This topic is a result of an older thread that had to do with canvas tents. I bought an old canvas tent on a whim and unseen (always a great idea...) It turned out the tent had active mildew and smelled like cat urine. Nice! Back then I was debating cleaning or discarding it. I was leaning toward a suggestion from Canotrouge. "Torching it and using the poles as tomato stakes". Sounded like a great idea at the time!
Just out of curiosity, and because I really liked the tent otherwise, I read up on dealing with mildew, mildew spots and dealing with cat urine. I subsequently bought some specific cleaning stuff, and yesterday I finally got to dealing with the tent. To summarize, I am glad I did not burn the tent, as I now have a great larger canoeing tent!!! (see pics)
The black spots visible on the tent roof in the photo are shadows from nearby shrub. The mildew spots were still very faintly visible upon close inspection. A second treatment with stain remover might have improved that some more, but I found it quite good as is.
I know the photo doesn't really show this too well, but the cat urine smell is gone too
. Get really close to your screen now...see. No cat urine smell! It even passed a smell test by my wife and my daughter!
The cleaning agents I used were:
Vinegar: Kills mildew and stops it from spreading
IOSSO Mold and Mildew Cleaner: Treat/remove mildew spots but does not kill or alter canvas! Many other cleaners are too harsh on canvas fibers.
Nature's Miracle Just for Cats Urine Destroyer: Enzymatic cleaner designed to work on cat urine, and it does work well!
Just out of curiosity, and because I really liked the tent otherwise, I read up on dealing with mildew, mildew spots and dealing with cat urine. I subsequently bought some specific cleaning stuff, and yesterday I finally got to dealing with the tent. To summarize, I am glad I did not burn the tent, as I now have a great larger canoeing tent!!! (see pics)
The black spots visible on the tent roof in the photo are shadows from nearby shrub. The mildew spots were still very faintly visible upon close inspection. A second treatment with stain remover might have improved that some more, but I found it quite good as is.
I know the photo doesn't really show this too well, but the cat urine smell is gone too
. Get really close to your screen now...see. No cat urine smell! It even passed a smell test by my wife and my daughter!The cleaning agents I used were:
Vinegar: Kills mildew and stops it from spreading
IOSSO Mold and Mildew Cleaner: Treat/remove mildew spots but does not kill or alter canvas! Many other cleaners are too harsh on canvas fibers.
Nature's Miracle Just for Cats Urine Destroyer: Enzymatic cleaner designed to work on cat urine, and it does work well!
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