Video Highlights:
00:00:21 – You’ll need some silicon spray
00:00:52 – Also a good plastic cleaner
00:01:11 – How to use the polisher
00:01:53 – How to use the cleaner
00:02:34 – Use an anti-static cleaner
00:03:23 – Clean and polish every 6 months
00:03:53 – How to clean your blinds
00:04:35 – What happens if you don’t clean first?
00:04:45 – Lubricate the zips and tracks
00:04:57 – Summary
Video Transcription
Hi, I’m Jason from the company Blockout Blinds and today I’m going to explain to you how to maintain the PVC on your Ziptrak and Cafe Blinds to ensure you get the maximum longevity out of your blinds and are smiling for years to come.
00:00:21 – You’ll need some silicon spray
Now once we’ve installed your blinds we’ll give you a couple of products. First of all we’re going to give you some silicon spray which is for applying onto the teeth of the zips of your cafe blinds and the track of your Ziptrak Blinds if they ever become a little bit hard to pull up and down. You simply spray this on and then move the zip up and down to let the lubricant get inside the teeth.
00:00:52 – Also a good plastic cleaner
The second thing we give you is the VuPlex and this is the plastic cleaner and also an anti-static polisher which is really, really important.
Now once your blinds are in we would like you to use this within the first 2-3 weeks of getting your blinds installed.
00:01:11 – How to use the polisher
Alright so how do we use this polisher? It’s very easy! What you’re going to need is obviously the can of polish and you’re going to need a cotton cloth. You can either have one cloth or two, it depends on what you want to do but I’ll explain why.
Now first of all you need to have a cotton cloth because cotton absorbs the cleaner. If you use polyester or certain other types of material once you spray the polish on because the polyester cloth doesn’t absorb the cleaner you end up being left with lots of streaks all over the PVC. So you won’t have that nice glass look finish.
00:01:53 – How to use the cleaner
First of all we get the cleaner and we spray it all over both sides of the blind, so you want to do the back and the front. Then grab your cotton cloth and buff it into the PVC like you are buffing or waxing a car. So go around and do that on both sides of your blind. Then if you want to go for the extra glassy look, get a fresh cotton cloth and go over it again giving both sides another buff to create that extra sparkling and clear look on the PVC.
00:02:34 – Use an anti-static cleaner
So while the cleaner will make your blinds beautiful and clean and look nice like a piece of glass they also have anti-static and what that does is it stops the PVC from sticking to itself while it rolls up. So what that means to you is that when you roll the blind up it will roll up nice and smooth and easily and even more importantly when you roll the blind down it will come down easy and it won’t stick to itself and want to grip and not flow down to the floor.
Now your Cafe and Ziptrak blinds have been a big investment and you will want it to last as long as possible. Being a PVC product it is reliant upon you to maintain it to get the best out of it. So what do you need to do to maintain your blinds on an ongoing basis?
00:03:23 – Clean and polish every 6 months
What we suggest is that every 6 months you clean your blinds and give them a buff. Why every 6 months? Well that’s about the right duration because over time you’re going to get dirt set on your blinds and you’re going to want to clean that off to protect the PVC. Now a lot of people forget to do this so a good reminder is to think of daylight savings, when daylight savings starts and ends that’s a good signal to get out there and give your blinds a clean.
00:03:53 – How to clean your blinds
So how do we clean the blinds?
First of all you want to remove all the impediments, the dust and dirt off both sides of the PVC. So we want to give it a good clean with some warm soapy water to get all those impurities off the PVC and make it back fresh to how the were when your blinds installed.
Now once you’ve washed it, it’s really important that you let the PVC fully dry before you go to the next step. If it’s a hot day it might take 3-4 hours or you might just want to come back the next day to continue the process. Once it’s clean and the water has dried off you just want to go through the normal buffing process that I talked about earlier.
00:04:35 – What happens if you don’t clean first?
Please note that if you spray the polish on without cleaning the PVC and you tried to buff all you’re doing is rubbing the dirt into the PVC and it’s not going to do any good at all.
00:04:45 – Lubricate the zips and tracks
Once you’ve washed the blinds we suggest getting some silicon spray on all the Cafe Blind zips or Ziptrak tracks just to give them that smooth feel again.
00:04:57 – Summary
Now it doesn’t take long to do this but it is important that you do it to make sure you really do get the longevity out of your blinds and if you stick to the rule of doing this every 6 months you’ll enjoy your outdoor living for many years to come.
