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
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    3 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.

    • bbbbbbbbbbb
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      383 months ago

      Do the vertical giant blinds count as regular blinds or are those the large version? Link

      • Captain AggravatedOP
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        153 months ago

        Owning a set of these for my glass sliding door is probably why I’m in the habit of calling the ones in windows “miniblinds.”

      • @Godric
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        113 months ago

        I hate those so much. Bougie and useless in my experience

        • @jaybone
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          123 months ago

          Are they really that bougie? Cuz you can get some cheap ass ones.

          • @Flying_Hellfish
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            213 months ago

            they can’t be that bougie, every apartment I’ve ever been in with a sliding door has those, and usually somewhere from 1 to 5 of the slats have broken off from normal operation

            • @Ensign_Crab
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              23 months ago

              You’ll never convince me that they’re not chosen for that reason. When the apartment falls to bits because of cheap components, they can retain the deposit.

        • @Ensign_Crab
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          93 months ago

          Bougie? I associate them with cheap shitty apartments.

          • @I_Fart_Glitter
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            73 months ago

            Clackety clackety swishety clack. Every time there is a breeze.

      • @TheRedSpade
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        53 months ago

        I’d say those count. Edited my other comment

  • @[email protected]
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    593 months ago

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

    • @cm0002
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      613 months ago

      12 year olds

      How in tf‽

    • @[email protected]
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      163 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
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        63 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.

      • @[email protected]
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        23 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.

    • @[email protected]
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      93 months ago

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

      • AnIndefiniteArticle
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        53 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.

  • @phoneymouse
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    473 months ago

    Well to be fair, they are annoying as hell to operate.

    • @I_Has_A_Hat
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      323 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.

      • @[email protected]
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        143 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.

      • @[email protected]
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        63 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

  • @[email protected]
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    3 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.

    • @[email protected]
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      213 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)
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      163 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
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        3 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
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          23 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)
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            23 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
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              13 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)
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          13 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
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        33 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
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      73 months ago

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

    • @[email protected]
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      3 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
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    423 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
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    413 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?

    • @anakin78z
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      183 months ago

      Probably because there isn’t a giant mini blind lobby, and people plastering stickers all over their pickup trucks yelling about their mini blind rights.

        • @[email protected]
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          33 months ago

          I wouldn’t say repeal, I would say adapt & clarify.

          If the original purpose was for a “well regulated militia,” then there should be regulations and training for you to be able to own a gun.

          Fail your certification, lose your license.

    • @SocialMediaRefugee
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      13 months ago

      If miniblinds had been around in the 1700s they would’ve been enshrined in the constitution also

    • @[email protected]
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      13 months ago

      Car accidents are the leading cause of death in children. When are we going to ban the damn cars???

  • @mumblerfish
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    3 months ago

    That is the only kind I know of. How does the other kind work?

    Edit: should have been more specific; the string ones are the ones I know of.

    • @linearchaos
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      293 months ago

      The ones I put up in my house have a high tension spring inside the top. When you want to raise the blinds you lift them up when you want to lower the blinds you pull them down. They’re not fantastic but they work well enough. You have to kind of coax them to go up lift them up a few times but then again mine were the cheapest Walmart had available

      • @[email protected]
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        3 months ago

        I also use the cheapest Walmart ones and they’re fine - much better than the “try 15 angles till you find the right one” cords. The trick is to raise them slowly and gingerly so that you’re not just bunching up the blinds.

        My favorite thing about them is the snap-on installation. No more sketchy slide-in plastic cubes with a plastic cover. Just drill the metal clamp on and snap them in. Surprisingly sturdy.

        I actually didn’t know the old style was “illegal.” I just thought they were so unpopular that they replaced them, even at the most basic option.

      • @Broken_Monitor
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        93 months ago

        I’ve got the Ikea version of these and they work great, no coaxing at all. Way easier than that stupid pull cord, I would never go back. Put them up all over the house. One of them went slightly crooked and I never did figure out why or how to fix it though. I think I will eventually get some higher quality replacements anyway.

        • Annoyed_🦀
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          13 months ago

          I love that thing when i saw it, unfortunately i can’t have it because i suspect my cat will destroy it in a week, so i got a cheapo one with beaded cord that loop. I guess i have to tie that up for safety.

    • @Zachariah
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      173 months ago

      This is the only kind I know:

      • @JusticeForPorygon
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        133 months ago

        I think those are the ones being referred to. Nowadays they makes ones that look almost identical but don’t have the pullstrings. You can just raise and lower them from the bar on the bottom.

        • @Soggy
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          23 months ago

          Which suck if you have windows higher than your head. Pullstring can be ten feet long and work just fine.

    • Captain AggravatedOP
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      93 months ago

      By some mechanism I don’t quite understand, you just grab the lower bar and either lift up or pull down.

    • Ogmios
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      63 months ago

      Mine have a hard “handle” with a string attached to it on a pulley. Twist the handle to adjust the angle, pull the string down on one side to open them, pull the string down on the other side to close.

    • Tarquinn2049
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      53 months ago

      We use honeycomb blinds here. You can get them in partially transparent or blackout. They are spring-loaded, and you really can’t use them wrong, pull them up or down as fast or as crooked as you want.

    • @OZFive
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      43 months ago

      You lift them from the bottom and there is a system of gears and springs (citation needed) that assist with them being raised and hold them in place.

