Community Forums

Doug427 · 02-13-2022, 10:30 AM

Hopefully you guys can help me with this - My wife and I want to take down the front windshield provacy curtains and clean them. Ours need cleaning badly. I remember reading at least one and maybe more threads on here about how folks went about cleaning them. I can't find those threads. They're made of a strange fabric in that they're sort of stiff and permanently (I hope) pleated. I don't want to do something in cleaning them that damages them. Can someone more skilled with search than I am point me in the right direction to the threads on the proper way to clean these without causing damage? Thanks!

dizcom · 02-13-2022, 10:42 AM

If they're washable, there should be a care label on them somewhere. It will tell you what you should be doing. If they aren't, you can probably still wash them by hand or use cold water and the delicates cycle on your washing machine. Don't dry them in the dryer. I had one set that I laid flat and used a soft brush and laundry soap on. They came out nice. The rest were all machine washable.

Dutch Star Don · 02-13-2022, 02:16 PM

They're probably pretty fragile. I would take them to a dry cleaner. Unfortunately, a dry cleaner can be expensive.

The second choice would be to gently wash them by hand. When clean, fold them so that the pleats are folded properly and let them dry. Once dry, you could gently iron them, so the pleats hold their shape.

l1v3fr33ord1 · 02-13-2022, 03:50 PM

Doug427-

I washed mine in a washing machine (gentle), dried in a dryer (low), and ironed the pleats (low). Worked fine. No guarantees, express or implied.

TANDD · 02-14-2022, 04:42 PM

Ours were water stained from condensation and looked bad. DW put them in a clean bathtub with warm water and OXYCLEAN. Worked awesome!
TANDD

travlin · 02-14-2022, 06:32 PM

I removed ours from a 2000 DSDP and took them to the dry cleaners. The lady there said that they couldn't dry clean them even though that's what the mfgr. says to do. Then she went on to say that she would take them home to see what could be done. I figured that it wouldn't hurt to find out as they would be $500 to replace them. By the following Monday she called to say that they were ready. She soaked them in Oxi-clean and rinsed, then went after the tough spots with baking soda and a toothbrush. When finished they looked very good. a couple of small blemishes but nothing to complain about. I gave her a generous tip and we were both happy.
I doubt that the curtains had ever been cleaned before.

On to the next battle..........

mark 62 · 02-14-2022, 06:40 PM

Ours were water-stained from condensation and looked bad. DW put them in a clean bathtub with warm water and oxy clean. Worked awesomely!

Doug427 · 02-14-2022, 07:37 PM

Thanks guys.

PABO05 · 02-14-2022, 08:27 PM

Mine were water stain also.
I took them home wash in the washing machine gentle cycle.
Dry on low heat in the dryer came out beautiful.
That was three plus years ago. Still looks great.

Doug427 · 02-14-2022, 10:04 PM

I don't think ours have ever been cleaned. Certainly not in the two years that we own the rig. When we bought it we took multiple days to wash the inside from top to bottom, inside and out, but for some reason we never got to the front drapes. They're water stained in some places from condensation and just dingy in general. It's better in my mind to try to clean them first rather than just buy new. If they get messed up then I have to replace them anyway. Ours are strange though in that they're not just fabric. They're some sort of semi stiff fabric that holds the pleats in very rigindly. I don't know how to describe it. If any of you ever had the 1980's style vertical blinds in your home at one point, the material my RV blinds are made of is sort of like that. It's as if there's some type of type plastic embedded in the fabric.

I'm thinking I'll see what the dry cleaner says, and if it's too expensive or they won't do the job I'll try the bathtub method as that seems to be the least invasive method. If they don't come clean in the tub I'll try the washing manchine.

jacwjames · 02-15-2022, 07:15 AM

Our rig was ~7 years old when we found a set of curtains on clearance at CW. But we took the old curtains to the dry cleaners and they came out great so we now have 2 sets.

153stars · 02-15-2022, 07:51 PM

oops double post somehow

153stars · 02-15-2022, 08:09 PM

They have larger front loaders a laundromat for comforters ect. Definitely not in basic top loader with agitator. I put each panel in my pretty big front loader. With mix borax , oxyclean. all fab bleach in preclean and then tide. One water stain remained. They are super heavy, double layer "triple really". My guess to replace same design ,weight dual paneling would be $1000 . A lot of parts of coach are nicer than my house or cars , so can live with it.