How do you install or take down a curtain track?

A curtain track is fixed to the ceiling, called ceiling fix or top fix, or to the wall or architrave, called face fix. Both hang on brackets and the steps are much the same. What matters most is what the brackets are fixed into and where they go.

What you need

• The track and everything that came with it: brackets, runners (gliders) and end caps.
• Screws and plugs that suit what you are fixing into.
• A drill, a screwdriver, a pencil, a tape measure, a spirit level and a stable ladder.
• A second person for a long track.

Where the brackets go

Speedy Blinds supplies about one bracket for every 600mm of track, and they don't all go at the same spacing. When the curtain is open, its whole weight hangs from the short length of track where it stacks, so put two or three brackets close together there to take the extra weight. Along the rest of the track the brackets can be spaced further apart.

• Centre opening, a pair of curtains that part in the middle: the curtains stack at both ends, so group brackets at both ends.
• One way, a single curtain that draws to one side: it stacks at one end, so group brackets at that end.

Run the track past the window where you can, so the open curtain stacks beside the glass and not across it.

What to fix the brackets into

A curtain track carries the full weight of the curtain, and more when someone pulls on it. Fix into something solid: a timber stud, joist or noggin, masonry with the right plugs, or timber put in for the purpose. Plasterboard alone should not be relied on to hold a loaded curtain track, so find the structure behind it first, on a ceiling as much as a wall.

How to install a curtain track, step by step

1. Mark a level line where the track will go, on the ceiling or the wall, running past the window at each end for the stack.
2. Mark where each bracket goes: two or three close together where the curtain stacks, and the rest further apart in between.
3. Fix the brackets along the line into something solid, and check they are level.
4. Load the runners. On the Streamline track they clip in from the back of the track. On the other track profiles, take the end cap off one end, slide the runners in and put the end cap back. Load them before the track goes up if you can.
5. Fit the track into its brackets one bracket at a time, and check it is held firmly in each.
6. Check the end stops are in place, so the runners can't slide out of the ends.
7. Hang the curtain, with one hook or pendant on each runner.
8. Draw the curtain open and closed a few times. It should run freely, and the track shouldn't move.

How to take down a curtain track

1. Take the curtain off first, lifting each hook or pendant off its runner.
2. Support the track, with a second person for a long one.
3. Release the track from each bracket. Look at how it is held before you pull, and don't pry it out.
4. Unscrew the brackets, and fill the holes if the track isn't going back.

To change only the runners, the track may not need to come down at all. How to add or remove curtain track gliders has the steps.

Cord drawn and motorised tracks

The cord on a cord drawn track counts as a cord under Australia's mandatory safety standard, the same as a blind chain. Once fitted, it must not be able to form a loop of 220mm or longer at less than 1,600mm above the floor. A motorised track wired into mains power needs a licensed electrician for the wiring.

Your retailer can tell you which track and fittings you have, and whether they install or who does. Speedy Blinds makes curtains and curtain tracks for retailers.