Help With Cleaning Mini-Blinds...
By twoey68
@twoey68 (13627)
United States
September 29, 2007 2:39pm CST
Do you clean your mini-blinds? How do you do it?
We have 5 mini-blinds in our apartment and I've noticed they've become icky and I want to clean them. I've thought about buying some Oxy cleaner, putting it in the tub with hot water, taking the blinds down and putting them in the tub. Would that clean them? With fall coming I want to do a fall cleaning and one of the tasks is cleaning the blinds and curtains. Curtains are no biggie as I just toss them in the laundry but I'm not sure on the blinds.
Any ideas? I don't want to try to stand there cleaning each little piece...I'd rather take them down and clean them in the tub. I'm also assuming that the top piece where the gears and such are shouldn't go in any water, right?
**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~
9 people like this
21 responses
@mistissa (1349)
• Netherlands
29 Sep 07
Once in a few months we take them down and we spray them with hot water and leave them to soak in the bathtub. I also spray some stuff which helps against grease on it. After a few hours I just rince them of and they are really very clean. You can also use ordinairy shampoo to clean them, it really works
3 people like this
@mikeb270 (54)
• United States
29 Sep 07
Use a duster on them once a month and then about every quarter or every six months (depends on how dirty they get) fill the tub up and add 1 cup of bleach soak for ten - 15 minutes take out wipe off hang then too dry and thats it.
@visitorinvasion (7709)
• United States
29 Sep 07
Here's how we do it, as a family, it's faster that way.
take them into the driveway (porch or whatever), spray the daylights out of them with BAM cleaner (purple bottle, fabulous stuff saves a lot of scrubbing). Me and the kid run a scrub brush over them real quick then the hubs hoses them off and towel dries them. By then, me & the kid are done and are available to rehang them...this also works for the horrible vertical blinds the hubs thought he would die without.
I say burn the daggone dust catchers & hang some machine-washable curtains, but that's a battle I lost...this time around anyway. =)
1 person likes this
@visitorinvasion (7709)
• United States
1 Oct 07
Thanks for best response, Twoey.
:D
1 person likes this
@TerryZ (22076)
• United States
29 Sep 07
What I use to do was take them outside lay them on the ground spray them with a good cleaner. Let them set for awhile then rinse them with the hose. Then turn them over and repeat. Then put them in the sun to dry. And thats why I hate blinds.LOL I dont have them in this house.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
29 Sep 07
I do it the hard way, wipe them with a damp cloth. I do have some spray cleaner solution, but have not tried that way.
You are right, they are rather ikky to clean.
2 people like this
@Katlady2 (9904)
• United States
30 Sep 07
I think that it depends on what type of mini blinds you have. If they are the wooden ones, putting them in water would not be good for them. But if you have the plastic/vinyl ones like I do, the best way to clean them is just like you said...put them in the tub and add something like OxyClean, or PineSol, or anything that isn't abrasive. Just let them soak for a bit and use a soft scrub brush to clean them, and they will look just like new. I've completely immersed mine in water, top piece and all, and it hasn't done any damage to them. Just try to towel dry them as well as you can before putting them back up.
1 person likes this
@ryanphil01 (4182)
• Philippines
30 Sep 07
i read your discussion and the responses made by our fellow members. i readily followedd the tips cited and brought down my blinds at the window right in front of my PC. i had them soaked with water in the tub and applied shampoo. i have to wait for 30 minutes before going back to the tub and rinse the blinds. meanwhile, i am here finishing this discussion. thanks a lot for bringing up this topic. it helped me a lot.
1 person likes this
@worldwise1 (14885)
• United States
30 Sep 07
Mine are also in desperate need of a cleaning, twoey. I have heard that the bathtub method works fine. I was discussing this with a neighbor not long ago and she told me that she just took down the old ones and replaced them with new ones. I thought that was a bit drastic, but, whatever works for a person is fine. I plan to ask someone from our maintenance department to suggest something to me.
1 person likes this
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
30 Sep 07
Argh..I hate cleaning blinds...the only way I know how to do them is to simple take them down and clean them in the tub..I find the only way to really get them clean though is to clean off each slat individually otherwise they just don't get one-hundred percent clean---a long process, which is probably why I don't do them that often
1 person likes this
@sandwedge (1339)
• Malaysia
30 Sep 07
actually you can soak the whole thing in water or jet spray them. after drying it in the sun just remember to spray the gears with WD-40 and alls well. i have been doing it for years and it turns our ok.
1 person likes this
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
1 Oct 07
That's exactly how my mom cleans hers, right in the bath tub. She gets the water going and puts some lysol cleaner in and sponges the blades clean. Mind you she has the blind pulled open which is much easier to do than having them pulled up.
1 person likes this
@rachsal4 (391)
• United States
30 Sep 07
I love the swifter duster, it makes it really easy cause it attract the dust and sticks to it. Other than that I take mine down once a month and put them in the tub with some water and a little bleach, I usually let them soak for the day and then use a towel to wipe them off. This usually gets them sparkly without all the work!
1 person likes this
@Polly1 (12645)
• United States
30 Sep 07
I have cleaned them every way you can. The easiest way for me is to leave them hang, and clean them up at the window. You are going to have to wipe each slat anyway, that is if they are real dirty. If they aren't real dirty, spray them with some cleaner and then wipe them dry. Once you get them clean, keep them clean by dusting them every couple of weeks. The swiffer dusters are a wonderful product, I love them. Also the microfiber cloths are really good too.
1 person likes this
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
29 Sep 07
Yes that would clean them but it is still better to wash them in Washing up Liquid and of course you need to wipe them or they will get all streaky and that
It is how I used to clean mine
I went back to Net Curtains though as they where to big to keep doing also I had 10 of them all big ones lol
@Riptide (2756)
• United States
29 Sep 07
Take them down and throw them in the bathtub with some bleach and water and soak them for a bit.Or oif you don't like bleach,use oxi clean, that works just as good if not better,but the bleach is the cheaper option.
After soaking,take a rag and wipe them down and then rinse them and they come out nice and clean.
I hate cleaning blinds,which is why I stick with drapes lol.
1 person likes this
@revdauphinee (5703)
• United States
29 Sep 07
I put mine in a tub of hot water with some bleach in it and leave then a while then just shake and hang to dry it works for me!
@mamasan34 (6518)
• United States
30 Sep 07
I do it the hard way apparently lol. I leave them up, take a rag and a bucket of cleaner and wipe them down that way after I take a swiffer duster and go through the blinds and get the dust off of them. I can't stand blinds. I like curtains much better, but apparently the military thinks we all love blinds. LOL
1 person likes this
