If you haven’t been camping for a while and you have your tent stored away it can begin to gather mould over time which in turn becomes unhealthy for you if you were to use the tent. You will need to clean up the mould otherwise your tent will end up in the rubbish tip rather quickly.
So, How do you remove mould from a canvas tent?
- How Does Mould Develop On A Camping Tent
- How Do You remove Mould From A Tent
- What Is The Best Way To Clean A Canvas Tent
- Cleaning Mold Off Your Canvas Tent Using Vinegar
- How To Clean A Tent That Smells
- Can you wash a tent in a front loading washing machine
- The Tents Seam Taping
When it comes to cleaning your tent it’s a good idea to try and give it a good clean out once you get back from your camping trip, that way it would get rid of any dust or mud you might have picked up. It would certainly be good practice to clean your tent if you have stored it away in the garage for a number of months just to make sure that it does not collect any mould, due to it picking up any moisture while tucked away in the corner of the garage.
How much moulds built up and using the right tools in order to get rid of that mould, hopefully, this article will help you to clean up your tent if there is a collection of mould.
How does Mould develop on a camping tent
There are a few ways for mould to begin to develop on your camping tent, usually, if you store the tent away somewhere in the garage and you have dried it before for a few days at least, and cleared out any dust you should not have a problem. If your tent is left damp, and if it has been raining and muddy and you have not cleaned off any of the dirt and mud and just stored it away in the garage it will begin to collect mould overtime, as the moisture in the garage will make it worse, and enough for the bacteria to grow over time.
How Do You Remove Mold From A Tent
If you happen to pull your tent out of your storage and it does happen to have mould grown on it, there are ways to get rid of it by giving it a good clean. Most people would think that washing the tent in a washing machine to get rid of the mould would work, but in fact, it won’t. You will definitely need to avoid placing it in there, some tents might say that they are machine washable but the truth is, any coating of waterproof will come off and the seams on the tent will be destroyed.
A good way to remove the mould from your tent would be to make sure the tent is pitched in place, that way it would be easier to stretch the material and able to clean it. Once the tent is set up just start with the basic cleaning methods. Start with a bowl of warm water mixed with some soap and have a gentle soft bristled brush ready.
You will need to apply some elbow grease and really get into scrubbing off that moulded area, it’s only because you want to clean off as much of the bacteria. I wouldn’t recommend using any form of kitchen soap as this will just attract any insects or bugs to the smell that the soap gives out, so that’s the last thing you want to do.
You can buy some camping cleaning equipment detergents being one of them to help clean your tents, and they won’t affect the material either, so incase your tent does have some waterproof covering it won’t harm that chemical at all.
Simply start with the sponge and the soapy water and begin tour down the affected area, and with the soft bristle brush aswell, once you have cleaned up as much of the mould off just wash it down with some fresh clean water, and let the area to dry thoroughly.
What Is The Best Way To Clean A Canvas Tent
When cleaning the canvas tent the best way would be to use white wine vinegar and mix that with some warm water, as it would kill the bacteria from the mould without damaging the canvas material as they usually tend to have another layer of coating on the material to prevent any water or rain to soak the material.
You would follow the same procedure to washing the area that has been affected and make sure that when you do dry that area use either a paper towel or some clean cloth to help suck up the water as quick as possible, this prevents any more mould from coming back.
Cleaning Mold Off Your Canvas Tent Using Vinegar
When dealing with mould on your tent alot of people tend to say never to use bleach, even companies tend to say the same thing, and it’s only because the chemicals can be harsh to the material of the tent.
There are other materials that you can use and vinegar is one of them. Vinegar is an acidic liquid so it helps kill any build up of bacteria and can clean up a dirty looking material and make it look brand new.
The best way to use vinegar to clean your canvas tent without it being so harmful to it is the following:
- Take one cup of vinegar and pour it into a spray bottle
- Spray the vinegar on the mould
- Let the vinegar sink in for at least five minutes
- Spray again and let the vinegar sit for another five minutes
- Wash the vinegar and mould off with fresh clean water
- Let the tent dry in the sun
The mould should eventually disappear if it does not and you are not happy with the result to try one more time and it should clean off the mould.
How To Clean A Tent That Smells
If your tent developed mould or mildew after you have cleaned it all up you’ll find a stale kind of smell or dusty kind of smell. The last thing you want is to be camping and you find that smell when you sleeping or using the tent. To get rid of the odour will take some time so it would be best to get rid of it before you use it for your trip.
A good way to get rid of the odor would be to air the tent itself, the best way would be to open up the tent and leave it to hang somewhere to air out a washing line or some chairs in the garden, but whatever you don’t place it on the grass or ground otherwise the air will be blocked to go through the tent, use a fabric spray to help fight off the smell and leave it out for the entire day to clear ou the smell.
If your tent’s smell is really bad and dirty then you might just need a more thorough clean out and give it a good scrub down, just to get rid of the smell. The best way would be to lay out the tent and give it a good hand wash, use a soft bristle with some non-scented soap and water, and definitely look into investing into a waterproofing solution to prevent it from coming off while your scrubbing.
Another way of getting rid of bad odour’s is by using an enzyme odour eliminator, this will clean out the smell from the tent. All you need to do is fill up a tub of water with the solution product and place the tent in there and leave it to soak for some time, at least 10 minutes. Once you have let it soak find a place for it to dry leave it to hang on the washing line.
Can you wash a tent in a front loading washing machine
There are different ways to wash a camping tent, and most people assume you can wash your tent in a washing machine, especially when your new to camping, the truth is that it’s not recommended at all.
The reason for this is simply because you will end up doing more damage to your tent then you think. Someone that has no idea or new to pwning a tent will wonder why that is and the reasons are the following:
- The Tents Fabric Coating
- The tents seam taping
- The tents mesh
The Tents Fabric Coating
There is a coating of polyurethane that goes around your tent, it helps keep water from entering your tent through those rainy or stormy weather conditions. You can always recoat your tent with the polyurethane with some products on the market but eventually, it will become more costly and very time-consuming. The reason why the washing machine will affect your tents fabric coating is that the washing machine will take off the layer of waterproof coating because of the roughness of the washing machine cylinder.
The Tents Seam Taping
When the tents are made they are sewn together to keep the tent tight and to keep out any little bugs and insects. Over the sewn part of the tent, there is a seam taping that helps prevent water leakage and little bugs getting into the material and tent itself. The roughness of the washing machine can easily rip off the seam taping from the tent which will cause a complete torn tent.
The Tents Mesh
Every camping tents tend to have a mesh to allow ventilation of air to come through the tent, almost acting like a window to allow fresh air in. If you place your tent into the washing machine with the rough cycle you tend to run a high risk of making some very large holes in the mesh, which in turn will cost main to repair it.