Replacing awning fabric

I was in the exact same spot last May, with the same questions you have.

I have a Carefree of Colorado awning, and decided to bite the bullet, order the fabric, and do it myself. It turned out fine.

As others have said, you will need 2 people. Took my wife and I about 2 hours (were both around 50). Had some minor hiccups but got through them (like, 1 screw being really hard to get out on the top rail, fabric "melted" onto the roller tube so we had to get scissors and cut off, etc. Nothing major though). The cost of replacement fabric was around $430. Carefree was great to work with- there were a bunch of specifications that I needed to choose from their website, which...I had no clue which values I needed to pick. I sent Carefree my current serial number, and they told me the exact options I needed to pick from their website.

The video already linked above was one I watched, but- since each awning is slightly different, had found this Carefree of Colorado awning replacement vid on the Tough Top website- probably watched this thing 10-20 times.

Carefree Of Colorado

My big concern was the torsion spring. Unwinding turned out fine. You do need to count the number of times it unwinds so that you can wind it back up the same #. The number of winds is slightly different for everyone. I think mine was wound 11 times. As I was winding it back, it was getting REALLY tough to wind around 8-9 cranks, so I think I stopped at 9 and said screw it. It's been fine with 9 winds.

Old awning:


New awning:

I replaced the fabric in our awning back in 2011 with help from DW. Post from back then with pictures and some text here.

YouTube is your friend. Wife and I did ours in about 3 hours.

I bought the fabric online for a very reasonable price. The YouTube videos make it very straightforward. You need only a few simple tools. I was lucky to have four helpers and I needed every one.

I have not done an awning but I did do the bedroom slide topper. Bought it from Tough Top, I believe. Yes it was, I just googled the name. I had a significantly younger and lighter Grand Son to help and we both watched the Tough Top video on YouTube.

Easy Peasy, took longer to get the tools ready and the ladders out than it did to replace the topper. DGS washed the top of the slide while the torn topper was off and I ground the points off two 16d framing nails to hold the tube in place.

Tough Top has videos specifically for their products. I'd do the awning in a heart beat and I'm 78 years old. With the DGS help of course.

if you do it yourself make sure you have at least another person and a couple of ladders.

good luck

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Buy the fabric online. There are a bunch of youtube videos showing how to do it. Only thing you will need a strong helper and a couple of ladders.