How to clean faux wood blinds the easy way

Faux wood blinds are arguably the best all-round blinds type in terms of cost, versatility, good looks, and ease of care.

This latter is actually why I’ve brought you here today – to explain how to clean faux wood blinds the easy way, depending on what sort of state they’re in. This generally means cleaning them without taking them down, but that is largely a matter of personal choice.

I’ll also cover how to clean faux wood blinds strings (the controls you use to operate them with) as these are often the first part to get grimy and discoloured, and it’s not always obvious how to sort this out without replacing the strings entirely.

Finally, faux wood blinds with decorative ladder tapes need a bit more caution with the water than those with cords, and so I will also provide some info on how to clean faux wood blinds with tapes as opposed to cords too.

Contents:

• 1. Why (and how) to clean faux wood blinds while hanging (i.e., without taking them down)
• 2. How to clean faux wood blinds the easy way (when they’re just a bit dusty)
• 3. How to clean faux wood blinds that are dirty or stained
• 4. How to clean faux wood blinds with tapes
• 5. How to clean faux wood blinds strings

Why (and how) to clean faux wood blinds while hanging (without taking them down)

Cleaning faux wood blinds while they’re hanging up is invariably less hassle and far less time consuming than dismantling the whole array, cleaning it, and reassembling everything again afterwards; and is appropriate for all but the most nightmare-worthy of blinds cleaning scenarios.

That said, if your blind literally scares you enough to make you wonder if it’s working up some kind of condition that shall be known in future years as “Covid 20,” you can take it down and lay it out on dust sheets to clean, or even read up on how to clean faux wood blinds in the bathtub if nothing but a good soak (them, not you) will do.

Moving on then, let’s look at cleaning dusty faux wood blinds first, before looking at how to clean faux wood blinds that are dirty or stained but not quite to the extent that they need to be taken down.

How to clean faux wood blinds the easy way (when they’re just a bit dusty)

If you want to know how to clean faux wood blinds while hanging (which is generally appropriate for most situations but may fail you if your blind is very dirty, grimy, or yellowed) read on to find out why (and how) to clean faux wood blinds without taking them down.

If you do a bit of cursory cleaning every other week or so and dusting is an integral part of that, you can just give your blinds a bit of attention with a microfibre or otherwise antistatic duster when you do the rest of the room and call it good!

Close the slats to do this, run the duster over the whole thing working from top to bottom, and then open the blind and rotate the slats fully the other way before repeating, going this time from bottom to top.

Also, (credit Mrs. Hinch) cleaning blinds of this type with a tumble dryer sheet (or alternatively, running a tumble dryer sheet over the slats when you’ve already dusted them) can further help to reduce static build-up and slow down the rate at which your newly-stateless dust finds its way home.

One thing to note is that dusting alone may not always be up to the challenge for faux wood blinds in kitchens (due to the potential for cooking oils and so on to stick to the blind) or in some instances, bathrooms (due to the moisture in the air).

The same applies if your blind in any room has got dirty or stained by any other means, which is more likely to happen if you have children; for simultaneously obvious but also commonly inexplicable-by-any-of-the-parties-involved types of reasons.

How to clean faux wood blinds that are dirty or stained

If you need to know how to clean faux woof blinds that are dirty or stained, first up you need to make a choice between taking them down or once more, leaving them up. Many people assume you’ll clean them more effectively if you take them down, but generally you can clean even dirty or stained blinds just as well when they’re hanging than by taking them down.

Here’s how to clean faux wood blinds that are dirty or stained without taking them down:

• Dust the blind off to remove any loose dirt.
• Prepare a bowl or half-full bucket of lukewarm water diluted with washing up liquid or something similar, and place a towel on the windowsill itself before you begin to catch drips and splashes. Use a cloth or sponge with this that is well wrung out rather than dripping wet; while faux wood blinds are waterproof, all you’ll do if you get them unduly soaked while hanging is make a mess and lengthen your clean-up operation exponentially!
• Lower and fully close the blind.
• Starting from the top of the blind, wipe each slat over with the sponge or cloth, finishing at the bottom of the blind.
• When you’ve finished that, rotate the slats all the way around to the other direction and repeat the cleaning, only going from bottom to top this time.
• You can scrub or rub any stains or stubborn marks, but don’t go mad here nor use anything abrasive or overly harsh (like a wire brush) as you might manage to ruin the finish of the blind if you do.
• When you’re done, wipe the blind off with a dry cloth or towel, and ideally, leave the window behind it open for a while to allow it to air out.

Another option to cleaning your blinds in situ is taking it off its brackets and laying it on a dust sheet or something similar instead, if you simply find this easier to manage.

How to clean faux wood blinds with tapes

There’s nothing markedly different about how to clean faux wood blinds with tapes versus cords, other than that you’ll want to avoid getting the tapes themselves too wet as the fabric will absorb water.

Ladder tapes can usually just be dusted off with the rest of the blind, or even cleaned with the relevant attachment of a vacuum cleaner.

You can spot-clean faux wood blind ladder tapes too, using a mild hand wash detergent solution (suitable for delicate fabrics) or a fabric cleaning wipe, but use caution to ensure that whatever you’re using doesn’t discolour or leave watermarks on the fabric itself. Test this out on a small, discreet area of the tape before you go at it in earnest.

You can even clean faux wood blind ladder tapes with a clean, white cloth dipped in distilled water if they’re not stained or grimy.

As you wipe or dust the tapes, support the reverse side of them with your hand to avoid pulling the fabric out of shape.

How to clean faux wood blinds strings

Finally, the strings of a faux wood blind are generally the first thing to get grimy and grubby, simply because of frequent handling; more noticeable of course with white strings, and quite galling if this alone is ruining the appearance of your blind!

Here’s how to clean faux wood blinds strings and restore their colour.

To clean faux wood blinds strings you can usually work grime and dirt out by simply using a damp cloth with a detergent solution in it, and wiping it over a few times. Generally it is only the very bottom of the string that will be noticeably dirty, as this is where we usually put our mucky mitts when working the blind!

You can even clean faux wood blind strings with shaving foam; spray some onto a clean, white cloth and rub it over the grubby parts of the string to loosen dirt and remove it all in one go; without the need to rinse it off afterwards. One caution here, check the colour of the shaving foam first; some that are coloured other than white (commonly these are women’s shaving foams, often sold in purples, blues and so on) might mark the string before it foams and lead to discolouration.

Finally, another way to restore the colour of faux wood blind strings and/or mask grime that won’t come out is to source a can of liquid shoe polish (no seriously) in the same colour as the string or near enough. Then, use a drop of this on a clean cloth to wipe over the string to recolour it, and just leave it to dry and you’re good to go.