How to plan a motorised curtain for glass nobody can reach: access, long and heavy drops, track layout, power at the top of the window and scenes for a void.
📍 We serve KL, Selangor & Putrajaya.
On a double-volume or staircase window, a motor is not a luxury: it is the only way the curtain gets used, because nobody can reach it. The hard parts are not the motor itself but the height: getting safe access to fix the track and to service the motor later, handling a long, tall and heavy drop, deciding between one long run and a centre-opening pair, and choosing a power source you will not have to climb up to recharge. Plan those before choosing fabric. High windows are where a smart home pays for itself in daily comfort.
A curtain on an ordinary bedroom window is a short, light drop on a ceiling you can touch from a stepladder. A curtain across the glass of a double-volume hall, a stairwell or a penthouse living room is a different object: much taller fabric, a track fixed high up on a slab or a void ceiling, and a motor head nobody will see or touch for years. Every decision that is easy at normal height becomes harder, and every mistake costs a second visit with access equipment.
The same houses also suffer most from the problem the curtain is meant to solve. Tall glass facing west turns a void into a heat trap in the afternoon, and the guide to closing or opening a void lists high windows that are hard to maintain among the main reasons owners consider closing one. A well-planned motorised curtain is a much smaller step than closing the void.
The single biggest risk on this job is how people get up to the track. A stepladder balanced on a staircase landing or on top of a sofa is how falls happen at home. Ask anyone quoting how they will reach the track, and expect the answer to fit the space.
| Where the window is | Typical access | What to ask before the visit |
|---|---|---|
| Double-volume living hall with a flat floor | A mobile access tower or a sturdy platform ladder | Whether furniture must be moved and the floor protected |
| Over a staircase | A tower or platform designed to stand on stairs, never a stepladder on the landing | How the platform will be levelled and secured on the steps |
| Clerestory or high glass above a mezzanine | Access from the mezzanine edge, with the edge protected | Whether the railing allows a safe working position |
| Penthouse or duplex living room | A tower inside the unit; building rules on equipment in lifts | Management rules on access times and moving equipment in |
| Very high or awkward voids | Scaffolding put up for the job | Whether other high jobs can be done in the same visit |
Because access is the expensive part, bundle high jobs together. The guide to scaffolding for home renovation explains when a tower or scaffold is worth it, and the same visit can cover painting the upper wall, a high light fitting or cleaning the tall glass.
A tall window means a long drop of fabric, and a long drop is heavy, especially with a blackout lining. The track and motor have to be chosen for that load, not for the width alone. Wide glass adds a second problem: a track longer than one standard length is joined, and every joint is a place where runners can catch.
A single panel that draws all the way across a wide window travels the longest distance and stacks the whole fabric at one end. A centre-opening pair splits the fabric, so each half travels half the distance and the stacks sit at both sides. On wide, tall glass the pair is often the smoother choice, but it can mean two shorter tracks with two motors rather than one track and one motor.
| Layout | Strengths | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Single draw, one motor | One control, simple pairing | Long travel and a big stack at one side |
| Centre-opening pair on one track | Shorter travel per half, balanced look | The overlap in the middle must not catch |
| Two tracks, two motors, grouped | Each motor carries less load; halves can be split | Both motors must be grouped so they move together |
| Sheer and blackout on separate tracks | Day privacy and night blackout from one window | Enough depth for two tracks and two motor heads |
Remember the stack. A tall curtain drawn open still covers a strip of glass at each side, so allow room beyond the window edge for the fabric to park if you want the full view.
Many owners want a sheer for daytime privacy and a blackout layer for the evening. At height, that means two motorised tracks side by side, each with its own motor head, and enough depth in the ceiling or curtain box for both. If a recessed slot is being formed during renovation, size it for the second track at the start, because widening it later means opening the ceiling again.
Two motors also mean two devices to pair and two to group. Set up scenes that move them sensibly: sheer closed and blackout open on a hot afternoon, both closed at night, both open on a dull morning.
A heavy curtain pulled by a motor tugs on its fixings every day. On a bare concrete slab, the track is fixed into plugs in the concrete. On a plaster ceiling in a void, the screws must land on framing or a backing strip built in for the purpose; plasterboard alone will not hold a long, heavy drop for long. Where the ceiling is still being built, ask for a continuous backing strip above the window.
In a condo duplex or penthouse, drilling into the slab is renovation work. Check the management's rules on working hours and approvals before the visit, and ask whether a metal detector will be used before drilling near concealed conduits.
The motor sits at one end of the track, and at height that choice matters more than usual. Put it at the end that can be reached most easily later: the side next to a mezzanine, above a landing, or nearest a future power supply. If the track sits in a curtain box, make sure the box is deep enough and that the motor can be removed without taking the box apart.
Ask for the motor's manual override too. Most decent motors can be moved by hand or have a manual release, and on a window you cannot reach easily, that override decides whether a failed motor leaves the room light or dark until it is fixed.
This is the decision that most often goes wrong. A rechargeable battery motor needs no cable, which sounds ideal, but its battery sits at the top of the window, so every recharge means getting up there again unless the motor accepts a charging lead run down to reachable height or a small solar panel on the glass. On a window that is only reachable with a tower, ask exactly how charging will work before choosing battery.
A mains motor solves charging but needs a supply at the head of the window, which is best planned while the walls and ceiling are open. Section 2 of the Electricity Supply Act 1990 treats "the adding of any part" to an installation as electrical work. Any mains electrical work, such as a new power point, a change at the distribution board or a hardwired switch that needs new wiring, must be done by an electrical contractor registered with Suruhanjaya Tenaga.
The general trade-offs are set out in the battery versus mains curtain motor comparison, and the guide to smart home pre-wiring during renovation explains what to run before the ceiling closes.
A high curtain is almost always run from a remote, an app, a wall keypad or a schedule, never by hand. Useful automations for a double-volume space include:
If you are adding a motor to a track that is already up, the guide to adding a motor to an existing curtain track explains which tracks can take one.
High curtains collect dust like any other, but nobody notices until the fabric looks grey. Plan cleaning for the same visit as other high jobs, and remember that taking a motorised curtain down and rehanging it may mean resetting the motor's end positions. The guide to cleaning high windows at home covers access for the glass itself, and the high-ceiling design ideas show how curtains are dressed on tall walls.
We plan motorised curtains for double-volume halls, stairwells and duplex living rooms: the layout, single draw or pair, sheer and blackout tracks, the motor end and how it will be reached, and the scenes for the space. For battery and plug-in motors, we install the motors, pair the remotes and group them in your app. For smart switches and anything wired into the mains, we supply the devices and set up the app, and the switch or wiring work is done by an electrical contractor registered with Suruhanjaya Tenaga that we coordinate.
Whoever does the work, ask how they will reach the track safely, where the motor head will sit, how charging or power will work, and keep the app account in your own name. The smart curtain motorisation guide covers motor types and control layers in general.
This page is general planning guidance for motorised curtains on high windows. Access arrangements, track lengths and motor choice depend on the window, the building and its management.
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