Renew the look of RV carpet or upholstery. Keep RV carpets looking and smelling fresh and clean.
Repairs and Quick Fixes Carpet and Upholstery Color Touch-up
A touch of fabric paint can easily renew the look of RV carpet or upholstery.
We keep fabric paint on hand, the kind that’s available in very small squirt bottles from craft stores or craft departments. The cost is nominal. The storage is easy. With a few select colors in the shades closest to our rig’s carpet and upholstery in our rig, we can do quick repairs anywhere. We just dab with a fingertip or corner of a rag, or brush with a small watercolor brush. Whether the marred area is a stain that won’t come our or spot where the color has faded, we can renew the look of the carpet or upholstery with almost no effort.
Quick Tricks for RV Carpet Clean-up
Here are fast, inexpensive ways to clean RV carpet and remove odors.
For us, the camping experience involves living life fully. That entails hiking, fishing, swimming and beach walking with dogs and kids of all ages, agility and digestive sophistication. Through many years and many RV rigs, we have encountered incidents that can temporarily soil the RV carpet. The ones that demand the most immediate attention can be lumped under the heading of VBUFT—vomit, blood, urine, feces and tar. Here are some of the home remedies and fast, inexpensive methods we use for cleaning RV carpet and getting rid of RV carpet odors.
Enzymes are Your Friend
At the top of our list for pet odor neutralizing is an enzyme-based product called Nature's Miracle. We discovered it when our dog was a puppy in her training phase and have been able to find it at chain pet supply stores such as PetSmart and Petco. While we haven’t had any house-training mishaps in our RV, we have experienced mystery animal odors that this product helps eliminate. Nature’s Miracle is a clear liquid. You squirt a stream of it directly on the stain without diluting it. Rumor has it that the product even gets rid of baby spit-up smell.
Good Old Baking Soda, White Vinegar and Bar Towels
Sometimes when we are camping, we are not near a pet supply store. Things we usually keep on hand are baking soda, white vinegar and small, square white terry towels. For odor causing elements that find their way into RV carpet, we have been known to do the following: make a paste out of baking soda and water and rub it into the affected area with a wet bar towel. These are usually available for sale in packs of 12 or so at big box stores such as Walmart or membership discount stores such as Costco. After the paste rub-down, we douse the spot with white vinegar and blot with a dry bar towel, repeating if it is necessary. The vinegar smell can be strong briefly. Our experience has been that it fades.
Other friends have mentioned using a variation of the baking soda trick. This one includes an initial dose of dry soda for an overnight “pre-clean.” Vacuum the next day, then try the soda-water paste technique, rinse with water and blot with as many clean white towel rags as you can spare. Allow to dry and vacuum once more. The towels can be pressure hosed to pre-clean before laundering. If the towel defies cleaning and has to be disposed of, its completed job in saving the carpet feels to us like a good investment.
Carpet Cleaner, Non-chlorine Bleach, Laundry Stain Pre-Treatment
Bottled carpet cleaner is a great thing to have on hand in the “laundry/cleaning compartment” of the RV. We have been known to use it full strength as prep for a later full steam cleaning. On occasion, something greasy with the potential to stain will land on the carpet. That’s when we reach for the spray bottle of laundry pre-treatment solution such as Shout or Spray & Wash. We also keep a bottle of non-chlorine bleach such as Clorox II on hand. A little pour of it full strength can help remove any number of potential stains, and if we can’t completely rinse at the moment, we rinse, blot and keep that spot in mind for the next steam cleaning occasion.
Goo Gone and Peanut Butter—It’s Not a Sandwich
Beach tar, chewing gum and other sticky things find their way into RV carpet. A product we try to keep on hand is Goo Gone. Used as directed on the bottle, it is great for loosening and removing sticky substances. Another home remedy that we have also used with success is peanut butter. We rub it into the sticky spot, scrape off the excess and then clean up the residual peanut butter.
A cautionary note: It is best before trying any remedy to test for color fastness. And if color is affected, keep in mind the fabric paint option for restoring color to affected areas of RV carpet.