A curtain is not just something that hides a window anymore.
Walk into any newly finished house in Islamabad or Lahore and you will see it. The curtain is doing as much work as the paint, the flooring and the lights. It sets the mood of the room. People spend serious money on the fabric, the stitching and the falls — and they should. It is one of the few things in a room you actually notice every single day.
But here is what almost nobody plans for: what happens behind the fabric.
We get a call almost every week that goes the same way. The curtains are already stitched. The walls are already painted. The false ceiling is already closed. And then the customer decides they want a curtain motor. Now the track is too short, the electric point is sitting in the middle of the wall, and there is no space above the window to hide the motor head.
At that stage the fix is either expensive or simply not possible.
This guide is the conversation we wish we could have with every homeowner two weeks earlier. It takes ten minutes to read and it will save you from redoing finished work.
The three decisions you make before anything is stitched
If you remember nothing else from this page, remember these three:
- Make the track at least 1 foot wider than the window on each side.
- Leave two wires — live and neutral — on one side of the curtain, never in the centre.
- If you are doing a false ceiling, leave at least 10 inches of open space between the wall and the ceiling edge.
That is it. Everything below explains why, and what goes wrong if you skip them.
1. Make the track at least 1 foot wider than the window
This is the mistake we see most often. The tailor measures the window, adds a few inches, and stops there.
Go wider. On each side, extend the track at least one foot past the edge of the window. On a 6-foot window, that means an 8-foot track.
There are three reasons, and all three matter more once a motor is involved.
The fabric needs somewhere to sit when it is open. A stitched curtain does not disappear when you draw it. It gathers into a stack. If that stack has nowhere to go, it sits on top of the glass and eats your daylight — you paid for a big window and you are now covering a third of it. Extra track width gives the fabric somewhere to park, off the glass.
Light leaks from the sides, not the middle. A curtain that stops at the window frame will always throw a bright line down each edge in the morning. If you are doing blackout fabric in a bedroom, this one detail decides whether the room actually goes dark.
The motor head takes up real space. This is the part people do not expect. A curtain motor is not invisible. The drive head sits at one end of the track and physically occupies part of it. On the Tuya GE82TY you subtract the motor gearbox (106 mm) and the idler gearbox at the far end (71 mm) from your total span before you know how much curtain actually moves. On the DT72TV, plan on losing about 8 cm at each end.
If your track is exactly window-width, that space comes out of your curtain coverage. Going a foot wider on each side means you never have to think about it.
Rule of thumb: window width, plus 12 inches on the left, plus 12 inches on the right, equals your track length. Then check you actually have that much wall before you order anything.
2. Leave the wiring on one side — never in the centre
This one costs nothing to get right and is painful to fix later.
A curtain motor needs two wires: live and neutral. That is all. No special cable, no data line, no separate switch wire for a standard installation.
But the position is critical.
Tell your electrician to bring the point out at one end of the curtain track — left or right, you choose — not in the middle of the window.
Electricians default to the centre, because that is where a light point or an AC point normally goes. It is muscle memory. But the motor does not sit in the centre. It sits at one end of the track. If your point is in the middle, the cable has to travel sideways across the entire width of the window to reach it. That means either a visible wire running along your wall, or breaking freshly painted plaster to chase a new channel.
A few practical notes to pass on to your electrician:
- Bring the point out above the track line, high enough that the pelmet, the curtain heading or the ceiling pocket hides it completely.
- Decide left or right before the wiring is done, not after. Think about which side you walk in from and where your existing plug points are.
- This applies to centre-opening curtains too. The two panels meet in the middle, but the motor still drives from one end.
- If two windows sit side by side and both are getting motors, each one needs its own point at its own end. One shared point in between will not work neatly for either.
Pick the side, mark it on the wall in pencil, and make sure the electrician sees the mark before the plaster goes on.
3. Doing a false ceiling? Leave a 10-inch pocket
If you are running a false ceiling — and most new construction in Pakistan now does — this is where the curtain either looks built-in or looks like an afterthought.
Leave at least 10 inches of open space between the wall and the edge of the false ceiling, running the full length of the curtain.
