Cleaning original upholstery

tmsnyder

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2014
3,351
1,241
113
Buffalo NY
As the title suggests, any guidance would be welcome to this new owner. It looks like these are hog-ringed to the seat frame. Is there a generally
accepted way to get these off and into a washing machine? Maybe I need hog ring pliers to get them back on after I cut the rings? Is that what
people are doing? Or should I just steam clean in place, or pull the furniture out and steam clean outside?

Also, during our 2000 mile recovery trip we discovered that the pull out dinette and rear side facing settee's are not comfortable. Major bar across
the back issues. Any guidance on new foam or foam upgrades, suggestions? We have a good foam place nearby, I can get pretty much anything from
them, cut to size.
 
I vacuumed with a beater bar power brush head then extracted with a "steam" cleaner. Be sure to extract as much as possible and do on a sunny day with
lots of fans to move air. Once you get it clean then you can just vacuum and wipe down with a cotton towel wrung out in a bucket with
water/upholstery cleaner mix. If this full process is not enough you can always disassemble the upholstery in the future.
--
John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II
 
Jon
Why didn't you tell me about this when I was in need of a total upholstery
overhaul ! lol

Mike in NS

On Wed, Apr 17, 2019 at 5:35 PM Jon Roche via Gmclist <

> lots of work.
>
> Look up Mike Teets. http://teamteets.com/gmc/upholstery.html
>
> I can't remember right now if I posted much on my DIY(or my mother-in-law
> with my wife and my help) upholstery job.
>
> there are some adjustments that can be made to the seats to help the
> flatness.
>
>
> --
> Jon Roche
> 75 palm beach
> St. Cloud, MN
> http://lqqkatjon.blogspot.com/
>
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--
Michael Beaton
1977 Kingsley 26-11
1977 Eleganza II 26-3
Antigonish, NS

Life is too short to hold a grudge; slash some tires and call it even !
 
Ok that Mike Teets video is very helpful, thank you .

I'm afraid my seats are beyond vacuuming, there's 43 years of dust and sand and who know's what on them. I thought about trying a UV light on them but
I think I'm better off not knowing. LOL

Under the carpet was 1/8 inch of sand, so I'm assuming the seats are similar. I peeled back on velcro area on the bottom of the seat back while it
was up in bunk position, and dirt literally fell out. So it must be way down in the foam as well.

I think at a minimum I'll have to take apart the seats and wash the covers and see if I can get the foam somewhat cleaned out of sand. Or just buy new
foam.
--
Todd Snyder, Buffalo NY
1976 Eleganza II
 
I think mine are beyond a simple cleaning. Does anyone make replacement seat covers?
--
Todd Snyder, Buffalo NY
1976 Eleganza II
 
If you are at the "couldn't get much worse" stage, you could try pressure washing.

I have removed both upholstery and automotive carpet, draped it over a chain link fence, and pressure washed it with a smaller pressure washer (1300
PSI or so (I think), Ryobi at Home Depot, $100 or so; great for what it is).

Saturate carpet with with ZEP Purple Degreaser (Home Depot; that stuff is ridiculously strong; it will clean the moisture out of hands to the point of
pain) and sort of back flush it to blow junk out the top. Then many top-side passes criss-cross and diagonal. Came out surprisingly well. You will be
astounded at the disgusting junk that comes out of the carpet.

I was more cautious with the type of soap (some sort of upholstery spray foam, I think) and distance to the fabric for the upholstery; also worked
well.

Good luck,

Tom Newell
San Pedro, California
--
Proud Citizen of
Los Angeles, California
Founded 1781 as
El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Angeles, Alta California
 
For foam of any spec, try BUYFOAM in your favorite search engine. They have many types, cut to order and ship fast. I used their stiff black eletronic
casing foam under my regular foam mattress. This helped you from feeling the plywood under the bed.
Tom
--
2012 Phoenix Cruiser model 2552
KA4CSG
 
Give Stanley Steamers a shot before you start to pull everything apart. It might be livable after..
Scott.
--
Scott Nutter
1978 Royale Center Kitchen, Patterson 455, switch pitch tranny, 3.21 final drive, Quad bags, tankless water heater, everything Lenzi. Alex Ferrera
installed MSD Atomic EFI
Houston, Texas