlight makes it worse by making the fabric brittle at the top edge, exactly where the hole is. A blind whose slats tear one after another on the same side of the window is usually a sun problem as much as a snagging one.

Replacing slats: the size trap

Vertical slats come in standard widths, most commonly 89mm and 127mm, and they must match your existing slats and the hooks in your carriers. Buying a pack of the wrong width is the most common wasted purchase in this repair.

Length matters too. Slats should clear the floor or sill by a small margin, and shortening replacements yourself is possible on some designs with a bottom pocket and weight, but only if the hem detail matches the originals. Getting a mixed set of lengths is what makes a repaired blind look repaired.

• Measure an existing slat's width before ordering anything.
• Match the hem and weight detail, not just the colour.
• Order a couple of spares while you are at it, dye lots change.

Carriers, chains and the tilt rod

Inside the headrail, carriers are linked by a spacer chain so they draw evenly, and a tilt rod turns them all together. If one carrier breaks, the spacing goes out and the blind starts to look wrong even where nothing has fallen. Individual carriers can be replaced, but the headrail usually has to come down and an end cap has to come off.

That is the point at which most people would rather hand it over. Headrail plastics go brittle with age, and a cracked headrail turns a small parts job into a new blind.

Stopping it happening again

Small changes help a lot. Keep door handles, radiator valves and sill plants clear of the slat path, draw the blind by its chain or wand rather than by grabbing a slat, and stack it to the side that is not in a walkway. On patio doors, stacking away from the opening side stops the whole blind getting brushed every time the door is used.

If your blind sits in a busy family route, it may be worth asking whether verticals are the right product for that opening at all. There are other ways to dress a wide slider that do not hang loose in a doorway.

What we can do

We supply and fit vertical blinds across East Kent and we will happily tell you when a bag of hooks and a few slats is all you need. If the headrail is the problem, or the blind was never sized properly for the opening, we will measure and quote for a made to measure replacement instead, free of charge and without obligation.

You can also bring a fallen slat and a hook into our Hythe High Street showroom and we will match the width for you on the spot, which is quicker than any online guess.