How to Clean Shades and Drapery Without Ruining Them

Most window treatments are ruined by cleaning, not by use. A solvent spray on a solar screen, a tub bath for a honeycomb shade, a washing machine for a lined drapery: each one turns a maintenance job into a replacement. This guide gives the care rules we follow in our own workroom and the mills' own instructions for the fabrics we install, so your shades and draperies look the way they did on installation day for years.

First, know what your fabric is

Almost every cleaning disaster starts with the wrong assumption about the fabric. Solar screens are either vinyl-coated fiberglass or vinyl-coated polyester: they are plastic on the outside and they tolerate water. Blackout and room-darkening fabrics are usually a woven face bonded to acrylic foam or a metallized layer: the face may take a damp cloth, the backing often does not. Honeycomb cells are a thin non-woven that holds its pleat only while it is dry. Drapery and sheers are textiles, with linings, interlinings and a hem that was pressed by hand.

If we made it, the fabric name is on your quote and on the label at the top of the shade, and every fabric in our libraries has its own page: Mermet, Phifer, Lutron, Alendel. If someone else made it, look for the label and, failing that, treat it as the most delicate category below.

Solar screens: the easy ones

Vinyl-coated fiberglass and polyester screens, which is most of what we install as solar shades, are the easiest window treatment to keep clean. Phifer's own instructions for most SheerWeave styles are to vacuum or dust as needed and, when a shade is soiled, to clean with mild soap and water and rinse thoroughly; a diluted bleach solution of 10% or less is acceptable on those styles. Draper's cleaning guide for interior shade fabrics gives the same routine for the vinyl-coated screens it sells, including Mermet's: a vacuum with a soft brush attachment, a soft duster or compressed air for dust, and a sponge or soft cloth with a mild solution of warm soapy water for soil, testing an inconspicuous corner first.

Two rules make the difference between a clean shade and a damaged one. Support the fabric with a flat hand or a board behind it, and never scrub, pull or lean on the hembar: a screen is strong in tension and weak against a thumb. And keep solvents away: Phifer warns that paint solvents damage the vinyl surface, and the same goes for most spray cleaners with alcohol or citrus oils. Let the shade dry in the lowered position before it rolls up.

The exceptions are the screens with a textile face. Phifer's SheerWeave 7000, 7200R and 7250R, 7400 and 7450, 7500, 7600 and 7650, 7700R and 7750R and 8000 and Mermet's GreenScreen Evolve, Revive and Nature, Flocke and Vizela are dust-only in Draper's guide: soft duster, compressed air or a low-suction vacuum, no water. If your shade is one of these, it is on your paperwork.

Blackout and room-darkening shades

A blackout roller is a face fabric bonded to an opaque layer, and the opaque layer is the fragile part. The face usually takes a soft brush and a barely damp cloth with a drop of mild detergent; the foam or metallized back wants dry methods only. Draper's rule for metallized backings is explicit: avoid liquids and rubbing, use a soft duster, compressed air or a low-suction vacuum. Never fold or crease a blackout fabric to reach a spot; the crease stays.

Blackouts live in bedrooms and media rooms, where the enemy is dust on the top of the roll and fingerprints at the hembar. A monthly pass with the brush attachment, shade fully down, is all most of them ever need. For the light-gap details that make a blackout work in the first place, see the blackout page.

Honeycomb and roman shades

Honeycomb shades are dust magnets with nowhere to grip. Use a feather duster or a hair dryer on cool to blow dust out of the cells, or the vacuum's brush attachment at its lowest suction, and spot-clean with a damp white cloth and mild detergent only on the face, never inside the cells. Blackout honeycombs with a foil-lined cell stay dry. A cellular shade that has been soaked loses its pleat, which is why we do not recommend tub-washing them whatever the internet says. Our honeycomb page covers the fabrics we use.

A roman shade is drapery fabric on a lift system. Dust it down with the brush attachment, working with the folds, and treat stains the way you would treat the drapery below. If the fabric is a decorative weave, a linen or a silk, it comes back to the workroom rather than into a washing machine; the lining, the rings and the pressed folds would not survive the trip.

