While thinking of motorized curtains and electric drapes, a lot of questions arise. How will they be mounted? Will they be outside mount, inside mount or ceiling mount? Ceiling or inside mount implies that the motorized curtain’s top will be horizontally mounted to something (a pocket, a ceiling or the frame of a window/door). Outside mount implies that the motorized curtains will be mounted on a wall.
Style of the curtains
Motorized curtains come in two major styles – Ripple-fold and Pinch-pleat. In Ripple-fold style, the fabric remains without pleats and gently zig-sag in S-shape. In Pinch-pleat style, the pinches of the textile are placed consistently with a gap of few inches. It depends on the customer which style he/she choose. The pinch-pleat style, also known as French pleats, is the most preferred style. Moreover, pinch-pleats stack smaller/tighter in comparison to ripple-fold.
The opening and closing of shades
Where the shades will close and open is known as ‘stacking’. The first consideration is that where should the motor be placed on? The answer to this depends upon how the curtains will open; right, left or center. If stacking is not proper, the curtains when fully opened won’t clear the window’s glass on each side. This is known as ‘stacking off the glass’. When the curtains are open, the fabric’s stack is usually 25 to 33 percent of the width. It implies that the drapery will cover around one-fourth of the window’s width. This will block the views as well as slide door openings. So, to provide enough room for ‘stack off the glass’, more wall space on both sides of the window will be required.
The Weight of the fabrics
When the curtains are larger, the fabric can be quite heavy, especially when additional blackout lining is also there. The weight of the fabric and size of the window makes manual operation inappropriate. This will not divide the opening into many smaller sections and will leave the stacks in center of the glass. One important benefit of motorized curtains is that large areas are covered by a single curtain which is driven by a single or double motor.