How can I repair a vinyl folding door?
We’ve had an email from Yvonne, asking:
I have a small vinyl accordion door (single door size). One of the vinyl folds are tearing. How can I fix?
There seem to be a range of vinyl repair kits available for fixing small holes in furnishings, which might do the job.
Searching around for general advice on repairing vinyl, it seems there is a difference between fixing it and fixing it neatly. It some places the latter is seen as important but it can be a pain to find vinyl to match the colour of your aged/sun-bleached stuff. On an accordion door, you could make a feature of the repair by using a contrasting stripe of colour – and uses more stripes to reinforce the other folds to stop their tearing in the future. That would probably take more vinyl than you’d get in a little kit though.
Any more detailed fix suggestions?
Gaffer tape, Duck tape, duct tape – whatever you call it, it’s brilliant. I hardly ever leave home without it. Not for long, anyway.
It comes in loads of different colours, it sticks really well to almost anything, it’s really durable, it’s waterproof, I just love the stuff.
Try pound shops and budget DIY type places for mini rolls in a range of colours for £1 a roll or so, generally in white, green, red, blue, yellow, black or silver. And yes, reinforce the other joints BEFORE they break!
For maximum effective sticking power, durability and a decent-looking finish, take good care to stick it down smoothly without any creases and press the whole surface area to be sure it all makes good contact with the door.
Also obviously bend the fold to do the outside and then open it to do the inside of each crease, so that the joints still flex properly when fixed.