Shutter repairs
Shutters fail in a small number of ways, and most can be diagnosed from what the shutter is doing before a ladder comes off the van. We repair any make, and the first thing we will tell you is whether the shutter is worth repairing.
What it is doing, and what that usually means
These are the faults we see most. If yours is one of them, describing it on the phone often tells us which parts to bring.
- The motor hums but nothing moves
- A stuck brake, a failed capacitor, or a thermal cut-out that has tripped after repeated use. Leave it twenty minutes; if it still only hums, switch it off at the isolator.
- It stops short, or runs on past the bottom
- The limit settings have drifted. It is a quick adjustment, but a curtain that overruns can wind back onto the barrel the wrong way, so stop pressing the switch.
- One side hangs lower than the other
- A lath has slipped sideways or lost its end lock, or a strap has come off the barrel on one side. Stop using it before the curtain jams or leaves the guide.
- It grinds or catches in the guides
- Grit, a worn guide liner, or a guide knocked out of line by a van, a bin or a pallet truck. A dent that looks trivial is enough to stop a curtain.
- A manual shutter is heavy, or will not stay up
- The balance springs have lost tension or broken. There is a great deal of stored energy in them; spring work needs the right tools and should not be attempted otherwise.
- The key switch or remote does nothing
- Water in the key switch is the usual cause, then a flat handset battery or a remote that has lost its pairing. Check nobody has switched off the isolator.
Repair or replace
Most repairs are parts: a few laths, a bottom rail, a motor of matching torque, a guide straightened or renewed, springs retensioned. Laths slide out of the curtain sideways and can be replaced individually, so a damaged section does not mean a new curtain.
Replacement makes sense when the barrel is bent, the curtain is corroded through along its length, or the parts belong to a system nobody makes any more. We show you what we found and give both prices where both are realistic.
Servicing
A shutter that is never serviced tends to fail at the least convenient moment. A visit once or twice a year covers the guides, the curtain fixings and end locks, the motor, the override and any safety edge, and resets the limits. It catches nearly every fault on this page before it leaves a shop unable to open.
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Asked on survey
- Do you repair shutters you did not install?
- Yes. Most parts are common across manufacturers, and where they are not, a compatible equivalent can usually be found.
- Can it be fixed on the first visit?
- Often: limits, switches, laths, bottom rails and many motors. Specialist parts and complete curtains are made to order and need a second visit, and the shutter is left safe and secure in the meantime.
- My shutter is stuck open. What do I do tonight?
- Ring us. A shutter that will not close is an emergency callout: the priority is getting the premises locked or boarded tonight, and the repair follows.
