replacing patio awning fabric - DIY?
Just received the replacement fabric for my carefree electric awning. Now to install. The instructions are very vague. I think on purpose. I am unsure if I need to remove the roller tube, or try and e...
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Ok, so Installed the new Awning fabric last weekend. Color match was exactly what I was looking for. I ordered from CW but they ordered directly through Carefree. As I mentioned I have the Carefree Trabel'r electric awning. Despite what the dealership quoted me on the complicated install I found this particular awning very easy. I assume most typical awnings are spring loaded etc and granted cumbersome and dangerous to work with. This particular model was pretty straight forward but since no real instructions came with it nor are their videos on it, it was something I just figured out. I will detail the steps below:
1 - use the switch to run the awning out with a little slack.
2 - Remove the left - idle/non motor side plastic cover. There are about 8 screws holding the clamshell cover on. But that's all it is, is a cover. Removing this allows clearance for the cord grooves
3 - At this point I cut the awning near the groove. The one piece with valance attachment has 2 grooves close together that I guess after time made pulling it out more work than it was worth, cutting it freed up the tension and it slid off easily.
4 with the old awning removed I cleaned everything real good and let it dry.
5- Rolled out the new awning and let it heat up for an hour in the sun to loosen it up
6 - Starting at the top rail I fed it in the cord groove to the awning arms and then fed the bottom and valance cords simultaneously on the roller. Getting over the cap screws was tough with the hem.
7- Once I got the hem over the cap screws it was pretty smooth sailing. For this part I needed 2 people, me on the roof to guide the top and my neighbor on an 8 foot ladder guiding the bottom on the roller. Went very quickly.
8 - put the cover back on the left side, install the set screws in the cord to hold in place and DONE.
That was it. We took our time and total start to finish was about an hour and a half with a lot of cleaning and taking our time. I could do it again in an hour
A few notes - the arms have little lateral resistance especially with the awning removed. With the pushing and pulling I didn't want to rack it, so I put a towel on the bucket of my tractor and raised it to rest against the awning arms to provide resistance against the direction we were pulling. Left side to remove the old, right side when pulling the new on. If you don't have a tractor with a loader handy, you might want a person to offer counter resistance to the pulling of the old awning off and new on.
My only real complaint about the whole process was with the awning fabric itself. Quality control being what it is in the RV industry is not missed on awnings either. When rolling it up initially after the install the awning would start winding over the caps on both ends near the top. Took me a few minutes to realize that the fabric itself is almost 3" wider at the top than the bottom. Rather than make an issue about it, remove and demand a replacement, I pulled each end at the top in about an inch. This works, but I wasn't real happy with carefree for the un-square fabric. I mean 3", come on.
I did take pics but have no idea how to post.
PM me if this is something you are trying and want to DIY. Much cheaper, easier to DIY, no springs, no roller removal, pretty easy all in all. Slide off, slide on
1 - use the switch to run the awning out with a little slack.
2 - Remove the left - idle/non motor side plastic cover. There are about 8 screws holding the clamshell cover on. But that's all it is, is a cover. Removing this allows clearance for the cord grooves
3 - At this point I cut the awning near the groove. The one piece with valance attachment has 2 grooves close together that I guess after time made pulling it out more work than it was worth, cutting it freed up the tension and it slid off easily.
4 with the old awning removed I cleaned everything real good and let it dry.
5- Rolled out the new awning and let it heat up for an hour in the sun to loosen it up
6 - Starting at the top rail I fed it in the cord groove to the awning arms and then fed the bottom and valance cords simultaneously on the roller. Getting over the cap screws was tough with the hem.
7- Once I got the hem over the cap screws it was pretty smooth sailing. For this part I needed 2 people, me on the roof to guide the top and my neighbor on an 8 foot ladder guiding the bottom on the roller. Went very quickly.
8 - put the cover back on the left side, install the set screws in the cord to hold in place and DONE.
That was it. We took our time and total start to finish was about an hour and a half with a lot of cleaning and taking our time. I could do it again in an hour
A few notes - the arms have little lateral resistance especially with the awning removed. With the pushing and pulling I didn't want to rack it, so I put a towel on the bucket of my tractor and raised it to rest against the awning arms to provide resistance against the direction we were pulling. Left side to remove the old, right side when pulling the new on. If you don't have a tractor with a loader handy, you might want a person to offer counter resistance to the pulling of the old awning off and new on.
My only real complaint about the whole process was with the awning fabric itself. Quality control being what it is in the RV industry is not missed on awnings either. When rolling it up initially after the install the awning would start winding over the caps on both ends near the top. Took me a few minutes to realize that the fabric itself is almost 3" wider at the top than the bottom. Rather than make an issue about it, remove and demand a replacement, I pulled each end at the top in about an inch. This works, but I wasn't real happy with carefree for the un-square fabric. I mean 3", come on.
I did take pics but have no idea how to post.
PM me if this is something you are trying and want to DIY. Much cheaper, easier to DIY, no springs, no roller removal, pretty easy all in all. Slide off, slide on
