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.

  • mumblerfish@lemmy.world
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    9 days 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.

    • Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world
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      9 days 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.

      • JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world
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        9 days 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@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

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

    • OZFive@lemmy.world
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      9 days 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).

        • growsomethinggood ()@reddthat.com
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          9 days 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@lemmy.world
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            9 days 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@lemmy.world
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              9 days 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@lemmy.world
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                9 days ago

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

    • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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      9 days 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

      • Broken_Monitor@lemmy.world
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        9 days 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_🦀 @monyet.cc
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          9 days 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.

      • Fester@lemm.ee
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        9 days 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.

    • Ogmios@sh.itjust.works
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      9 days 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.

  • TheRedSpade@lemmy.world
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    9 days 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.

  • RunawayFixer@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    This seemed like such an arbitrary law that I went looking for it and apparently it’s a small committee (4 persons*) rule that was poorly substantiated. The rule itself has been shot down by an appeals court in 2023, but the industry obviously had already set plans in motion to change their product line ups.

    “On September 13, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals vacated the CPSC’s rule on custom window coverings. The court agreed with WCMA that CPSC failed to provide an opportunity to comment on the underlying incident data, conducted a flawed cost-benefit analysis that ignored the enormous harm that the rule would have caused the multibillion-dollar custom window coverings industry, and selected an arbitrary effective date for the rule. The CPSC acknowledges that the industry will need at least 2 years to develop completely new products. So the six-month effective date would make it impossible for the window covering industry to create proven safe replacement products.”

    https://suncoastblinds.com/understanding-the-cpsc-rule-on-window-coverings-and-the-appeal/

    • I’m not from the USA, so to me it seems very weird that this is how decisions with far reaching consequences are taken. In the eu legislation like this gets putten through the wringer in the eu Commission, probably also voted on by the eu Parliament, and then still given years preparation time and back and forth between industry/lobby groups/government. But instead this was: 4 non elected people take a vote and those 4 see no issue with a 6 month deadline. Wth, what a rugpull this would have been for the industry.

    Edit to add: that rule that lost in appeal in 2023, was from November 2022, so maybe it does go in effect in november 2024, since it seems like that timetable was the biggest issue for the industry. Just speculating though, can’t look it up atm.