Vertical blinds are the perfect addition to any home that has large picture windows or sliding glass doors, just for example, and they help to add diversity and visual appeal to your overall home décor. They’re easy to slide open and closed, most come with options to hide unsightly hardware (like the track), and they give you the light and privacy controls you crave.
Like any window treatments, however, your vertical blinds can suffer damage over time. You might accidentally close them in the door or your dogs might try to claw their way through the blinds to get at a squirrel outside. In other words, your blinds could become bent over time. This is not only an undesirable look for your décor, but it could also impact your ability to achieve total darkness and privacy in your home.
If you want to restore the function and beauty of your vertical blinds, you needn’t necessarily scrap the whole kit and caboodle in favor of something new. You could first try some DIY fixes to extend the usable life of the product. Here are some tips to try before you upgrade to something new.
Do Not Try to Unbend Them by Hand
You might be tempted to simply try to work out any kinks in slats by hand, but this is a mistake. If you try to bend the PVC back where it’s already been bent, you could end up doing more harm than good, creating additional bends that you then have to fix, or even snapping the plastic and totally ruining the slat in the process. You cannot unbend the slat without the aid of heat to soften it first.
Use Hot Water
While you might see some people online advocating the use of hair dryers or steamers to heat and unbend your PVC, this aren’t really the best methods and they’re unlikely to deliver the results you’re seeking. The best way to fix bent vertical blinds is with hot water.
You’ll want to start by removing not only the bent slats, but also four straight slats. You’ll need heavy-duty rubber gloves and spring-loaded clamps on hand. Next, fill your bathtub with hot water. Wearing rubber gloves to protect your skin from scalding, hold the bent blind underwater for up to two minutes, or until it becomes warm and malleable.
Do not bend it! Instead, pull it out of the water and place it on top of two stacked slats (that aren’t bent), placing two more on top. Quickly clamp the stack of five slats together down the length of the slats and leave for ten minutes to cool. Repeat the process with any other bent slats.
Replace Bent Slats
If bent slats are simply too damaged and you can’t seem to restore them to an acceptable condition, your best bet is to order a pack of replacement slats to fill in any gaps in your vertical blinds. Whether you want to replace a few slats or upgrade to a new set of vertical blinds, contact the experienced professionals at The Blinds Side at 410-630-6940 or [email protected] to learn more.