I am so glad it is finally Works For Me Wednesday! I have been sitting on this post for 12 whole days.
A couple weeks ago, one of the slats broke on the much-abused vertical blind over my sliding glass door. (We Owlhavens wear things hard, especially the ever-busy little Owls.) As you can see below, the slat just ripped straight through the top of the hole. 
My first fix was just to move one slat in from the end of the blind to fill the gap in the middle. But I started thinking that if one had broken, others were sure to follow. I wondered if there was any way to fix it. I thought about super-gluing some more plastic to block off the hole, but I was sure that wouldn’t last.
While thinking it over, I had a brainstorm. I realized the other end of the slat was still in perfect condition. If I could just cut the right size of hole in the unbroken end, I could turn the slat around, putting that end at the top of the window, and leaving the broken bit down at the floor where most people would probably not even see it.
It was a piece of cake to mark the right place to cut the new hole. All I did was gently fold the slat in half, and then mark with a pen on the good end, using the broken end as a template for perfect placement of the hole.
Next, how to cut it? I was afraid that a knife or a pointy scissors would leave a ragged cut. I realized that the original hole, though rectangular, was very close in size to the hole made by a standard hole punch. I whipped out my trusty three-holer, and punched away. Voila. A nice clean hole.
I thought I might have to shave the hole more rectangular, but it turns out that the circular opening pops into the clip in the blind perfectly! 
Now that I’ve figured out how to do this, I think I could fix the next broken slat in three minutes flat. This little trick will probably double the life of my blind. Works for me!
I'm Mary, wife to John, and mom to 10 kids ages 3-20. Six of them were adopted, from Ethiopia and Korea. I spend my days applying Bandaids, reminding kids to use their inside voices, persuading kids fractions are useful, cooking spicy ethnic food, and snapping gig after gig of pictures. Very late at night, I write about it all.
Love it! So ingenious!
Where were you when I needed you last year? I got so sick of the stupid breaking slats I decided to get a new covering all together. Course I had never liked the verticle blind thing, it came with the house. But I would have kept it if I could have been as smart as you.
Very clever, Mary!
You are so smart!!! What a great idea.
aren’t you smart?
Wow! I wish I had seen this before my boys destroyed the slat that fell off. That one is in pieces now. Don’t think this will work for it. But I’ll keep this in mind for the next ones that fall off, which undoubted they will.
Awesome idea! We *hate* the blinds here…we are constantly having to replace them! You did a great job with your repair!
Tracy
That tip would have saved me a LOT of stress in my last house!
Such a smart idea! We don’t have vertical blinds in this house, but it is good to know in case we ever move
Wow! You are McGuyver! Good job.
brilliant!
Oh now that is smart.
dude. i’m an idiot. i just threw away 3 of these stupid things! if only i’d read this earlier!!!
Brilliant idea! I love creative people!! You all give me the best ideas!
You have pretty hands.
If you end up with two broken ends, you can use a section of an unbent paperclip across the hole as well.
How simple, but smart. Thanks a bunch!
Wow, wish I’d had this info this summer. I threw out 5 missing slats because they were all broken from the sort of abuse you described. If I’d only been so clever. Sigh.
Simple and powerfull! Thanks!!
This comes just DAYS after I finally chunked the whole window treatment for all of those ripped slats ( we had half a dozen or more that had accumulated)
I had tried sealing with tape, bridging the gap with a staple, but it never occured to me to try the easiest ( and best) soloution.
Next time, I’ll know though! Thanks
Now, we have a shower curtain, picked to match the furniture, hanging from the brackets that held the slats.
I Actually sacrificed the last slat cutting it into two inch lengths. Then I used a hole punch to create holes in each one. I then used silicone glue to reinforced each slat making them twice as strong at the weakest point….It works….
I have been using my blind again and again since 10 years. I use paper stapler just right in center at broken slot. It works
I can’t get my slats to turn at all with the stick. I have to turn them one at a time. I know there must be a way to fix them but I don,t know what is broken. They are brand new blinds and I just turned it to many times one day and it has worked since. Please help!!
Angie,
I believe you need a new Vertical Wand Master Carrier. Typically the threads are stripped on these when you force the blinds to rotate further than they are designed to go, or force the blinds to rotate when they are obstructed. You can find replacements here:
http://www.blindsparts.com/servlet/Categories?category=VERTICAL+BLINDS%5C%3A+Carriers+Wand+Master
Chip
Here’s another great idea regarding this topic, “Vane Savers”. It seems that these can be used to repair or prevent (even better!) this problem. I found them here:
http://www.blindsparts.com/servlet/Categories?category=VERTICAL+BLINDS%5C%3A+Repair*Parts%3AVane+Savers
BTW, I’m not affiliated with this company, just cam across these while searching for my own replacement parts.
Enjoy!
Chip
[...] We all have moments of glory and brilliance that we want to relive for the rest of our lives, right? What was your best ever frugal idea? Well, this is certainly not THE best frugal idea ever, but it is one that consistently get hits on my blog– it’s my way of fixing a broken slat on a vertical blind. [...]
I have some vertical blinds with fabric inserts and I want to replace. How do I or where do I have this done? They are over 10 years old.
thanks
Thank you so much for the great idea! Problem solved.
I had JC Penny’s installed custom fabric verticals in 2005. I’ve only had 4 break in 3 years considering I have 4 kids all under 10, a very hiper puppy and an in-home daycare business. I threw the first 2 away because I could move the others over to cover the spaces. I just broke 2 this weekend and was totally bombed that I could not cover the spaces. I was prepared to call jc penny the next day until I stumbled over your blog.
Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!! Awesome you ROCK!!!!!!!!!
GENIUS!! It worked perfectly. Thanks for saving a lot of driving around time and money on replacements. I appreciate it.
Here’s another option before or after you punch a hole in the other end; if you have PVC Louvers vertical blinds you can purchase the adhesive repair tabs at ezlinertrashbags.com
Simply align a peel n’ stick tab over each broken hole and press in place. 2 x 3/4 each. Set of 10. For $9.95.
EZ Liner Products (EZ Household Helpers)
19051 Goldenwest Street Ste 106-#232
Huntington Beach, CA. 92648
714-329-3064 Monday through Friday 9 – 5 PST
Fax 714-846-0176 email: info@ezlinertrashbags.com
Brilliant!!! Just Brilliant!