To maintain the looks of your wood blinds, they’ll need to be cleaned frequently. So, how does one clean wooden blinds easily? This is an important question we’ll be finding answers to.
Wooden blinds, popularly known as Venetian blinds are designed from seasoned wood. This means they can withstand all weather conditions. They come in beautiful designs that create the right atmosphere for homes.
The maintenance aspect of these blinds is critical. Because wood blinds are the same as Venetian blinds, we’ll be using both names interchangeably.
Steps To Wooden Blind Cleaning At Home
When cleaning Venetian blinds, both sides of the slats must be cleaned. There are specially designed dusters for this type of cleaning. A little online research will turn up tons of results. You can also use what’s available to you such as a microfiber cloth or feather duster.
To clean all sides, simply flip the blinds so the other side faces you. This is after you’ve cleaned one side already.
Is it Safe to Use Water on Wooden Blinds?
It’s absolutely safe!
Wooden blinds are designed to withstand water without any form of damage. As such, you can easily use damp cloths or dusters to clean off dirt. Over time, Venetian blinds have gunk and dirt buildup.
The best way to remove this is by using warm soapy water. Your cleaning duster or cloth can be dipped in such water and squeezed before wiping the slats. Having cleaned the slats, they’ll need to be dried. A clean and dry cloth should be kept aside for drying purposes.
It’s important that during this cleaning process, you avoid the use of abrasive cleaners. Venetian blinds can easily get damaged with the slightest abrasion.
Although damp cloths can be used to wipe wooden blinds, it’s important to avoid submerging such blinds in water. Excessive and continued contact with water may cause problems.
Exceptional Situations
Wood blind cleaning is quite a straightforward process that requires following specific actions as those outlined above. However, certain cleaning situations require a different approach.
These may include greasy blinds such as those in kitchens or germ-laden blinds like those in toilets.
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Cleaning Greasy Blinds In Your Kitchen
Wooden blinds installed on kitchen windows are prone to becoming greasy with time. This situation becomes worse when left for long periods without cleaning.
To get rid of settled oil and grease on such blinds, several measures will need to be taken.
Warm water will be needed for this task. Some soap or cleaning detergent should be added to the warm water and a cloth immersed to attain dampness. Each slat should be wiped clean of any grease.
You should note that this process may take longer due to the accumulation of dirt on such surfaces.
Having wiped cleaned the grease successfully; the next step is to have it dried. As always, a dry cloth should be used for this task.
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Cleaning Germ-Laden Wooden Blinds
Areas such as bathrooms or toilets with wooden blinds will attract lots of germs. It isn’t enough to clean such blinds.
How To Clean Wooden Blinds With Vinegar
Further disinfection is necessary. To disinfect your blinds, you’ll need to mix equal parts of water and vinegar. This creates a germ-killing home remedy that eliminates all such germs.
To ensure that it achieves maximum effect, all slat sides should be wiped clean using a damp cloth dipped in the disinfectant solution. As with normal cleaning, a dry and clean absorbent cloth should be used to wipe treated surfaces or slats.
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Quickest Way to Clean Wooden Blinds
One of the best and quickest ways to clean a wooden blind is by shutting the slats close. Your duster or soft cloth should be used to wipe the surface of each slat.
This should eliminate any settled dust or dirt within a few minutes.
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Cleaning Discolored Wooden Blinds
One of the things you’d notice with wooden blinds is that discolorations might occur. This doesn’t happen often.
However, when it does, it’s best to take appropriate steps to fix the problem. Fixing the problem depends on the causes of such discolorations.
Discolorations on wooden blinds might be due to multiple reasons. One of such reasons might be as a result of grease deposits such as those found in kitchen areas. The other may be caused by UV rays from the sun.
So, which is easy to resolve? This is a no-brainer! The former is easier to fix.
All you need to clean a Venetian blind discoloration due to grease is to follow the steps as earlier stated. Such a cleaning procedure should serve just fine. Discolorations due to UV rays on the other hand are much difficult to get rid of.
Continued exposure to UV rays eventually damage the protective covering or coating on Venetian blinds. When such a coating is damaged, it results in discolorations.
Now, cleaning alone won’t fix the problem. You’ll need to either change the blind or have the discolored section(s) repainted (if a perfect job can be done).
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Cleaning Frequency For Wooden Blinds
Cleaning frequency is an important consideration to make.
Your wooden blinds will need to always look clean. As such, consider adopting a fortnightly approach to cleaning. This will include dusting and wiping of slats.
An advantage you get with fortnightly cleaning is a reduction in grease buildup. Under such circumstances, your wooden blinds are well maintained and always look new.
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Cleaning Off Excess Dust
Excess dust can accumulate on wooden blinds.
In such cases, it’s best to use a vacuum cleaner to suck them off. The aim is to reduce the amount of dust on the surface before applying any secondary cleaning methods.
Basic Supplies For Cleaning Wooden Blinds
The cleaning supplies needed for cleaning a window and its blinds aren’t much.
These are pretty much basic supplies that include baking soda, warm water, microfiber cloths, dishwashing liquid, and a vacuum cleaner with soft brush attachments.
With these supplies, and following the above guidelines, you get the best possible results.
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Our discussion to this point has been centered on how to clean wooden blinds fast. With the above information, you should be able to get your wooden blinds clean and shiny.