Replacing a broken set of blinds in my house and apparently no one sells the old standard kind where you pull the cord to raise them, I guess because kids and/or pets could tangle in the cord? Bit of an education in miniblinds today.

  • TheRedSpade@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I didn’t even realize they were called "mini"blinds until I moved in to my current place and there was some kind of rule that mentioned them. I’d only heard them referred to as “blinds” my entire life up to that point. This implies the existence of larger blinds which I’ve yet to see.

    Edit: I’ve definitely seen them. Apparently my brain is underclocked today.

  • MNByChoice@midwest.social
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    3 months ago

    I used to think it was “only” toddlers. Tragic stories of 12 year olds dying from the pull cords. Fucking horrible.

    • kungen@feddit.nu
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      2 months ago

      Am I misunderstanding what pull cords are, or why not have it so the two strings can separate easily? The two strings in my blinds “snap” together so that it’s easy to raise/lower the blinds, but the strings separate very easily from each other if applying force in any other kind of way (would be impossible for a child to accidently hang themselves with it for example)

      • kn33@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        It’s not just going between the cords. There’s also a problem that under the wrong circumstances, the cord can whip around the neck and become tangled on the tassel, around the neck.

        • cadekat@pawb.social
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          2 months ago

          I’m going to need to see a reenactment or video before I believe this.

      • MNByChoice@midwest.social
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        2 months ago

        The strings come off the “screwed in” part?

        I don’t think politicians came up with the new design, but embraced the new design. This has been an issue for decades and the ban is newin USA.

    • Elkenders@feddit.uk
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      2 months ago

      I know a family whose baby hung themselves on the cord. Must be common enough that they just banned them.

      • AnIndefiniteArticle@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        Take two pieces of string with wooden knobs at the ends and hang them up together.

        Put your arm between them and pull down quickly.

        Repeat, and notice how a fraction of the time those wooden knobs may wrap around each other and become tied by a knot held by the downward force of your arm until you pull up which you can’t do if you’re hanging.

    • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Oh, I see you havent used the style that replaced them yet. Infinitely worse.

      The idea in concept is you just lift up or pull down from the bottom of the blinds and they’ll stay in place. In practice however, you pull down and they refuse to budge, risking you breaking them. And then when you lift up, they go to a certain point and then just stop retracting and will fall down halfway from where you wanted them.

      I hate them. I hate them so much. Although, I will say blinds in general are just awful. Curtains are the superior window shade.

      • tyler@programming.dev
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        2 months ago

        You got cheap ones. And like bottom of the barrel cheap. I have ones from Home Depot and that has never happened. What has happened is that the internal strings have a lot more friction on them and they have snapped, rendering the entire thing broken. But of course I got the cheapest ones from Home Depot too.

      • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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        2 months ago

        I haven’t experienced them those but the pull down shades I’ve used in the past have thing where you can twist the rod to set the tension and make them work better. Does it have something like that you can do? Also I agree with you about just using curtains

  • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    I’ve never understood why they had more than 1 string for a set of blinds, it’s not like anybody wants to raise only one corner of it?

    My experience has been that stringless blinds are the Landlord Special of window covering, they suck ass and barely raise up if you don’t get the individual “blades” perfectly horizontal.

    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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      2 months ago

      One string pulling up the left side, one string pulling up the right side. They are separated in the “down” position, so they have to be separated in the “up” as well.

      If you use only one string in the middle, they will never stay level.

    • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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      2 months ago

      Little trick I figured out as a kid in case you ever have the string blinds again (also, never seen stringless):

      Cut a string to the same length as the two coming out of the blinds, snip the little plastic cap off the two attached to the blinds, and braid the three strings together, tie at the end. Never pull unevenly again.

      • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        You can’t braid them together, they won’t go through the take-up mechanism when you drop them closed. I tried wrapping one with the same idea in mind and had to sit and unwrap them because I couldn’t close them anymore.

        You could just braid the bottom and set the braid with a knot, but that’s basically what the knot at the end and the cap do.

        • y0kai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          2 months ago

          Even if you braid it while the blinds are already closed it won’t work?

          I haven’t tried this yet but want to try when I get home. I worry about my cats getting tangled and one cord would be better than whatever the hell is going on with it now lol.

          • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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            2 months ago

            I’ve personally done it, but now I wonder if those blinds were somehow loose or different. Don’t wanna suggest you do it just to have to undo it if it doesn’t work :/

            • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              I can definitely believe it works for some styles. You basically have to open the blinds and then slowly let it down and see where the strings go. If they’re feeding into separate “tracks” as you lower it, it won’t work.

              The string that is fed down and hangs all the blinds together is basically the same string as the pull-string. The one I tried this on, each string split into separate tracks inside the top part, so it didn’t work.

        • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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          2 months ago

          Maybe the ones I’ve had are looser? I’ve personally done it to 3 different blinds, but they were all in the same rental house, so maybe they’re different somehow

      • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        You can also just leave the cap intact, and and just tie the end of the cord in a knot to keep the strings together. Just loop it around itself and poke the end through the loop and tighten it to make the knot sit near the end of the cord.

    • Soggy@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The two strings is so that you can keep them level when one side inevitably wears slightly longer than the other.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      more than 1 string for a set of blinds

      Small differences in rolling behaviour for each string as they’re collected on the roll can cause tuning problems and so need tiny adjustment periodically.

      Just tie a knot. Avoid the overhand - do a climber’s figure-8 instead - if you want to untie it later for tuning ever.

  • sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I thought it was a myth that kids got tangled up in the cord until my kid did it. Thank God I was standing near by.

  • UncleGrandPa@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    About 9 children die every year , strangled by mini blinds. 3500 children are killed by guns every year.

    Why did we only fix the most unlikely one?