Help with cleaning beds

[fallsrider]

My wife and I washed all the fabrics, including bed covers in our pop up this past Saturday. She just threw them in the regular top-load washer and they came out fine. It took several loads to get them all washed! Our camper is a '98 Jayco that we bought last week, by the way. Both mattress pads had a few spots of mildew on them, so I mixed up some Lysol soap (1/2 cup/gallon water) and sponged it onto the foam. We then hosed them down real good with a water hose. They hung out to dry all day Saturday, then we brought them into the house and have had them for 2 days now under a ceiling fan on high. We move them around, changing their exposure to the air a couple times each day. They feel real dry now. Tonight we will put them back into the covers, covering them with painters plastic first. We will see just how much the fabrics have shrunk. She only washed them in cold and we hung them on a clothes line outside to dry. I'm sure they still shrunk, though.

After all the cushions are back in their respective covers, we will spray them well with ScotchGuard Fabric Protector. We are hoping this will work good! We don't want to spend money on the fabrics or pads at this point, but we didn't want the mildew, either. At the very least, we hope it will buy us a couple of camping seasons.

[flyfisherman]

Just putting the foam mattress (with and without the zippered covering) out into the summer sunshine will work wonders for removing the musty odor. When giving the Starcraft a complete housecleaning I drag out the mattress from each of the bunk ends and lay them out on some saw horses for the major part of the day, right in the direct sunshine.

For removing a couple of coffee (?) stains on the fabric side of the seating cushions (fabric one side, vinyl the other), I used the carpet cleaning foam, spraying it on, then used a brush for working the foam into the fabric and then  vacumming with the wet/dry vacumm cleaner. Next, set them in the sunshine for the better part of the day - came out clean and fresh smelling!



Fly

[Old Goat]

When we bought our 01 Niagara new, we left the plastic shipping covers on the mattresses and have never had a problem with dirt,stains or mildew. They have no odor and look as good as new.  We use a thick mattress cover over the plastic and you never know it is there. We recently replaced one mattress with a new one which is custom made with 4" foam. WE sealed it in plastic before use and have had no problems.....

[maryo1944]

Hey guys my pop-up is a 94 model so the bed covers are dirty I am sure...how would you recomend cleaning them...I took the covers off they had a zipper.  The bottom is made of a plastic and the top is some kind of cloth...


Help going out in a week

I know your post is old, but I don't get here that often. I took them off and washed them in the washing machine on cold. Hung them to dry. Sprayed the foam with Lysol and Frebreze. Covered them with plastic drop clothes  and taped them on so the covers would slide easily. Put the old covers back on. Just like new!!

[scottykrug]

I agree with the above replies, the foam should not be washed.  Lowes sells the foam in sheets that can be cut exactly the same size as the original.  I just vacuumed the dust out of ours.  The covers simply unzipped like yours and I put them one at a time in our washer on the delicate cycle with woolite in cold water.  Then, just hung them out to air dry.  The use of a commercial front loading washer would be the best choice, I didn't have a coin op laundromat near by.

[PattieAM]

My Fleetwood Niagara owners manual says:  Mattress Covers - 5% Dawn dish washing liquid and 95% water - immediately blot or wipe dry.

Cushion/backrest covers - foam type cleaners and vacuum

[ScouterMom]

I bought  73 STARCRAFT last spring that probably spent the last 10-15 years closed up on someones back yard - it smelled musty!  it also had a leak that rotted out the back roof wall and some floorboards, but didn't damage the canvas or cushions - just made them smell.

I have allergies to mold & mildew - I couldn't sleep on that smell.

i washed ALL the 'soft' parts of my camper.  Since we had to repair the rotted roof board anyway, I even WASHED all of the canvas.

Mostly, I used plain water - lots of soaking, some scrubbing with Oxyclean or canvas cleaner on stained parts of the canvas.

I soaked EVERYTHING except the foam in a kiddie pool  on the back porch - in a mix of water and oxyclean.  Oxyclean is not a 'soap' or detergent - it doen't foam and rinses clean out of fabric.  It does loosen oil, dirt and any 'organic' stains.  It nutralizes most odors.

I used a mixture of 'febreeze for laundry' in my upholstry-cleaner / shop vac to clean the foam, and left them out in the sun in the backyard - turning them for a couple of days until they were bone dry again.

Many older (80's, 70's, 60's) camper's upholstry is not 'plastic' - it's vinyl. Vinyl holds up better unter temperature extremes - won't crack or dry out like plastic might.  Usually the surface has a 'leather look' texture and it's bonded to a light knit fabric for stability - vinyl is not as fragile as 'plastic'.  it CAN be washed and should not shrink, unless it's  washed in HOT water or put in a dryer.  usually it can be washed with a couple of old towels to 'scrub' the vinyl surface clean and hung on a line to dry.  The tops of your cushions might be upholstery material that is not intended to be 'washed'. like some throw rugs - it can be backed with a stiff coating, or rubbery backing that when washed, or old, can crack or comes apart in messy, itchy chunks.

You can try to wash these ( I did) and if you use cold water and a loose, gentle cycle, they will smell better and be cleaner.  You may have a mess in your washer filter, though, and run the risk of making the cover unusable.  I can use mine after washng them, but because my camper also came with after-market mattress covers (made of sheet material) I elected to leave them off and washed and used just the newer (maybe 15 yrs old) sheet covers.

there are inexpensive sheets available at places like WalMart (Queen flat sheets for around $5 each)  I would elect to spend $10 per bed and sew two new, washable flat sheets into a large pillowcase for the mattress.  ANYONE can manage 3 straight seams around an edge - and the opening is already hemmed for you - just tuck under the extra!  Bed covers don't have to have as 'tailored' a fit as the seat cushions, or have trim & zippers - and then you will have washable covers all the time!