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Mildew!

Started by hoseppy, Mar 22, 2005, 05:41 PM

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hoseppy

Hey guys how's it going.  I'm a new PU owner ('98 Jayco 12SO).  Got a great deal because of mildew in rear bunk end, last owner put up wet at sometime, not wet now even thru several rains.  I have read the OM and says nothing about cleaning mildew, just to use spounge and water to remove dirt.  Tried this on some of the mildew and I think I heard it laugh.  The OM says nothing about mildew except that it's bad like a cheap suit. Not to 'do this' if it does happen.  It does say that if the canvas comes into contact with anything (bug spray, sunblock, etc.) that might affect it's ability to turn water to spray it down with Scotch Guard Fabric Protectant.  Okay, that's what I know.  I really guess my question is what should I use to clean the mildew that will have the least effect on the canvas?  Has anyone else had a little mildew problem and used something to clean and treat their canvas, preferably a Jayco - I've read that there are several different kinds of tenting in use.  And has anyone treated their canvas with Scotch Guard Fabric Protectant?  And how did that go?  Get all that?  
Thanks in advance for your help.

Hoseppy

FL Crackers

Not a Jayco owner, but consider ours a "small problem."

I suspect our landscaper punched a hole in the P's lid, creating an opening for rain and other moisture sources. Since it was our off-camping season (summer), didn't notice it for at least three weeks, maybe even longer. By the time I did see the hole and popped up, mildew had set in. I did as you are doing and researched as many sources as I could. First thing I did was close up and take to an auto-body shop that dealt with PU punctures like this.

Once the roof was fixed, I made a couple expensive and ineffective attempts to get rid of the mildew -- only to end up with bleach and water.

I mixed a 1 part bleach to 6 parts water and poured into a spray bottle. I opened the PU, unzipping and separating all the mildewed parts from the other parts, removing mattresses, pillows, the works.

I figured (from what I learned here and elsewhere) that I needed to treat whole panels, not just the mildew area. While I treated the "spots" intensely (spraying, brushing, rinsing, etc.,) I did saturate, rub and rinse each panel entirely to assure that even the clean parts got some treatment.

Once dried, those mildew stains more or less disappeared. I did treat the panels with Scotchgard just to make sure we were still water-tight.

Have not seen a return of the mildew after almost a year and don't see any tell-tale signs of the problem unless I really look for it.

hoseppy

FL Crackers, you da man!  I've just been looking everywhere for someone who's done something about this before and their results.  Everybody talks about how bad mildew is, but it seemed no one had ever had it or done anything about it.  ('Ever had mildew in your camper?' 'No! Never! Who told you that?  Where did you get your information?!?!?')  Everything you read tells you how bad mildew is but not what to do when you get a little.  I guess we're the ones who'll start the meeting ('Hi, I'm Joe and I have mildew' in unison 'Hi Joe').  
Thanks again, next pretty day I'll attack the mildew with some good old fashion bleach and water, clean the rest of the tenting too and then Scotch Guard the whole thing.  Lots of work, but if it gets rid of the mildew and keeps the water out and makes my PU last longer and makes camping in it a pleasureable experience for the fam then it's all worth it.
See ya'll in the woods!

garym053

Hey Hoseppy!
Do a search for mildew in the little search box over the Fix It forum, and you'll see several threads that pertain to this subject.

"Why, yes" He answered, "I too have suffered through Mildew at one time or another. I hope it won't have a detrimental affect on our relationship!"

I love your humor! When I was suffering through Mildew, I had very little humor! I used a product called Starbrite Mildew Stain Remover, which was primarily a strong bleach solution, repeatedly. So much so that it weakened the canvas and corroded the bunk rails on my Jayco. Even though I rinsed it off as best as I could each time.

Now I use a mild bleach solution, then wash it with Woolite.

Good luck!

hoseppy

Thanks for the advice Gary.  I'm thinking mild bleach and Woolite may be the way to go.  I swear I searched 'mildew' and it turned up like 3 things that had mentions of mildew but nothing in depth.  So I go back and search again after your post and guess what?  Yep, lots of posts on mildew!  (Snort)  Must've searched the 'humor' section.  Thanks for enjoying my little blurbs here on the net.  Can't use my humor like I used to at work, consultant says 'don't be funny, people don't enjoy funny'.  Guess that's why he's a consultant and I'm the one with the working gig.  No offense to any consultants reading this...okay I can't do it with a straight face.  I mean lots of offense to all consultants reading this, and you know who you are.  Consultants, for those of you who have no experience with them, are people who fail in their chosen field and now charge for their opinion.  Doesn't make sense to me either, but again, I'm the one with the working gig.  Sorry I've digressed into my own little personal tirade.  The REAL enemy here is mildew!  Grab your spray bottles, sponges, elbow grease and pray for sunshine.  'Let's get dangerous'.  I watch entirely too many cartoons with my children.  Name the cartoon reference and I'll send ya a Tennessee quarter.  
Here's to sand in your underwear and ants in the sugar,
H

griffsmom

Quote from: hoseppy'Let's get dangerous'. I watch entirely too many cartoons with my children. Name the cartoon reference and I'll send ya a Tennessee quarter.
Here's to sand in your underwear and ants in the sugar,
H
Well I know for sure that it's NOT The Incredibles.  My MIL bought the dvd for my 4 y/o DS last Thursday and I think we've watched it a minimum of 40 times since then!
 
