How to Remove Damaged Blinds Slats: Part 1
Everyone ends up with damaged blinds slats at one point or another. Whether you’ve got some curious children trying to see outside, or a large dog attempting the same, slats get damaged. This is especially true of the standard aluminum slats most homes have covering their windows. The good news is, replacing them is easy. Here’s how you can remove damaged blinds slats.
The first step to replacing damaged blinds slats is removing the damaged blinds slats. Just looking at the series of strings connecting everything, it seems very complicated. However, it’s much easier than you might think. There’s actually only one string you need to mess with, and it won’t make the entire set of blinds fall apart.
Unplug the Lift Cord Knot
The first thing you need to do is open up your blinds so they’re covering the window. Therefore, let them down all the way to the window sill. Make the slats open to their horizontal position by twisting the exposure pole or pulling the exposure cord. With the slats open completely, they’ll be easier to access.
At the bottom of the binds is the rail where all of the strings are connected. On the underside of that rail, there will be a little plastic plug. Remove that to reveal the knot to the lift cord. The lift cord is the cord that runs up the middle of the slats to keep them in place.
Untie the Lift Cord
Untying the knot that was hidden by the plastic plug is the next step. You’ll need to do this for each lift cord present. If you have a wide set of blinds, there may be 3 or 4 of these. If you have a hard time untying the small knots, try using a pair of tweezers to pull the tight strings away from each other.
Unthread the Lift Cord
After unknotting your lift cords, unthreading them is next. Starting at the uppermost damaged slat, grip the lift cord where it threads through the hole in the middle and pull up. This will unthread it from all of the slats below as well. Pull it out through the damaged slat and let it hang over the side. Then, continue to do this for each lift cord.
The slats are resting on some horizontal cords that are used to control the angle they sit at. Therefore, each slat will remain mostly in place. Just try not to bump them too much. Otherwise, knocking them out of alignment will make them more trouble to rethread.
Remove the Damaged Blinds Slats
All that’s left now of the first half is to slide the damaged slats out of the cord network. You can easily pull them out from the side.
Removing your damaged blinds slats is only the first half, though. Check out Part 2 to see how to replace them.
