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beverlto's avatar
beverlto
Explorer
Jan 20, 2018

How to clean water stains on ceiling fabric

My 2006 Winnebago Outlook is great in many ways - but not so great on the details. We bought it two years old from an RV dealer who planned to use it as a rental but never set up a rental department. It was a great deal with very few miles on it.

Flash forward a couple of years and even though I've maintained the motorhome, I've still had to deal with multiple small water leaks. Last summer I finally put a stop to them by fully resealing all the roof penetrations. That did the trick, but now I'm trying to clean up the water stains from the fabric ceiling.

I've tried Spot Shot, Woolite spray foam, a watered-down bleach mixture (suggested on another forum) and Oxyclean pet stain remover. Not only do the stains look bad, but they'll reduce the value of the rig if I try to sell it later on. Has anyone had success in removing them?

Someone mentioned a cleaner like "Woolite Maximum Strength Oxyclean Pet Stain Formula". (The exact name got away from me.) I found it online about a year ago, but it was about $35 per bottle - not available at your neighborhood grocery store. That was a steep price to pay for something that "should work". Has it worked for anyone?

Any help is appreciated!
  • I can say that it's a really hard situation, I had a similar problem, I couldn't clean my carpet, so I decided to use Google in order to find something about it, and some people on forums advised me to use cleaning services, I was searching for 2 hours for finding a suitable variant and I used service from one place, they provide rug cleaning. I can say that everything started looking as if it was brand new, and I'm pleased with the result. In my opinion, you need to Google something about these services, maybe it will be an expensive thing to buy but maybe it will fix your issue.
  • Dsuarez22 wrote:
    I'm terribly sorry for posting here but I have a similar problem and I'm wondering if you managed to fix this problem


    Which problem? the loose a/c unit or the stained ceiling? yes to both, took the grill down from inside the rv and tightened the 4 lag screws holding the roof unit to the rv. That stopped the water leak when driving in the rain. Then as above stated, Folex and carpet cleaner with the carpet cleaner machine.
  • I had water stains and tried the peroxide/baking soda paste -- It worked great. A little messy, but I'll use it again if needed. There is absolutely no residue or marks to show a stain was ever there and it does not stick out white, whiter than the rest of the ceiling. Make paste, brush in with a soft brush, let dry, I used a vacuum hose to get all extra off ( it will dry hard like cement). When excess removed, use wet white cloth and clean remained off working from outside to in - let dry and stains will be gone. Heavy stains may required a 2nd treatment, but mine didn't.

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