That gap is the pocket. It is what swallows the track, the motor head and the top edge of the window, so all you see is fabric coming down from the ceiling. No visible hardware, no visible brackets, no visible motor. Just a clean line.
Ten inches is the working minimum. It leaves room for the track, the motor body, the mounting brackets, and enough clearance for the curtain heading to hang straight without rubbing.
If the pocket is too narrow, one of two things happens. Either the motor does not fit at all and you end up wall-mounting the track below the ceiling — which works fine, but it is not the look you were paying for. Or it just barely fits, the curtain rubs the ceiling edge every time it moves, and the fabric wears along the top within a year.
Talk to your false ceiling contractor about this before he starts framing. He will not think of it on his own, because curtain motors are not his trade.
What your carpenter and electrician also need to know
A few smaller things that decide whether the system runs quietly for years or starts giving trouble in month six:
One support bracket per metre of track, minimum. A long track with too few brackets will bow in the middle under the weight of the fabric. A bowed track makes the motor work harder and the curtain drag.
Use ball-bearing runners for heavy curtains. Plastic sliders are fine for a light sheer. For heavy blackout fabric or a long span they create friction the motor has to fight. Our heavy-duty Dooya DT52S is rated for 100 kg, but that rating assumes proper ball-bearing runners. On a high-friction or curved track, real capacity drops to around 60 kg.
Mount the track horizontally. Level, straight and flat against its mounting surface. A track installed on a slope puts constant side load on the motor bearings and shortens their life.
Centre-opening curtains need precise carrier spacing. For the two panels to meet cleanly with no light gap in the middle, the carriers have to be set exactly right — on our Tuya motors that means exactly 8 teeth apart on the belt. This is an installation detail rather than something you need to manage, but it is a fair question to ask whoever is installing.
What if the curtains are already stitched?
Most of the time, we can still work with it.
If the track is short, we can often extend it. If the wiring came out in the wrong place, there is usually a way to route it discreetly. If there is no ceiling pocket, a wall-mounted track with a pelmet still looks good and works perfectly.
What we cannot fix is fabric that was cut too narrow, or a false ceiling that has already been closed with no gap at all.
So if you are anywhere in the planning stage — even if you are only thinking about a motor for later — send us your window measurements now. It costs nothing and takes five minutes. Getting the track and the wiring right today keeps the option open even if you install the motor next year.
What installation costs
We keep this simple.
Professional installation is PKR 3,000. That is the full charge. No separate visit fee, no site survey charge added later. Our team handles the mounting, the levelling, the wiring connection, the limit calibration and the app or remote setup before they leave.
Every motor comes with a 1-year warranty, and we service all over Pakistan.
You can see current motor pricing on our pricing page, or compare the three motors we stock on the curtain motors page.
Frequently asked questions
How much wider than the window should the curtain be?
At least one foot past the window on each side, so a 6-foot window needs an 8-foot track. That gives the fabric somewhere to stack when the curtain is open, removes the light leak down the edges, and leaves room for the motor head at the end of the track.
Where should the electric point for a curtain motor go?
At one end of the curtain track, above the track line — never in the centre of the window. The motor needs two wires, live and neutral. Decide which side before the wiring is done, because moving it later means breaking finished plaster.
How much space do I need in a false ceiling for a curtain motor?
At least 10 inches between the wall and the edge of the false ceiling, running the full length of the curtain. That pocket hides the track, the motor head and the top of the window so only the fabric is visible.
Can a curtain motor be installed after the curtains are already made?
Usually yes, as long as the track can be extended and there is a way to reach power. Send BAJT the measurements and a photo of the window and we will tell you straight away whether it will work.
Do I need special wiring or a special switch for a curtain motor?
No. Standard live and neutral is all the motor needs. Control happens through the remote or the mobile app, not through a wall switch, so no extra switch wiring is required. See our remote control curtain motors for how that works.
What happens to an automated curtain during a power outage?
The curtains can still be drawn by hand without damaging the gearbox, and the motor keeps its limit settings in memory. When power returns it picks up where it left off with no recalibration.
Planning a curtain motor for your home? Send us your window measurements on WhatsApp and we will tell you exactly what track length, wiring position and ceiling gap you need — before anything gets cut or plastered. There is no charge for the advice.