How to Clean External Venetian Blinds

One of the most common question we are getting from our customers once their External Venetian Blinds are installed and operating is: 

How can I clean my External Venetian Blinds??

As with everything, there are some Do´s and some DONT´S and of course there are some specialist tools and cleaning products for your External Venetian Blinds as well. 

Here is what really works when it comes to cleaning your External Venetian Blinds… 

And also how you can cut down a lot on the frequency work to get your External Venetian Blinds clean again…

Why should I clean my External Venetian Blinds? 

Do I have to clean my External Venetian Blinds at all??

Your External Venetian Blinds are in use 24/7 all year round… 

Therefore they are exposed to all kinds of weather conditions.

Layers of dirt, algae, moss, bird droppings or simply exhaust fumes can form on the surface of the aluminium parts and can be permanently burnt into the powder coating by the solar radiation, similar to the surface of your car. 

On top of that, movable parts of your External Venetian Blinds can be affected by being dust and pollen adding to the wear and tear of the longevity of the individual components of your External Venetian Blinds. 

In order to prevent your EVB´s from prematurely kicking the bucket, cleaning them can go a long way.

But be sure to do it right, otherwise you can do more damage than good in some instances…

What type of External Venetian Blind do I have? 

In order to be able to clean your External Venetian Blinds to most effective you first need to determine what Type of Blinds you have. 

The key determination is the material of the slats, which can be made of Aluminium or Timber. 

Also something to consider is if your External Venetian Blinds are motorised or gear driven…

In case of motorised Blinds be extra careful with the use of water when cleaning the top quarter of your External Venetian Blinds as you want to make sure no water can splash into the Head Rail of your External Venetian Blind, where the motor is located. 

If gear driven, this is less of a concern. 

What is the best order to clean your External Venetian Blinds?

This is our recommended Step by Step procedure when cleaning External Venetian Blinds… 

This is not a must, only the approach we are using on a regular basis, ensuring the least potential damage to your External Venetian Blinds and surrounding areas and best cleaning results in the quickest manner…

1: close the windows and doors behind your External Venetian Blinds! 

This step seems like common sense, but is way too easy to bypass and can have a Hughe potential damage as a result…. And therefore is always #1 on our prep list.

2: lower your External Venetian Blinds completely (the Slats are in the shut position, the belly facing out, this is always 100% closed)

3: prepare your cleaning products like a bucket with Luke – warm water, cleaning agent, a car wash sponge or microfibre cloth, the garden hose or a pressure washer set to the lowest possible setting and keeping in mind to keep a great distance…

4: rinse your External Venetian Blinds

5: apply cleaning agent gently with microfibre cloth or car wash sponge 

6: rinse down

7: fully tilt open your External Venetian Blinds. This setting can differ from type, some can tilt to a 90 degree angle which leaves your Slats in a horizontal position. 

Some types tilt a full 180 degree, which closes your External Venetian Blinds with the belly of the Slats facing the window. 

8: repeat steps 4 to 6

9: tilt your External Venetian Blinds so that the Slats are in an open position, fully lowered. We achieve best results when slats are slightly tilted so that the water can run off easily. 

Never fully close your External Venetian Blinds while they are still wet as this will leave watermarks on the surface. 

What not to do when cleaning your External Venetian Blinds?

When cleaning your External Venetian Blinds, make sure you do not use a pressure washer close up, we had plenty of cases where people went ahead one sunny Saturday afternoon and totally destroyed their External Venetian Blinds using a pressure washer close up! 

This can not only damage the individual Slats but also completely destroy plastic components which protect the ladder tapes (which hold and tilt the slats of your External Venetian Blind) as well as the lifting tapes (as the name says, are responsible for lifting and lowering your External Venetian Blinds) 

Also, regardless of Timber or Aluminium Slats, never clean your External Venetian Blinds with Terpentine or Thinners as this also attacks the tapes and the plastics used on your Blinds.

Never use any rough cleaning cloths or scrubbers as this can damage the surface coating of your External Venetian Blinds, especially on Easy Clean Slats…

What cleaning products to use to clean your External Venetian Blinds?

When cleaning your External Venetian Blinds, never use any harsh chemical products as mentioned above as these may damage the plastic components and lifting tapes as well as ladder tapes of your Blinds. 

You can use cleaning products such as dishwashing liquid to achieve an acceptable result.

Washing your External Venetian Blinds with a car washing sponge or from a few meters away with an pressure washer on the lowest intensity setting…

There are specialist Cleaning Products for External Venetian Blinds available, which also can be used on other metal and plastic surfaces. 

They are most commonly used by professional Cleaning companies. 

If you want to treat your Blinds with a special cleaning agent concentrate which is mainly exclusive to Cleaning Companies please click here (Sorry, Link temporarily out of service) 

How to clean the individual Slats of your External Venetian Blind?

If washing off your External Venetian Blinds doesn’t give you the finish you are looking for you can also clean the individual slats of your External Venetian Blinds. 

This can be quite a time consuming task if you are intending to do the top and underside of each individual Slat with a microfibre cloth or car wash sponge… 

Especially as you the Ladder Tapes every 400 to 500

There are some tools available to make this task a bit easier, the most commonly used options are outlined below. 

There are 2 main products especially for this purpose available. 

A manual set off Tongs, with a washable cloth, which we recommend for residential customers. Please follow this link to find out more about the Slat Cleaning Tongs. (Sorry, Link temporarily out of service) 

And a Slat cleaning brush, for the industrial application, this system allows you to clean multiple slats at one time, functioning much like a handheld miniature car wash station. 

Please follow this link to find out more about the Slat Cleaning Brush. (Sorry, Link temporarily out of service) 

How to avoid high frequent cleaning off your External Venetian Blind?

If you want to avoid high frequent cleaning of your External Venetian Blinds you should opt for the Seal Cleaning Easy Clean Technologie Slats.

Easy Clean is a Surface Coat technology, similar to powder-coating. 

The exact functionality of the Easy Clean Surface Coat technology is a chemical process which occurs naturally based on the materials and surface used for the Easy Clean Slats. 

Therefore we can not go into the exact functionality of it but will break the process down in an easy to understand fashion below. 

The External Venetian Blind Slats are coated with a “titanium dioxide” which naturally reacts in combination with moisture and UV light (which situation usually happens every morning through condensation) which in the process breaks down organic matters such as dirt, algae, moss and even exhaust gases.

The self cleaning effect is enhanced by the water attracting surface, which feels a bit like a super fine sandpaper on the touch.

The Easy Clean surface coating does not lose any particles and does not wear down over time, therefore a long lasting Self Cleaning process can be achieved.

It is still recommended to wash down your External Venetian Blinds frequently, even if they are Easy Clean coated, however, this can be as simple as hosing down your External Venetian Blinds and therefore is done a matter of seconds before the anyways frequently occurring window cleaning…

As for all other surfaces, please make sure you are only using soft car wash sponges or microfibre cloths. 

If you would like to find out more about the Easy Clean Coating for your External Venetian Blinds view this page which goes into the nitty gritty of how exactly this process works….