My son is even starting to say the lines with the characters! His favorite is Edna: "These words are useless; gobble, gobble, gobble gobble, gobble.  There's too much of it, darling...too much!"  I loved the movie in the theatre and the first 15 or 20 times, but now I'm getting a bit :eyecrazy:

SpeakEasy

Holy cow; be very, very careful. Bleach can easily consume fabric. There's a spray mildew-remover available called X-10 or some such thing. I bought a bottle of it to use on my awning a few years ago. I think it's mostly bleach. Anyway, the instructions on the bottle tell you that it is not to be used on cotton-based fabrics because it will weaken them. Well, I got some on my jeans, and they turned white and wore through within a few weeks. If that stuff had gotten onto my popup's sunbrella material it would have been the end of it for sure. If I were going to do this I'd start out with a mix of water and bleach that was ridiculously weak and increase its strength little-by-little if the concentration I was using failed to work.

Also, when I have cleaned my tent canvas before I have re-waterproofed with silicon spray. I don't know about Scotch Guard, having never heard of it being used as a waterproofer. But I can vouch for silicon. It works great to restore a waterproofing to canvas. If you go this route, go for the good stuff. Silicone spray is expensive. Watch out for the cheap imitations.

garym053

You are right, Speakeasy. Bleach will weaken the canvas, that's why IF you use it, make sure you dilute it well! (kind of funny, those of us with public water drink it every day, yet it is so corrosive!) Anyway, I (now) dilute it so much it probably isn't even doing any good and it's the Woolite that is really getting the stains out.

By the way, the Starbrite Mildew Remover that I used was recommended by 3 different RV Dealers to use on my Jayco tenting! I'd like to spray some of that Starbrite u... Never mind!

Scotch Guard is recommended by Jayco and they also make a Scotchguard for Tents, and other outdoor products. Works very nicely after cleaning with Woolite.

mgwerks

Quote from: hoseppyHas anyone else had a little mildew problem and used something to clean and treat their canvas, preferably a Jayco - I've read that there are several different kinds of tenting in use.  And has anyone treated their canvas with Scotch Guard Fabric Protectant?  And how did that go?
We used OxyClean and it removed all active an inactive mildew, and about 95% of the stains.  Not as harmful as bleach, either.

Quote from: hoseppy'Let's get dangerous'.  I watch entirely too many cartoons with my children.  Name the cartoon reference and I'll send ya a Tennessee quarter.
Pinky and the Brain?  Animaniacs?

Tufster

Hi there .
We had a mildew problem.
Dealer told us to use equal parts of bleach water and vinegar.
If you are concerned about using bleach just buy the fabric safe bleach.
We had no problem.
Combine be water bleach and vinegar in a spray bottle and just spray on and watch the mildew disappear.
Good luck
Mike

droids

Darkwing Duck!! Let's get dangerous!

meganey

This thread is extremely helpful! I'm getting ready to tackle cleaning all the mildew off of an old popup i just bought, so i might be trying these ideas in lieu of tossing the whole thing.. haha.


The Grimm Adventures of Billy & Mandy.... :)

jbolling76

I have a little mildew starting to form from using my air conditioner, and it draining off onto the back bunk. I tried to put it up as dry as possible everytime but have some mildew starting. I got some stuff at lowes made by Damp rid that is specifically for removing mildew. It's in a spray bottle and it states that it will not corrode or eat anything up, and that it does not have a strong odor so it can be used effectively in confined areas. I plan to tackle it this weekend and I'll let everybody know if it's worth trying or not. Also Damp Rid has some stuff in a spray bottle that is supposed to prevent mildew from forming, so if the cleaner does pretty good, I'll probably treat it with that and then scotchgaurd.
I also got one of those BIG buckets of damp rid to put in the camper when I'm not using it, and I'm sure it'll help, I've used some of the smaller containers of it before and it has always worked well for me.

jbolling76

Well, I know it's been a while since anybody added anything to this thread, including myself. Well I found something that works pretty good, and it may surprise you guys. The damprid mold and mildew remover didn't do anything, I bought some 303 cleaner, it didn't work, I'm gonna keep it for my boat top.
After alot of searching through threads here and on other sites, I tried soft scrub of all things! And it worked pretty good too believe it or not. I got the kind with bleach in it and it was probably more so the bleach but it did pretty well. I cleaned on spot probably the size of a baseball to see how it would do, and after I scrubbed it and rinsed really good, I took a hair dryer and dryed the spot, and it looked brand new. Unfortunately I didn't have time to do the rest of the canvas, but I'm gonna get that next week. So theres my 2 cents worth.  :p

jbolling76

O yeah, I fogot Krud Kutter. I tried it on a spot also, It would be a little more work than the soft scrub, but it did fairly decent too.