The Easiest Way To Fix Broken Blinds

Broken window blinds are unsightly and can impede on your privacy. Whether your dog or cat broke a slat while trying to peep out the window or your child damaged the cord by yanking on it a little too hard, there is an easy, quick, and inexpensive way to repair your blinds without having to hire a handyman. Best of all, the supplies you'll need to fix your blinds are usually kept around the house, so you may even be able to avoid a trip to the hardware store. All this hack requires is a flathead screwdriver (or a butter knife), a pair of tweezers, scissors, pliers, and a lighter. You don't even need to buy a new set of blinds to replace a few damaged slats; you can remove some of the slats at the bottom of your horizontal blinds and use those as your replacements. Note that if the pull cord is broken, however, you'll need another one.

Since there are different types of blinds, it's important to identify whether yours are horizontal or vertical. Horizontal blinds pull up and down, and their slats run from side to side, while vertical blinds slide left and right and their slats run up and down.

Use your screwdriver to pop both caps off the bottom of the blinds. Inside, you'll find the ends of the lift cord. You can use your tweezers to pull out the ends of the cord and undo the knots. If you can't untie them, cut the cord directly above the knot and melt the end with your lighter to prevent fraying.

Pull the cords through the slats on both sides until you reach the broken ones, but take note of how the cord goes into the slats so you can rethread it later. If you want to use some of the slats from the bottom of your blinds, simply slide them off and set them aside. Remove the broken slats, replace them with the ones you've taken from the bottom, and restring the blinds. Slip the cord through the holes on the bottom rail, retie your knots, and push the caps back in.

If your cord is broken, remove the blinds from the window. Cut the cord where it's damaged, pull it out through the bottom, and line up the new cord with the old one. Melt them together with your lighter and rehang your blinds. Pull the cord through the pathway and bring the section where the two cords meet over the headbox. Once the new cord is totally over the headbox, you can separate it from the old cord and replace the plastic tip on the end of the new cord.

When repairing vertical blinds, make sure your blinds are not twisted, as this is a common problem that can make your blinds look damaged even if they're not. Vertical blinds can also have trouble rotating if they need to be cleaned. Sometimes, the problem comes from the carrier stem, a little piece of plastic that attaches to the top of the blind. You can remove the blind and use a pair of pliers to pull out the carrier stem so it can be replaced with a new one.

If the problem is with the blind itself, you'll need to detach the end of the spacer chain and remove all the blinds that are ahead of the broken one. When you reach the damaged blind, take it off the chain as well as the hook at the top of the blind. Once it's off, you can slide your new blind onto the hook, thread the spacer chain back through the blinds, and reattach the end of the chain.

No matter what kind of blinds you have or how they are broken, these tips will help you repair them yourself in no time.