Edit ArticleHow to Clean Mini Blinds Blinds of all kinds gather dust just like the rest of the inside of the house; however, they are sometimes forgotten due to their perceived trickiness. Moreover, dust often hardens on blinds due to their exposure to the sun. Read on to see how a few simple steps can get your blinds clean, thus avoiding the extra cost of sending them to the cleaners. Turn the blinds so that the convex side faces the room. Brush away the loose dust towards the floor. Put on some rubber gloves, and open the blind half-way. Wipe off the stuck dust with some folded dusting wipes. Lower the blind and damp dust its lower half. Turn the blinds so that the concave side faces the room, and start the steps from the beginning.If the blinds are not clean enough from just dusting, the best solution is to soak them. Consider sending your blinds to the cleaners, or do it yourself: If your blinds are too long for the bathtub, obtain some rain gutter.

Visit your hardware store. Obtain a length of rain gutter at least as long as your longest blinds. Also get two end caps and whatever other hardware is needed to attach them. Use the end caps to close up both ends of the rain gutter. You now have a mini-blind shaped cleaning tank. Take the blinds and the gutter outside. A clean driveway is a good place to do this. Fill the length of gutter with water and a bit of cleaner, such as dish soap (which has the advantage of rinsing clean) or Simple Green. Don't overdo it on the cleaner; just use enough for some suds. Soak the blinds in the solution for a few minutes. Give the soap long enough to do the job. Spread the blinds on a large, flat surface, such as a clean driveway or patio, and wipe gently with a wet cloth to loosen any remaining soil. Rinse with a garden hose.Allow the blinds to dry in the sun. The dry cleaning takes about half an hour. Soaking takes longer, but you can do several blinds at once. If you're taking down many similar blinds at once, it's a good idea to label them so that you know which windows and which rooms they came from.

You can write directly on them with a permanent marker on the side that goes toward the window frame. It should be invisible when the blinds are in place.best budget vacuum cleaner 2014 uk The convex side of the slats collects the most dust; american air duct cleaning complaintsmake sure to give it special attention.air duct cleaning cables Consider sending your blinds to the cleaners. best way to clean oak trimThey have a great soaking tank big enough for mini blinds.texas air duct cleaning service

Don't soak wooden or fabric-covered blinds. If they're plastic or metal, though, use a compatible cleaning solution and go right ahead.best cleaner for faux leather sofa Don’t get cleaning solution in your eyes. A Thorough Spring Cleaning Checklist I remember when I was a child being fascinated by a funny little dusting tool my mother had for her mini blinds.  It had little fluffy fingers and you would run the fingers along the slats of the mini blinds to dust them.  I also remember wondering what exactly the point was, weren't we just tossing the dust back up into the air? Every once in a while I will take a damp cloth and wipe down my mini blinds to catch some of the dust, and then remember oh yeah...that doesn't work.  The cloth just pushes the dust around so that it clumps and looks even worse than it did before! Here is how to clean you mini blinds so that they are actually clean!

1.  Take them down and place them in your bathtub. 2.  Run warm water and add a couple big squeezes of dish soap and about a cup of vinegar. 3.  Fill just until the water level comes up over the mini blinds. 4. Give blinds a swish around the sudsy tub and then let soak for one hour. 5. Come back, swish some more, and drain tub.  Rinse with clean water to remove soap residue. 6. Give the blinds a gentle shake to remove some water, hang them back up and let them dry. 7. Wasn't that easy?Cleaning An Old House25 CleaningHousework CleaningCleaning ThingsHomemade CleaningCleaning IdeasOrganizing IdeasCleaning Blinds With VinegarCleaning Mini BlindsForwardClean Mini Blinds With Vinegar In a bowl mix together equal parts of water and vinegar. Slip an old sock on your hand. Dip the sock in the vinegar/water mixture and run it over the blinds. Can use a second old sock to wipe away the dampness after each slat in the blind has been cleaned .The best thing about living alone (well, along with my lady friend and my cats) and away from my childhood home is the freedom.

I’m not talking about the freedom to stay up late, eat whatever I want, or watch whatever I want. I’m talking about the freedom of nudity. The freedom to walk bare-assed around my apartment without a care in the world about who sees me. It’s a beautiful thing. And no, I’m not calling my ass beautiful. In fact, I’ve starred (without costume) in such straight-to-DVD feature films as Bigfoot in the Burbsand When Animals Attack: Grizzly Country. You might be wondering what all of this has to do with cleaning blinds. Well, I’ll tell you. With great ass hair comes great responsibility. Every apartment/house I’ve lived in since I left my parents home has come equipped with window blinds. And for the neighbors of someone whose bare butt looks like the floor of a barber shop, this has been a blessing. The only problem is, every time I move I have to go on a blind cleaning spree. They are always dusty, greasy, and disgusting to the point of not wanting to touch them. So, being both lazy and neurotic, I’ve figured out the fastest and the best way to clean blinds.

