How to clean blinds

1. 1

   Close the slats flat

   Tilt the slats fully closed so they form a continuous surface. Cleaning open slats means chasing each edge individually and missing most of the face.

2. 2

   Work from the top down

   Start at the top so dislodged dust falls onto slats you have not done yet rather than onto ones you have.

3. 3

   Support each slat from behind

   Put one hand behind the slat and wipe with the other. This is what stops the slat bending — and a bent slat never sits flat again, which leaves a permanent light and privacy gap.

4. 4

   Reverse the tilt and repeat

   Tilt the slats the other way to expose the faces you have not cleaned, and repeat the same top-down pass.

5. 5

   Do the headrail and the bottom rail

   Both collect more dust than the slats, and the headrail is where a cordless mechanism can start sticking if grit gets into it.

For vinyl and aluminum blinds only, taking the blind down and laying it in a bath of warm soapy water genuinely works — it is the fastest way to deal with a kitchen blind that has become greasy. Rinse, then hang it over the bath or outside to drip, and make sure it is fully dry before rehanging or the headrail mechanism can corrode.

Faux wood tolerates warm soapy water on a cloth but not soaking — the core can swell at the edges over time. Wipe, then dry immediately.

Never bath real wood, fabric, cellular or bamboo. Wood warps, fabric stains and stretches, cellular cells trap water, bamboo absorbs and distorts. For these, a vacuum brush attachment on a low setting is the deep clean.

• Bent slats from unsupported wiping. The commonest damage, and it is permanent. Always support from behind.
• Water in the headrail. It can corrode the tilt mechanism and make a cordless lift stick. Keep the cloth damp, not wet, and keep it off the rail.
• Abrasive cleaners. They scratch vinyl and aluminum, and the scratches then hold dirt worse than the original surface did.
• Rehanging before dry. A blind that goes back damp gets watermarks and, in a bathroom, mildew in the cord channels.
• Leaving it a year. Dust bonds to slats over time, especially in a kitchen where it combines with airborne grease, and then no amount of dry wiping shifts it.

If a blind is stiff, sticking or refusing to hold position rather than simply dirty, that is a mechanism issue and not a cleaning one — how to fix cordless blinds covers it.