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Hi it's me again! I'm going to change my name to "foreclosureowner" lol!
Today's question is....
What is the best way to clean wood blinds? This house was built in 2006 and I think that either the house was vacant most of the time, or the people who lived there (and they did live in it for a time as there are soap bits and bobby pins and dog hair all over lol more on that later!) never EVER cleaned them.
They are dark wood, really, really dusty and dirty, and yesterday I was just staring at them thinking "hmmm...that's going to be a chore".
If you can remove them, here is what I have done . . .
Clean them in the bathtub. What I do is line the tub w/ white towels to make sure I don't scratch anything. Fill tub with about 6-8 inches of warm water. Take the blinds down - leave them fully extended. Set them down in tub to immerse w/ water. If you have a spray attachment, this would greatly help. If not, just use a sponge or cloth to wash off each rung. I let them sit for a while so they get thoroughly wet.
You can spray w/ windex, 409, or anything you like to use (but not something w/ Clorox, as you said they are wooden - and the Clorox would take the color out of the dark strings). Just wash them off and then give them a good rinse in clear water. I wash several at a time, then rinse all of them at once.
Ideally, you will have a place to take them out on a deck or porch and spread them out to dry. However, if you don't have that, just lay them out on the bathroom floor w/ towels. You can re-hang them b/f they are completely dry, as long as you wipe the rungs off.
Someone may have an easier method, but that is how I have done it in the past.
DO NOT put wood blinds in the water or use 409 on them. I cleaned my wood blind and the ones that were on display at the store I worked at with Pledge or another kind of wood cleaner like Old English. Putting them in water will ruin them.
Quote:
Wood Blinds:
Painted Finish: Clean with a soft, damp cloth.
Stained Finish: Treat with a lemon oil or other wood preservative.
Bali Blinds (http://www.baliblinds.com/customer_support/Cleaning_Instructions.jsp - broken link)
To clean wood blinds takes patience more than anything else. I have them in my living and 2 bedrooms, 5 total. Here my approach-
The best way I clean (dust) them is I take a well wrung out wash cloth,using hot water, and stand there and wipe each and every slat, going from end to end. Working from top to bottom. Rinsing and re wringing the wash cloth every so often.
Time consuming yes, but they are clean then...until they get too dusty again.
This works well for me. Tried using the vac brush tool but that was more a pita.
Good luck!
DO NOT put wood blinds in the water or use 409 on them. I cleaned my wood blind and the ones that were on display at the store I worked at with Pledge or another kind of wood cleaner like Old English. Putting them in water will ruin them.
Location: When things get hot they expand. Im not fat. Im hot.
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ALWAYS dust first. Water and dirt make mud.
Seriously. If you add water or anything to dust it makes a smeary mess. If you dust really well first the blinds will clean up a lot easier.
I close the blinds so theyre flat and then I dust from the top down with a microfiber cloth. Then I reverse them and make them flat again and get behind them and dust again.
Sometimes all they need is dusting. You would be surprised how much better they will look with a really good dusting. If thats not enuf I do the damp rag bit. And then use my fav Pledge with orange oil. If theyre not too bad sometimes you can just use the Pledge rag alone. Dont grease them down tho or youll attract dust.
Wipe every single blade of the blind one by one with a damp towel- murphey's oil soap is great... if it is caked on and grimy- try a magic eraser to remove the grime... good luck
Thanks everyone! These blinds are filty! REALLY filthy. A dusting just won't do it. The home we just moved into was built in 2006 but you'd think the dust had been building since 1996!
Maybe I can have hubby take them down and I can start working on one at a time. The whole house has them...that's a lot of blinds! lol I really want plantation shutters, but I'll keep the wood for a bit, so they must be cleaned.
I use baby wipes for anything that is covered with caked on dust.....haha
It keeps the dry dusty part from flying all over the room.
It is also damp enough to wash off the built up stuff too.
It's gentle enough to not damage anything. (after all they are made for baby's bottoms!)
It's disposable.
Once they've been cleaned really well then the swiffer duster type things work very well, or I just use the vacuum extension.
I give my kids old socks and they put them on their hands like puppets and rub each slat. Sometimes I close them, side closest facing down and just take a slightly damp cloth from the top to the bottom and side to side. They don't do an pristine job but either do I!
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