We don’t mean to toot our own horn, however we’ve been doing this curtain track thing for a while now, and we’re fairly good at it. Over the years we’ve discovered many lessons about the most effective ways to install curtain tracks. Many of our clients are staunch do-it-yourselfers, which we applaud. Permit us to save you some trial and error by sharing among the most useful suggestions and tricks we’ve collected.

GETTING STARTED

Nearly any curtain track installation project might be achieved with a drill, miter or hack saw, screw driver, tape measure, and level. If you happen to’ve bought these available, the next step is to remember some ideas which might be useful for any project: ask for assist; and measure twice, reduce once.

SEEING IS BETTER THAN VISUALIZING

Earlier than you chop a track or drill a hole – lay everything out on the floor in front of you. Take note of the relative positions of the curtain track, drapery hardware, and curtain panels. Consider how the curtains will stack, the place they are going to hit the top of the track, the general length of the curtain panels, and the space between panel and floor. Adjust as needed through hook position or tape height.

KEEP YOUR DISTANCE

We don’t care what you employ to measure the gap from the ceiling to your wall-mounted bracket – so long as you employ the same thing for each bracket. So grab your stage, ruler, block of wood, whatever – just use it consistently. Do the identical for keeping a consistent distance from the wall and your ceiling-mounted track.

GLIDE IN FIRST

Trust us on this one – when utilizing hooks in your curtains, put your carriers or glides onto the curtain track earlier than the track is positioned on the ceiling or wall. In case you’ve obtained a snap tape system, snap the carriers onto the curtain after which slide the carriers into the track.

SPLICE AND DICE

When splicing two tracks collectively, use the factory-cut sides for splicing, reasonably than the hand cut. We’re certain you’re a good hand with your miter noticed, however the factory lower end is certain to be sq. and can facilitate a better joint.