How to Clean Blinds Without Wrecking Them

Start with a dry clean along the slats

Dust them regularly and the wet clean comes round less often. Tilt the slats closed, wipe along each slat with a clean, dry cloth and work gently around the ladder strings so nothing pulls out of line. Tilt them the other way and repeat on the reverse face.

Capetown Blinds supplies and fits aluminium blinds and Venetian blinds across Cape Town. The page on blind repairs covers repairs. Fabric and slat samples are brought to your home, so you can compare them there. Request a quote.

A vacuum with a soft brush attachment speeds up cleaning on a wide blind. Keep the suction low so it does not bend a slat edge, and start at the top with the blind down.

Cleaning blinds you can soak, and the ones you cannot

Aluminium and faux-wood blinds are usually the washable ones, and a tub is the easiest place for cleaning them. Check the manufacturer's care instructions first, because some headrails and controls must not go in water, and keep the headrail and mechanism dry. Take the blind down, lay a towel or an old mat in the tub to protect it, and run enough water to cover the slat stack while the headrail stays out of the water.

What to mix into the water: soap or vinegar

• Use warm water rather than hot, with a mild dish soap such as dishwashing liquid. Faux-wood slats can warp or bend in water that is too hot.
• Where the care instructions permit soaking, immerse them in warm water and leave greasy kitchen blinds to soak for a while, then clean each slat end to end with a sponge.
• Mix white vinegar into the cleaning water instead of soap for a stubborn mark on aluminium.
• Rinse the blind with clean water and hang it over a shower rail or lay it flat to dry. Wipe off any splashes on the headrail and cords before you rehang it.

A blind too long for the tub can be laid out on an old sheet outside and cleaned with a bucket of diluted detergent and a sponge. Short blinds and loose PVC vertical vanes fit in a large basin instead.

Real wood stays out of the water

Water can warp and bend real wood slats, so do not soak them. Dust them with a dry cloth or the brush attachment, and lift a sticky mark with a cloth wrung out until it is barely moist, then dry the slat straight away.

A cleaning product made for timber blinds is the other option for a mark that will not shift. Test it on the back of one slat before you clean the whole blind.

Spot cleaning fabric roller blinds

Clean roller blinds where they hang; they need no take-down for cleaning. Roll the blind fully down and run the brush attachment from top to bottom to lift the dust.

For a mark, add a little mild detergent to lukewarm water, wring a sponge out well and dab the mark from the outside in, so the wet edge does not dry as a ring. Do not scrub, because hard rubbing damages the coating on the back of a blockout roller.

Keep the blind down until it is fully dry before rolling it up.

Kitchen grease, sea salt and the order to work in

Work through the house in a set order so nothing is missed. Begin with the kitchen roller blinds and the blinds over the sink, where grease mixes with the dust, then move on to the bedrooms and living areas, where a dry cloth often does all the cleaning.

Near the sea, a salt film builds up on the slat faces and the headrail. Wipe it off with a clean cloth and fresh water, then dry the blind. Do not scrub aluminium with an abrasive pad, because it can damage the surface.

Curtains in the same room go to the wash or the dry cleaner, so plan the cleaning of the blinds while the curtains are down and do the window in one go. For soft shades other than roller blinds, follow the manufacturer's cleaning instructions, because some fabrics must not be dabbed with detergent and water.

Clean vertical vanes, roller fabric and slats on a routine

Unlike curtains, which come down for a wash, blinds stay on the window for almost all of their cleaning. Wipe the window frame and sill while a blind is down, since the dust on them ends up back on the blind. Kitchen blinds need more cleaning than bedroom blinds because grease settles on them with the dust.

Once the blind is dry, clip the headrail back into its brackets. The guide on how to hang blinds covers the brackets when one has worked loose.