      Pull them down from the bottom and they come down (with some resistance).

      • @mumblerfish
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        03 months ago

        Huh. The string ones can be mounted inside the window. I guess these can’t then.

        • growsomethinggood ()
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          83 months ago

          They can! They look identical to the old blinds, just without the string. I had to ask if the installers forgot the strings when we got new ones a few years ago!

          • @mumblerfish
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            63 months ago

            Wait, I meant like in between the glass of the windows. If you have to pull and push the blinds themselves that would not work… right?

            • @TheRedSpade
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              33 months ago

              Are you saying that they’d be in between 2 stationary panes of glass? That sounds like a nightmare to deal with anyway.

              • @mumblerfish
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                33 months ago

                Stationary for usual operations, at least. There is usually a mechanism to open it up so you can mend them if necessary.

            • WalrusDragonOnABike [they/them]
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              23 months ago

              I have some of those. There’s just a sliding mechanism built into the pane on the inside. No string. Much cleaner look and so much easier to use.

  • @[email protected]
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    293 months ago

    When my cat was a baby she got tangled by the neck in a blinds cord, thankfully I was right there, but it scared the shit out of me. I rent, and still (and everywhere else I’ve lived) have corded blinds, but the cords are now rolled up and tied to the top so they’re out of the way. This kind of regulation is a good thing.

    • @Tinks
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      13 months ago

      Many cats die every year from them actually, just like children. I am super vigilant about hiding mine out of the way so ours can’t see them to play with because I’m terrified of it happening. I really just need to replace them, but they’re the nice heavy wooden white ones and throwing them out seems like such a waste.

  • @MattTheProgrammer
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    243 months ago

    Ah yes, miniblinds are the real threat… not school shootings

    • @[email protected]
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      303 months ago

      If we can only solve one problem at a time, then climate change is the only problem that matters.

      • @surewhynotlem
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        33 months ago

        If we skip that one the rest solve themselves

    • @SmilingSolaris
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      03 months ago

      Ah yes, let’s get the consumer product safety commission on the problem of school shootings. Hell, since they are so able to ban the way blinds chords are setup, why aren’t they ending climate change? The genocide of palastinians? I for one demand the consumer product safety commission do it’s fucking job and reform the American policing system.

    • @[email protected]
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      343 months ago

      They aren’t illegal to sell.

      Manufacturers can’t make them any longer, existing inventory is permitted to be sold off. So they can be found on amazon, ebay, and a bunch of other places still. Just won’t see any new stock coming in, and places that have less stock (as in, not gigantic warehouses) haven’t been getting new ones in for some time. Nearly a year now I believe.

      • Captain AggravatedOP
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        143 months ago

        The phrase the Lowe’s associate used was “Illegal to have on store shelves.”

        • @[email protected]
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          203 months ago

          I’m not sure you should have a Lowe’s Associate as a legal advisor.

          Here’s Home Depot covering it

          The relevant text:

          Corded blinds are dangerous to children and pets. Roughly one child per month dies from blind cord strangulation, and more than 600 children per year are injured. That’s nearly an average of 2 preventable injuries to a child per day. Between 1990 and 2015, more than 16,000 children were injured.

          New Voluntary Standards

          • The Window Covering Manufacturers Association decided safer standards in January 2018.
          • Manufacturers adopted the new standard on cordless blinds in December 2018.
          • In 2019, all standard model window blinds were expected to be cordless.

          Cordless Blinds & Law

          • Corded blinds are not regulated under state or federal legislation.
          • New, safer guidelines allow for cords on custom-made coverings.
          • Per WCMA standards, custom cords should not be longer than 40% of the window height.
    • @orrk
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      103 months ago

      oh, Amazon will gladly sell you illegal goods. and no one will stop them

    • @Bruncvik
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      23 months ago

      Selling plastic straws is not permitted in the EU anymore, so I’m buying them on Amazon. Don’t know whether these regulations apply only to physical stores or Amazon doesn’t give a damn, but you can go around such laws quite easily.

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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        23 months ago

        Selling plastic straws is not permitted in the EU anymore

        For real? Because plastic straws, and not the bajillion tons of packaging materials are the bane of our existence. Right?

        • @Bruncvik
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          13 months ago

          Don’t know how the law is worded, but you won’t find plastic straws in physical shops or restaurants, and all juice boxes come with paper straws. I don’t have any issues buying plastic straws, both regular-size and for boxed juices, from Amazon.

      • @ZILtoid1991
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        23 months ago

        Likely they don’t care. Someone bought a bunch of cigarettes from Amazon.

      • @reka
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        63 months ago

        The main problem with society is the effort made to mitigate infant mortality rates

    • @SocialMediaRefugee
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      43 months ago

      It is how you protected yourself from nuclear blasts since it was the cold war and all.

  • @expatriado
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    113 months ago

    i guess that explains why i haven’t see them in years

  • @JusticeForPorygon
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    I remember my dad bought some for his house and they didn’t have the pullstrings. I remember thinking that was so neat because the pullstring ones were always a pain in the ass to raise/lower.

  • @[email protected]
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    83 months ago

    They just installed some in our new office. Guess it’s time to somehow choke myself on them and get a phat check.

    • Unbecredible
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      83 months ago

      Okay but if you get stuck, at least try to get in one good asphyx-e-wank on your way out.