How To Clean Your Awning’s Canvas During The Winter

In order to have a long-lasting, well-maintained awning, it’s important to follow a few steps when the awning is being used often as well as right before the cold, snowy winter months. As a continuation to our previous blog, Enjoying Easy Maintenance & Cleaning of Acrylic Awning Fabrics, we expand on the topic of maintaining your awning fabrics and share the necessary steps and tasks needed for optimal care before the winter begins, when it’s time to close up your retractable awnings. (To learn if your awning can be used in the wintertime, read our previous article here).

At OmbraSole, we use the latest Sunbrella acrylic fabrics that are quite easy to maintain, without much help from professionals.

Proper Care All Year Round

Here are the steps homeowners can take for the proper care all year round:

1. In the warmer months, it’s important to clean the canvas every week. If this is not done on a regular basis (preferably weekly, if used often), dust and dirt will become embedded in the woven fabric and it will be much more difficult to clean later on. After many years of usage, the canvas may need a more thorough cleaning done by a specialized cleaning company.
2. When it’s time to clean your awning with a specialized cleaning service, it is crucial to ask that they waterproof the canvas at the same time, as the products used in cleaning can remove the roof’s protection (water repellent).
3. Once winter arrives and you’ve just finished spraying the awning with a water hose for the last time before the cold weather begins, it’s important to dry it right away. If the canvas is left wet while it is rolled in all winter, mushrooms will quickly begin growing on the fabric. At that moment, it will be extremely difficult and tedious to remove them all yourself and will most likely require you to call in a specialized cleaning company.

However, during the warmer months, it is fine to roll up your wet awning, as it is more likely you will open it up the next day and it will dry under the hot sun.

Why Do the Roofs of Awnings Get So Dirty?

Awnings get dirty because of pollution surrounding the location of the home as well as because of mold growth. Of course, if the homeowner lives near busy highways, roads, manufacturing plants, or is surrounded by many trees and birds, the awning fabric will get dirty much more quickly. Here are the ways to ensure your awning stays nice and clean no matter where you live:

To clean the acrylic canvas, there is no need to disassemble it; simply set up a stable stool or ladder and place it by the awning.

• You can start by dusting your canvas with a vacuum.
• Then rinse off some of the dirt with water.
• Once you’ve rinsed off the canvas quickly, you can mix your soap with water. The soap used should be very mild and colorless with a neutral PH level.
• Apply the soap with a soft brush, with emphasis on any visible stains.
• Rinse off the soap residue with your hose.
• Do NOT close the awning immediately after hosing it down; let the fabric dry so as not to create new stains and mold.

It’s important to note that when cleaning your awning the following should NOT be used at all costs, as they can damage the canvas and filtering capabilities can be weakened:

• a high-pressured water jet,
• a stiff brush,
• bleach,
• a steam generator.

For more information on how to properly clean and maintain your awning, contact us today.