Frequency & Intensity Of Awning Cleaning?

[Prior_Pete]

Gave up on my last awning, too far gone to make it look good again. My new awning was shiny white until my first trip, it now has those telltale brown dirt lines where the material rolls up on itself. I hosed it off to no avail so I'm wondering about others. Do you clean after every trip? Do you clean a couple of times a year? Do you scrub it or give it a light once over? I'd like to keep it looking new but I really don't want to clean it after every trip & I don't have time to do it immediately when I get home. I've tried the Dometic suggestion of dish soap & bleach & have never had any luck with it. Please, let me in on your secrets!

[hitower]

Long story short!
Get a bottle of Tilex
Spray both sides of your awning, roll it up and leave it for 30 mins give or take on how bad the dirt/staining is.
Clearly, if the stain is a mild stain then it's too late to get it out.
The wife and I have had our TT brand new since 07 and so far a couple spots on the underside but not enough to notice unless you're staring at it.

[tatest]

About once a year, coming out of winter storage. Dish soap and bleach, sprayed, wait, brush, rinse. When I do this, I try to wear the bleach-damaged clothing I wore the last time I did the job.

The awnings draw in moisture during storage, and are usually rolled up dirty enough to feed the fungi. You can wash it before you roll it up, but if you wait for it to be dry, it will be dirty again.

It is a personal tolerance thing. If you want it to be clean when you are camping, then you need to clean it coming out of storage, before each trip. There is not much point cleaning it at the end of a trip, after a month or more of storage (unless in climate controlled conditions) it will be dirty when you bring it out.

I've tried very hard to make my RV experience low intensity. This means learning to tolerate things like mildew on the awning, squashed bugs on the front, black streaks from dirt on the roof, muddy tires. The experience is what you make of it.

[Hannibal]

rbpru wrote:
I clean my awning at the beginning of the season and it stay clean till the next rain wicks in the dirt lines.

After cleaning it several times, I discovered it did not provide any more shade than when dirty, I did not get a reduction in my camping fees, no one gave me a clean awning achievement medal and it did not show up on my permanent record from high school.

I do open it up to dry after a rain.

Too funny! And true! Thanks for the laugh :B

[Hannibal]

Santa Fe wrote:
I always broom it off before I roll it up and yes, I do look like a weirdo doing so. If it's wet when I'm leaving, I unroll the awning first thing when I get home and leave it open until dry. So far so good...6+ trips with this one and it still looks clean.

That all I do. I try to have it rolled up the morning we leave before DW sees every leaf stain. :B

[rbpru]

I clean my awning at the beginning of the season and it stay clean till the next rain wicks in the dirt lines.

After cleaning it several times, I discovered it did not provide any more shade than when dirty, I did not get a reduction in my camping fees, no one gave me a clean awning achievement medal and it did not show up on my permanent record from high school.

I do open it up to dry after a rain.

[Camper_G]

I clean mine real good with a combination of dish soap and hot water, and i spray on rv mold and mildew cleaner on full strength first (don't let it dry ) i scrub it with a pole brush, same one i use to wash my rig after camping trips. Unfortunately due to the size of my lot, i can't unroll it unless i park the rig in the grass, which i only like to do once per year, so i pull off all the leaves when i break camp and dry it with a towel if it's not raining. Seems to work good. It's not all moldy at all. It gets a little when shut up for the off season over winter, but not real bad

[ZeeLet50]

Problem is you can put it away dry but unless your TT is covered, water from rain will wick in there and cause mildew. Seems like everytime I open the thing up, water will drip out even if I know it was dry when last closed. So I clean about every other month and before putting away for season as I have a cover for it.

[Huntindog]

Tachdriver wrote:

Huntindog wrote:
I buy new fabric every 5 years. It takes a little over an hour to install it...less time than I bet would be spent trying to keep it clean over 5 years.
In AZ, thats about all you can get no matter what anyway.

Vinyl or fabric? I have vinyl but it stains pretty good.

Vinyl

[Tachdriver]

Huntindog wrote:
I buy new fabric every 5 years. It takes a little over an hour to install it...less time than I bet would be spent trying to keep it clean over 5 years.
In AZ, thats about all you can get no matter what anyway.

Vinyl or fabric? I have vinyl but it stains pretty good.

[Santa_Fe]

I always broom it off before I roll it up and yes, I do look like a weirdo doing so. If it's wet when I'm leaving, I unroll the awning first thing when I get home and leave it open until dry. So far so good...6+ trips with this one and it still looks clean.

[samsontdog]

I clean it good after every trip

[Terryallan]

I clean it very good once a year, and just lightly clean it after every trip. I make sure it is dry when rolled up, IF not. I roll it out and dry it at home.

[Community Alumni]

Clean our's using Mr Clean Magic Eraser once each spring.

[ktmrfs]

I found that the magic eraser mop head works fantastic at cleaning the awning. Use it in conjunction with bleach and your favorite cleaner.