How to wash vertical blinds
Vertical blinds are a modern, practical and quite attractive way to decorate windows, both in the office and at home. But no matter how much they please the eye with their appearance, sooner or later the question will arise of how to wash vertical blinds in an automatic washing machine. And you may need to additionally find a good way to clean the blinds slats from difficult stains. This is where the information offered in our article comes in handy.
Is it possible to machine wash this type of blinds?
Vertical fabric blinds cannot be washed in all cases, especially in a washing machine. Before putting the blind slats into the washing machine, pay attention to what fabric they are made of. If we are talking about expensive blinds made of natural fabrics, such as jacquard and cotton, then experts do not recommend getting them wet at all, that is, they cannot be washed in any way, either by hand or in a machine.
If you neglect this recommendation and wash natural slats in a machine, this will lead to significant shrinkage and, possibly, loss of color. For blinds made of natural fabrics, only dry and wet cleaning is available; we will talk more about cleaning a little later.
Blinds made of polyester and other synthetic fabrics, as well as fabric mixtures, can be washed, including in automatic mode. However, this cannot be done haphazardly. In any case, washing should be very gentle, following certain rules and recommendations. Otherwise, there is a risk of denting the delicate lamellas and thus ruining the entire structure.
Note! Before washing your blinds, read information about how the slats of a particular manufacturer react to it. To do this, you can study consumer reviews on the Internet, as well as instructions from the blinds manufacturer.
Washing blinds in the machine: step-by-step instructions
If you decide to wash your blinds in an automatic washing machine, you must first prepare everything, first of all, the washing machine itself. So, stage one is preparing the washing machine.
- Remove dirty laundry from the drum.
- Remove the powder cuvette and rinse it thoroughly with warm water to remove any remaining detergent.
- Start the rinse cycle with the drum empty (idle). This will remove any remaining powder and dyes from synthetic items that have been washed previously.
Once the machine is prepared, you can move on to the next step - choosing a detergent. It would seem, why not pour regular machine powder and wash the vertical blinds? Ordinary powder can react with the material of the blinds slats in a completely unpredictable way, and most importantly, it can leave unsightly white stains on them, which are very difficult to remove.
The best option for any type of fabric slats is a liquid detergent for delicate washing of items in a washing machine. Moreover, if you intend to wash light blinds, then you need to choose a liquid product for light ones, and if you wash dark blinds, then you need to choose a product for dark ones. Works well for synthetic blinds, for example, liquid detergent for woolen items.
At the third stage, you can start loading the blinds slats into the drum of the washing machine. But first they need to be removed correctly.Experts recommend finding instructions for installing/dismantling vertical blinds, and removing all slats very carefully, without jams. So, we do the following:
- remove the slats;
- we twist the lamellas one at a time into loose rolls (you can fasten them with threads);
- place the twisted slats in a washing bag;
- put the bag in the drum and pour a few caps of liquid into the powder cuvette of the washing machine.
At the fourth stage, you should select a washing program. The washing programs illustrated in the diagram are preferable.
If your model of automatic washing machine does not support any of the specified washing programs, you can set the program manually with the following parameters:
- temperature – no higher than 30 0WITH.
- speed – no higher than 500 rpm.
- Additional functions such as bubble wash “ecobubble” – disable.
- Rinse, spin, dry - turn off.
You can read more about the washing programs of various washing machines in the article Washing machine functions. At the fifth stage, the washing is completed, but the washed slats still need to be dried properly. While drying, the blind slats need to be unrolled and hung in a vertical position on a rope, hooking their ends with clothespins.
It is best to hang the slats outdoors in a shaded place or in an apartment above the bathroom so that excess water drains from them. Blinds should not be ironed or dried in a horizontal position, much less in a curled position. Experts recommend hanging the slats back on the window while still damp, and attach small weights to their lower ends. Forced drying of blinds using any heating elements is strictly prohibited.
Important! The use of weights on blind slats is almost always justified.It is better to let vertical blinds stretch evenly than to shrink unevenly.
Is it possible to do without washing?
In most cases, vertical blinds cannot be washed in a washing machine, and when there is no choice, you have to resort to dry or wet cleaning methods. The best way to clean blinds is from dry cleaners, so if you decide to update slats made from expensive materials, then it’s better not to take risks and entrust the work to professionals. If you decide to take everything into your own hands, then read the following recommendations from experts.
- If you decide to clean fabric slats with a textured structure, do not use a brush.
- To remove dust from the slats, mix ammonia in half with water, apply this mixture to a soft cloth and wipe all the slats on both sides one by one.
- If you add a little soda to a mixture of water and ammonia, then this mixture can remove ink stains from the slats.
- To remove stains from spilled tea from the slats, you need to dilute a teaspoon of citric acid in a glass of water and carefully clean the stained area with this mixture.
- A nail polish remover that does not contain acetone will help remove marks from a marker or felt-tip pen. Apply the liquid to a cloth and wipe away any dirt.
Note! Currently, cleaning companies provide ultrasonic cleaning services for blinds. This type of cleaning is very effective against dust, but is ineffective against stubborn dirt.
To summarize, we note that when deciding how to wash vertical blinds in an automatic washing machine, you must first figure out whether your type of blinds can be washed. If possible, you need to properly prepare the washing machine, select detergents and programs.Within the framework of the article, we tried to cover these processes in as much detail as possible.
Interesting:
4 reader comments
Will they remain unrinsed?
Another site says that after washing the slats, one at a time, you need to rinse them by hand.
And if, nevertheless, they crumpled, then the lamellas??
After washing in the washing machine, I ironed the slats with an iron and nothing happened to them