Curtain track in new rental

[Chippy1234]

Hi Alll,

I wonder if someone can assist please. A relative has moved into a very nice rental and the curtain tracks are causing us great issues. We dont know what sort of curtains/blinds were there before btw. We had John Lewis to give us a hand with some colour schemes and I did give them pictures of the tracks and they said 'all you need to do is put curtain hooks on the pencil pleats and then just hook into the track' but they look complete rubbish when I do this.

I am wondering whether the tracks are not suitable for anything other than the lightest of curtains? We have blackout type curtains.

We are very limited with what we can do because its a rental but I am desperate for some assistance please. Maybe its me that is doing it wrong....please say if it is!

All help is very very much appreciated.

I guess you have 2 options if I understand your situation correctly. 1. Learn what the name of the track you've got is, check how many kilos of curtains it can support and if it supports your curtains, buy more gliders. 2. Or replace it with another ceiling fix track that supports your curtains

Betty. Thank you. Yes I did think whether the gliders were the issue and the curtain track is just too light weight to take the curtains. Although it is a rental I suspect they wont have an issue with me replacing this rubbish track with say a pole. I did ask John Lewis specifically with very close up pictures but one of the sets of curtains is huge and I suspect they have given me wrong advice.

The pencil pleats look complete rubbish as well. I started tying up one end and then starting at the other end to get the curtains into pencils but they keep undoing and look complete rubbish.

Willing to help as much as I can.
What is the problem? That track should be fine but do you have pics of the hung curtains?
What does really rubbish mean?

But being realistic your photos have been taken with a potato and no-one can realistically advise.

The track itself will take almost any weight.

It depends on how the track is secured to the wall/ceiling.

Are you putting your hooks through the correct row of the pencil pleat tape? There are three so pick the one which allows the curtain to hang just below the ceiling.
can you show us a picture of your hooks on the back of the curtain?

I cross posted with your update: have you tied knots at one end if the tape so the strings don't pull through?

Yes to Odfox's posts regarding securing the pleats with knots and choosing the correct row in the tape. More photos might be needed

Here are the curtains in situ and some pics of the track. Thank you so much for responses so far.

Hanging curtains is a bit of an art!
Pull up the cords so that each curtain measures slightly more than half the track.
Space the hooks evenly along the curtain ie every
4th pocket.
I can't really see which pocket they are in? maybe experiment?
Finally, form the vertical folds of the curtains with your hands and tie into place with tights/stockings for a couple of days to train them into nice folds.

The look complete rubbish dont they! Why are they all bunches up and coming out of the hooks.

I did measure them so each curtain was half of the track.

do you think there are enough gliders and can I put some more on a already installed curtain track.

Its almost like the track is unable to take the weight and we have other curtains far heavier than look like they could pull the whole track down.

I put the curtain hooks on the bottom line of the tape which I guess you can see

Its almost as though there are not enough gliders on the curtain rack to take the curtains and they all bunch up.

If you take a pic and a ring into JL or Dunelm they can probably give you the right extra rings so you can spread the load better. Usually the end cap comes off and you can slide extras in. Those rails are more common in Europe. Might be from Ikea?

They were put up by the old tenant in the property. Do you think its actually that there are not enough rings to support the curtains hence the rubbish look and the bunching up?

Do these sorts of tracks take ALL weights of curtains? They are quite flismy and the little gliders are very small to take the hooks although they do go in (and sometimes pop out)

They may be designed to take voile weight but as ling as the fixings are secure, ie screwed into a ceiling joist, they can take a decent load.

Yes to needing more hooks.

Also the pleats are too sparse, suggesting the curtains aren't wide enough.

But tbh though it's never going to look great with a ceiling fitting like that.

With a track mounted like that on the ceiling, you are supposed to have the top of the curtain hanging just below the rail - you shouldn’t be aiming for the curtain to be in front of the rail. So put the hooks in the higher slots on the back of the curtains.

Also, it looks like you haven’t made the pencil pleats close enough. They’re far too spread out. It needs to be much more bunched up - this gives the top of the curtain more stability and helps to stop it flopping around. And once it’s more bunched up, you might have enough hooks to manage.

If when you bunch the pencil pleats up more, your curtains are too narrow for the window, then I’d complain about how they were made. They should be tightly gathered at the top so the gathering looks like lots of pencils in a row (hence pencil pleats) not just wavy.

Like this but pencil pleats

Pencil pleats like this - need to be more tightly gathered than you have them.

The track looks like a Silent gliss one but may well be a copy.
Try the hooks in the top or middle pockets.
If you use METAL hooks you can pinch them together to stop them coming off the gliders.

Metal hooks might help.
White plastic ones tend to bend and open with heavy curtains, nylon ones are more robust, but metal are best if they'll fit thru the glider holes

OP I hang a lot of curtains. Your track looks fine but it possibly needs more runners on it. When professionals hang curtains, they 'dress' them for 24/48hrs first. That is, they do all the gathering up etc, align everything perfectly and then stack it back against the wall (open) with ribbon ties (or old fabric strips) tied around the bulk of the curtains to 'set' the pleats in place.

link HERE

Sorry to go off track but a friend has suggested an extendable tension rod type curtain rail and we might be able to use eyelet curtains which was my first choice. I hate pencil pleats.

Before you spend any more money try moving the hooks to the top or middle row of the header tape as a pp suggested. The hooks are opening because they aren't upright so the weight of the curtain is pulling them open instead of downwards onto the track loops.
Once the top of your curtains are vertical instead of pushed sideways against the ceiling you will be able to make a clearer assessment.

I wouldn’t replace the track with a pole. We’ve rented for years and nearly every house we’ve had to no more nails the pole back after it’s just fallen out the ceiling from crappy fixtures etc. That track looks much more sturdy.
more hooks, on the top row of hooks and they will look lovely.