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How to Clean Blinds

February 23, 2023

How to Clean Blinds

Cleaning your blinds is a chore that people often avoid. It can seem like a huge job, to have to clean every slat, and you might feel tired just thinking about it. However, cleaning your blinds doesn’t have to be an ordeal, and if you get in the habit of giving them a light cleaning frequently, then you won’t face build up of dust and grime. This is especially important if you have pets in your house who shed, or family members with allergies or breathing troubles who are bothered by dust and dander. In this article, we will go over some tips for light cleaning and deep cleaning your blinds and window coverings. With the following tips, your blinds will look professionally cleaned.

Light cleaning

Light cleaning mostly consists of regular dust removal and spot cleaning. You can do this with a blinds duster or a vacuum cleaner with the upholstery attachment, and a damp microfiber cloth. Another smart tip is to put a cotton sock over your hand, and dip it in clean water. Use water with a bit of dish soap to clean more stubborn bits of grime that your dusting doesn’t remove. Light cleaning can be done any time you are otherwise cleaning and vacuuming the room the blinds are in. Ideally, you should at least dust your blinds every two to three weeks. And finally, it’s a good idea to clean your blinds BEFORE you vacuum or sweep the rest of the room, because you will be knocking dust onto the floor.

Vertical blinds: Hold the bottom of each slat in one hand and gently wipe from top to bottom with a damp cloth or with your vacuum or duster. Make sure you go from top to bottom so you don’t accidentally unhook the slat. Also, don’t forget to wipe both sides.

Horizontal blinds: First, turn the slats so they are closed. However, if the slats overlap with the row below, don’t close the blinds all the way. Now you can dust or vacuum the slats, starting at the top and working your way to the bottom. When you are done one side, turn the slats the other way and clean the other side.

Wooden shades and shutters: You can use the techniques above. Also, you might want to wipe wooden window treatments with furniture polish when you are done cleaning them.

Fabric shades: Fabric shades such as Roman blinds can be vacuumed with a brush attachment. Any spots and stains can be spot-treated with a bit of dish-soap or laundry soap in water. Dab the mixture onto the stain with a damp cloth, and then wipe away with clean water. If the stain can’t be removed this way or you are left with a water mark, you may want to take the blind down and take it to a dry cleaner for a full cleaning.

Drapes: Like fabric shades, you can vacuum your drapes. Again, you should be careful with spot treatments, as you can leave water marks on luxury fabrics. For deeper cleaning, you may want to get them professionally cleaned.

Deeper cleaning

There are a number of reasons that you might need to deep clean your blinds. For example, the blinds you have up in your kitchen may get coated in a stubborn layer of dust and kitchen grease, which is very difficult to fully remove with just a cloth. Another possible problem is windows that face onto busy roads. The window-facing side of your blind can get covered in pollution particles, which again is hard to remove completely with just a cloth. Or you may have an accident and spill a beverage on your Venetian blinds!

Whatever the case, it can be very tedious to scrub every single slat one by one. However, what’s the alternative? We recommend soaking your blinds in your bathtub! Try the following process:

1. Remove the blinds or the slats from their mounting and set them aside carefully
2. Fill your tub with warm water, and add a cup of baking soda and a few squirts of dish soap.
3. Place the blinds gently in the bath (be careful not to tangle cords) and let them soak for about an hour
4. Drain the water and rinse the blinds with clean water. If there are any stubborn dirt spots left, you can wipe them with a cloth and the grime should come off easily.
5. Let the blinds dry before you hang them back up again. A good idea is to blot extra water with an old towel and then lay them flat on a clean sheet until dry.

White vinyl blinds can get yellowed or discoloured from UV rays, and a simple soak isn’t likely to solve this problem. That doesn’t mean you are necessarily stuck with dingy blinds, though. Try filling your tub with cold water and adding three cups of liquid bleach. Then, place the blinds and soak them for a maximum of ten minutes. Bleach can weaken fibres so you want to be careful not to soak the blinds for too long, or the cords may be damaged. Drain the bleach out and rinse the blinds with cold, clean water and dry as above. With any luck, your blinds will be brighter and whiter.

Finally, you may wonder what special tips and tricks professional cleaners use. Truthfully, they mostly use the exact same methods and tools we talk about above. A professional cleaner’s secret weapon is usually a good spray cleaner and a stash of microfiber cloths, not a special cleaning machine or secret technique. We can’t stress enough that dusting your blinds frequently means you’ll have to deep clean less, and it makes the job easier over all. Also, your blinds will look better and last longer. And good window treatments are an investment that you make in your home, so treat them well.