Draperies and sheers

Lined and interlined draperies were cut, pressed and hemmed by hand to a measured length; a home washing machine undoes all three. Vacuum them top to bottom every few months with the upholstery attachment on low suction, keep pets and sunscreen off the leading edges, and open and close them by the wand or the motor, not by the fabric. Most stains lift with a white cloth, cool water and patience; anything greasy or colored goes to a drapery cleaner who cleans panels flat, after a call to us to confirm what the fabric and the lining can take. Linen moves with humidity and polyester does not, which is part of why we specify what we do; our lining guide and linen guide explain the trade-offs.

Sheers collect salt air and dust faster than anything else on the coast because they sit against open sliders. Shake them out, vacuum gently through a mesh or with the brush attachment, and have them cleaned professionally when they look gray; polyester voiles tolerate professional cleaning well, and ours are made to hang back to the same length. If a panel has stretched, shrunk or lost its hem after a cleaner's visit, bring it back to us: re-hemming, re-pleating and re-lining a panel we made is work our own workroom does.

Motors, tracks and hardware

Shade motors want nothing from you except a charge. A Somfy WireFree motor is recharged about once a year in normal use and a Lutron Triathlon runs three to five years on its D batteries; the shade tells you it is time by slowing down. Wipe fascias, cassettes and hembars with a dry or barely damp microfiber, never a spray aimed at the headrail, and keep water out of the motor end. Drapery tracks need a vacuum along the channel once or twice a year; if a motorized track starts to labor, call us before it stalls, because a stiff carrier is a five-minute fix and a burned motor is not. Our battery vs wired guide covers what each motor type needs.

What to call us for

Anything that involves taking a treatment down. Re-hemming, re-lining, re-pleating and fabric replacement on treatments we made; motor, battery and remote replacement; re-programming after a control-system change; and a frank opinion on whether a stained or sun-damaged fabric is worth cleaning or should be replaced, with the price of each. We service motorized systems from other installers too; see Lutron service and repair.

Frequently asked questions

Can I wash solar shades with water?

Yes, for vinyl-coated fiberglass and polyester screens: mild soap and water with a sponge or soft cloth, rinse thoroughly, support the fabric and let it dry in the down position. Phifer allows a diluted bleach solution of 10% or less on most SheerWeave styles. Textile-faced screens such as SheerWeave 7000 series and Mermet GreenScreen are dust-only.

How do I clean blackout roller shades?

Brush attachment or soft duster on both sides; a barely damp cloth with mild detergent on the face only; no liquids or rubbing on a foam or metallized back; never fold or crease the fabric.

Can honeycomb shades be washed in the bathtub?

We advise against it. The cells hold their pleat while dry; a soaked cellular shade sags and streaks. Blow or vacuum the dust out at low suction and spot-clean the face.

Can I machine-wash my draperies?

Not if they are lined, interlined or pleated by hand: washing shrinks the lining differently from the face and undoes the hem and the pleat. Vacuum regularly, spot-clean with cool water, and use a drapery cleaner who cleans flat after confirming the fabric with us.

How often should sheers be cleaned?

Vacuum or shake out monthly if they sit against open sliders near the ocean; professional cleaning when they look gray, typically every year or two. Polyester voiles take it well; we re-hem any panel that comes back short.

What cleaners should never touch a shade?

Paint solvents, alcohol or citrus sprays, abrasive pads and tape on vinyl-coated screens; any liquid on metallized or foam backs; pressure or steam on anything.

Do you clean or repair treatments you did not install?

We service motorized systems from other installers: re-programming, motors, batteries, remotes and fabric replacement. Drapery repair and re-lining is reserved for drapery we made. For cleaning we recommend a drapery cleaner who cleans flat and we tell you what the fabric can take.

How do I keep salt air off coastal window treatments?

Close the glass when the shades or sheers are down in a sea breeze, vacuum sheers more often than inland homes would, and choose vinyl-coated screens and polyester voiles on the ocean side, which is what we specify for oceanfront rooms.

Sources

• Phifer: SheerWeave Cleaning Instructions (style-by-style: mild soap and water, diluted bleach 10% or less, rinse; dust-only styles; solvents damage the vinyl surface)
• Draper: Cleaning Interior Shade Fabrics, updated September 24, 2022 (vacuum with soft brush, mild warm soapy water, test first; water-free list for SheerWeave 7000 series, Mermet GreenScreen, Flocke, Vizela; dry methods for metallized backings)
• Exotic Shades fabric libraries: every fabric's composition and the mill's specification on its own page