The middle section of this article will cover cleaning mini blinds, cleaning venetian blinds, cleaning vertical blinds, and cleaning wood blinds. The bottom section contains several more tips to help you clean blinds. How to Clean Window Blinds For future reference, the most important thing you can do when it comes to cleaning window blinds is to keep up on them. Your time is valuable and if you allow your window blinds to get really nasty between cleanings, it’s gonna take you far longer to clean them than if you had just spent those few extra minutes on prevention. Once a week, go over the blinds with a duster or a soft rag. Close them all the way and dust from top to bottom. Then, close them all the way in the other direction and do the same.Mini blinds are far and away the most common type of blinds. But we all know that cheap usually means dirty. Start by dusting them off with either the method I mentioned above or with a vacuum hose and a brush attachment. Next, fill a bucket with about a gallon of lukewarm water and two tablespoons of mild dish detergent such as Seventh Generation.

You will also need a second bucket filled with lukewarm water for rinsing. Set an old dry towel on the window sill, one on the floor, and get to work. Take a soft rag, dip it in the soapy water, start at the top and gently wipe down the front and back of each slat. After you go over the slats with the soapy water, do it again with the fresh water to get the soap off; soap buildup can cause your blinds to yellow over time. This method is good for aluminum blinds and plastic blinds. Now you know how to clean mini blinds.People get quite concerned about learning how to clean venetian blinds properly. These window blinds have a tendency to cost considerably more than good ol’ fashioned mini blinds. But really, the only differences between the two are slat size and material quality. The method for cleaning venetian blinds is pretty much identical to that of cleaning mini blinds. The only different advice I can offer is to be extra careful with them. If made of plastic or aluminum they can bend, dent, and/or scratch.

And remember, since you probably want to keep these blinds around for a good long while, to do a good job with the rinse cloth. You don’t want your blinds to yellow.Because this type of window blind is often found in front of large glass doors that lead to the outside, they have a propensity for getting dirty. For this reason it is important to know how to clean vertical blinds. The method for cleaning vertical blinds is quite similar to the two-bucket method described above for cleaning mini blinds. Do each slat individually, start from the top and work your way down, and lay down some towels to catch the drips. If you are very brave, you can unclip the slats and lay them out one at a time on towels to clean them. However, because while doing this I have broken the plastic clips that hold them in place and have been unable to replace them, I do not recommend it.Knowing how to clean wood blinds is extremely important if you want to keep them looking nice. And so I tell you this: don’t use water.

Water can seep into the wood, discolor it, warp it, and make your blinds look like garbage. When cleaning wood blinds, start by going over them lightly with the vacuum and a brush attachment. Do this with them closed all the way in both directions and do it lightly so as not to scratch the wood. Next, set an old sheet on the floor to catch dirt, grab a small soft paint brush and brush off all the slats top and bottom. After they’re brushed, close the blinds one way, wipe them down with a soft towel, close the blinds the other way, and do the same. Clean extra dirty window blinds. If you need to clean window blinds that are simply too disgusting to clean in place, then I’ve got a couple ideas for you. Use these ideas only for aluminum and plastic mini blinds and aluminum and plastic venetian blinds. First, fill your bathtub with warm (not hot; it can warp plastic) water and gentle dish soap. Next, remove your blinds from their frames and lower them gently into the tub. Let them soak for a good fifteen minutes, drain the water, wipe every slat down (front and back) with a soft sponge or rag, rinse the entire thing off either by running the shower or dumping water on them with a pitcher, and hang them over the shower curtain rod to dry.

Another popular method is to simply take them outside, lay them down on a tarp, spray them down with some all purpose cleaner, wipe down both sides, and spray the heck out of ’em with a hose. Further Tips for Cleaning Blinds Always be gentle when cleaning blinds. They bend, dent, and scratch easily. Blinds should be deep cleaned once every six months. Every time you finish cleaning blinds, regardless of the type, wipe them down with a fabric softener sheet to help them repel dust. Use a vacuum cleaner with brush attachment for cleaning woven wood blinds. When it comes time for blinds cleaning, you may wish to just do one set a week instead of cleaning blind after blind all on the same day. To clean the rope or drawstring on your blinds, pull them all the way up so you can get to as much of the rope as possible, lather them with shaving cream and rinse it off by letting the entire string dangle into a cup of fresh water. You may need to use two or more cups to get it all off.

For vertical blinds that are covered in cloth, take them down one at a time, lay them on some towels, mix together some mild dish soap and water, and scrub them with a baby toothbrush dipped in the cleaning solution. Rinse them by going over them with a cool wet rag dipped in fresh water. Spot clean plastic and aluminum blinds with a soft damp rag or sponge. For a quick dusting, hit your blinds with a can of compressed air. Clean Window Blinds NaturallyThese handy little doodads are available from a number of online retailers as well as janitorial supply stores. They make some designed for cleaning venetian blinds, some for cleaning vertical blinds, and even some for cleaning mini blinds. You can find some like the Superior Performance Blind Cleaner Brush on Amazon.If you’re using the bucket method that I went over in the main section of this page, use Seventh Generation Dish Soap. It’s 100% natural and works great. If you intend to use the tarp method outside, Give the Seventh Generation All Purpose Cleaner a go.