How to clean faux wood blinds in the bathtub

Faux wood blinds are waterproof, which means there are a lot of different options for cleaning them successfully whilst also ensuring that their newfound cleanliness doesn’t also signal their final hoorah as a functional blind.

If you want to wash your faux wood blinds particularly thoroughly because cleaning is kind of your thing, or if they’ve built up a combination of dust and grime (perhaps due to exposure to cooking fats in the air for faux wood blinds in kitchens) this article will tell you how to clean faux wood blinds in the bathtub.

Can you clean faux wood blinds in the bath?

Yes, faux wood blinds can be cleaned in the bath or otherwise be immersed in water or thoroughly soaked. They’re fully waterproof and this comes with the dual advantage of meaning they won’t soak up stains or marks, and also, you can wash them off as vigorously as you like too.

Do I actually need to know how to clean faux wood blinds in the bathtub?

While faux wood blinds can be washed in the bath, this isn’t the sort of intensive level of cleaning they’re apt to need regularly, if at all. Faux wood blinds usually just require a basic dusting off with a duster or the brush attachment of a vacuum cleaner, or wiping over with a damp sponge if they’re a bit sticky for the purposes of ease and expediency.

Also, there is never (or to play it safe, probably never, as I am continually surprised at some of the adventures our blinds have with their new owners or more commonly, their new owner’s kids) going to be a scenario in which your only option will be to clean faux wood blinds in the bathtub.

They can be washed down in situ, or lain out on a dust sheet or similar, so if you have no bath, a blind too big for the bath, or otherwise no facilities or inclination to bathe your faux wood blinds, you need not feel like you’re somehow failing to provide them with the appropriate care.

How to clean faux wood blinds in the bathtub if they’re really grubby

Ok so with the can I/should I/must I thing covered, here is how to clean faux wood blinds in the bathtub if you have decided that this is indeed a good idea.

Step 1: How to take a faux wood blind down

To take a faux wood blind down, first of all remove the pelmet from the front of the blind, and then carefully unhook the blind from its brackets. In case it is not self-evident, this will be a million times easier to do if the blind is folded all the way up!

Also, depending on the size of your blind and its correlating awkwardness and weight, you may well want an assistant for this; you don’t want to learn that the whole thing weighs way more than you can comfortably handle at the point at which you’re actually responsible for supporting it above your head.

Step 2: How to clean faux wood blinds in the bathtub

• First up, run a bath of warm water – just warm though, not hot.
  If you’re anything like me, you might naturally think that this should be a case of “the hotter the bath, the cleaner the blind” but in actual fact, it is more a case of “the hotter the bath, the deader the blind,” so be speculative here.
  While faux wood blinds are waterproof, they’re a bit sensitive to extremes of heat and may warp or bend if the water is too hot, so do the elbow test, i.e., aim for the sort of temperature you’d consider safe to bathe a baby in.
• Detergent wise, a bit of washing up liquid is ideal, or anything similarly mild and non-abrasive.
• Place your slats in the bath, and leave them to soak for anything between 20 minutes and an hour, depending on how filthy they are and how reticent said filth is to depart.
• Keep checking them to see if the grime is loosening, and then when you’re on the downhill, give them a wash off or scrub over with a sponge or cloth to leave them clean.
• Drain the mucky water and rinse with cool water, before leaving your slats to drain off for a couple of minutes.
• Remove the slats from the bath, lay them flat on an old towel and pat them dry.
• When your blind is dry, re-hang it in its brackets and replace the pelmet.

One important point to note is that you should ensure all of the working parts in the headrail are dry too, to ensure that any metal parts of the mechanism don’t rust. You can dry these parts off with a dry cloth, or a hairdryer on a cool setting; once more, avoid using too much heat as this may cause the blind to warp.

That’s about it; obviously being able to clean faux wood blinds in the bath at all does depend on the size of your blind in relation to the size of your bath, but assuming the latter is larger than the former, you should now be good to go!