7 Tips for Cleaning and Caring on you Plantation Blinds

After you have your new plantation blinds installed, you will want to know what to do to keep them looking their best and functioning perfectly for years to come.

Luckily, blinds as a whole are designed to not need a tremendous amount of maintenance. The exact care your blinds need often depends on what they are made of, your usage patterns, where they are located and how they work.

For plantation blinds, you may have natural hardwood timber shutter blinds, engineered hardwood shutter blinds, synthetic shutter blinds or even aluminum shutter blinds. In this blog post, learn how to care for your new plantation blinds Brisbane to maximize the value of your investment.

1. Different blinds materials need different cleaners.

Plantation shutter blinds are made in a wide variety of materials today, from hardwood and engineered wood to synthetic and aluminum.

Always match the cleaner you use to the material in your blinds. If you have inherited plantation blinds with a new home purchase and you don’t know what the material is, plain water is the safest choice.

If at all possible, find out the manufacturer of the blinds you have and contact them for specific cleaning instructions.

2. Never use window cleaners on your plantation blinds.

Window cleaners are formulated specifically to remove streaks, dust, debris, fingerprints, et al from glass. These types of cleaners are not the right choice for non-glass surfaces.

To protect your blinds while cleaning your windows, just spritz the window cleaner onto a towel or paper towel instead of squirting it at the window.

3. Dusting will be your most frequent cleaning chore.

In almost every case, the most time-intensive, labour-intensive cleaning chore you will undertake with your new plantation blinds is dusting.

But here again, there are ways to speed up this boring chore. One good way is to use the brush tool that comes with your vacuum cleaner if you have one. This will suck the dust right off your blinds.

Another slightly more time-intensive but arguably more thorough way to dust blinds is to spritz a bit of water onto a towel or paper towel and just gently wipe each slat on either side.

4. You can use a garden hose on outdoor plantation blinds.

Because aluminum outdoor plantation blinds are so durable and are pre-treated to resist staining, fading, dirt and other detritus, you are usually safe to simply pick up the garden hose and give them a good hosing down.

However, you will want to use a squeegee to wipe down your windows afterwards to avoid leaving any streaks.

5. Wood shutter blinds will appreciate a little lemon juice or wood oil.

If you have opted for natural hardwood timber plantation blinds, you can keep them shiny and beautiful by adding a squirt or two of fresh lemon juice or use an Osmo wood oil to create further protection and shine.

Just dip your towel into this mixture as you dust and it will add shine and nourishment to your blinds.

6. Mix dish soap with water to remove dirt or debris from your shutter blinds.

Sometimes, exterior or interior plantation blinds can pick up some dirt or debris.

In the case of exterior blinds, you may find some dirt or debris on your blinds after a big storm. In the case of interior blinds, your kids, pets or guests may inadvertently spill something that gets onto your blinds.

In either case, if you just mix a drop or two of plain dish soap in with a quart to a gallon of warm water (depending on how many blinds you need to clean), this should be sufficient to remove anything that is stuck onto the slats.

7. Use a fabric sheet to repel dust on your plantation blinds.

Finally, a great hack to reduce the frequency of your plantation blind dusting sessions is to rub a sheet of fabric dryer over the slats as you go along. You can even dust with the fabric sheet itself.

Dryer sheets are designed to repel static electricity, which in turn can help to keep dust from being attracted to and settling on the slats of your plantation blinds.