Cleaning Venetian Blinds

Venetian blinds look beautiful, but it can be quite tricky when it comes to cleaning them. These can be made of metal or plastic or can be made out of wood. However, these can catch dust quite easily and require regular cleaning and dusting. In this article we provide you with some tips on how to clean venetian blinds.

There are a couple of steps involved before you clean those venetian blinds.

Before you start to clean the blinds, it is advisable to check for problem spots, if any. Try and wipe off any kind of stains, marks, sticky areas, etc. that these might have. For this purpose, you can use a window spray cleaner.
Also, do not forget to tie back any curtains or other soft furnishing surrounding the blinds.

Cleaning with hands

Before beginning the process, place the blinds in the shut position.
Don't try to clean the blinds with your bare hands, instead wear a soft cotton glove, or you can use a dust-attractant cloth. You can even use a kitchen paper towel as well.
Make sure that you keep the glove or the cloth that you use, dry. Gloves or cloth that are wet or oily can leave marks on the blinds. If your venetian blinds are made of synthetic polymers or metallic slats, you can use a dampened cloth but the cloth or glove must be just a little damp and not soaking wet.
Now, run the glove or the cloth over the blind. Do this starting from center and move towards the edges. This will ensure that dust is not spread from one blind to the other.
After you have cleaned them, open the blind and shut it back the opposite way. Remember, to clean the glove or the cloth regularly. This will prevent the accumulation of dust on it and will ensure that your blind remains clean when you wipe with the cloth or glove.

Cleaning with Vacuum Cleaner

Before you start, close the slats.
Before beginning the process, it is important that the vacuum cleaner is prepared in the right way. Fix the soft duster brush to the cleaner. This is very important because if you use the cleaner without attaching the soft brush, the blind will get scratched.
As you move the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner over the blind, it will rattle a bit; so make sure that you hold the blind with one hand.
Start vacuuming from the center and move towards left and right.
Keep repeating the process until the blind is cleaned on one side. Now, open and shut the slats the other way to clean the underside.

Deep Cleaning

Please keep in mind that deep cleaning is required only for those blinds which are made of metal or synthetic polymer.

Lower the blinds completely and shut the slats.
Now, carefully remove the blinds without damaging them. If there are any loose pieces, keep them separately so that you do not lose them.
Take the blinds and put it in warm water, preferably in a bath tub. Take care and fold it backwards where it is too long. Make sure that it is fully covered in the warm water.
Next step is to add some sort of cleaning solution, preferably dish detergent. Allow the blinds to soak in the detergent for atleast half an hour.
Take a soft brush and start scrubbing the blinds softly. However, if certain stains are not removable by scrubbing, you need to soak it overnight.
Take the blinds and hang over the side of the bathtub or over railings, etc. You can also keep it to dry outside, but do so only if the weather is clear, else it will gather dust from the environment.
Another very interesting way of drying the blinds is to use a hairdryer. Set on cool mode and blow over the blinds.

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