How to Get Mold Off an Awning: What to Try & When to Hire a Pro

Awnings provide many benefits to a home from giving shade to enhancing the look of a property. As they are usually positioned above doors and windows, Fish Window Cleaning® often performs awning cleaning as part of our window cleaning services. For homeowners and businesses, it often just makes sense since we’re addressing the windows anyway.

One of the challenges we encounter on fabric awnings is mold. If left unaddressed, it can ruin your awning investment in a short amount of time, so it is a good idea to have your awning inspected regularly to ensure mold has not established, and if it has established, to address it quickly.

What Causes Mold to Form on an Awning

Mold is one of many concerns to be managed when you have an awning. Mold forms mostly from wet weather elements – rain, snow, or regular dampness – that cause water to sit on the awning for some time. A damp awning is a prime breeding bed for mold spores, much like they would form in damp basements. Fabric is fibrous and attractive for mold development when it is damp.

It is also important to recognize that mold and fungus impact both retractable and non-retractable awnings, and you may not notice it easily depending on how the awning is positioned on your property.

How to Get Mold Off an Awning

Knowing how to get mold off an awning will help you decide if you wish to tackle this cleaning yourself, or if you prefer to have a window cleaning company, like Fish Window Cleaning, perform the awning cleaning as part of a window cleaning service.

The steps of how to remove mold from canvas awnings include:

1. Perform a light cleaning of the awning to remove dirt and debris so you can get to the mold directly.
2. Prepare a bleach or commercial cleaning solution to address the mold. Be mindful of drips by covering anything below that you don’t wish to have the cleaning solution impact.
3. Rub or spray the solution on the moldy area and allow it to sit for approximately 15 minutes. Depending on the solution you use, be aware that it may discolor the awning fabric if left for too long.
4. After the solution has had time to sit on the mold, gently scrub the moldy area with a soft-bristle brush that won’t impact the awning fabric. Your awning provider may have a recommendation for the cleaning tool to be used.
5. Rinse the awning and let it dry. If the mold persists, repeat the process.

You will likely spend some time on a ladder to do this work, so take care to ensure you’re using best safety practices in securing the ladder, bringing items up and down the ladder, and reaching appropriately from the ladder position. A final tip on how to get mold off an awning is to give yourself enough time to do the cleaning safely.

Should You Hire a Professional?

While people can certainly clean their awnings on their own, we find that they ask us to do it for three main reasons:

• - Working at Heights: many of our homeowners are not comfortable working at heights and transporting items up and down the ladder.
• - Damage Protection: when Fish Window Cleaning addresses awnings, you can be sure we have been trained in how to clean the awning without causing damage to the fabric. We also check for other issues. This can include whether the tracks are operating smoothly if there are any warps or loose tension areas, rips or tears in the fabric, and any pests that have been located there.
• - A Better Result: professional cleaners usually do a better job in cleaning than homeowners do, and we should, given that this is our area of expertise.

Fish Window Cleaning offers awning cleaning services as part of our indoor and outdoor cleaning options. Most homeowners with awnings add on that cleaning once or twice a year when we are already doing their windows as a good preventative maintenance practice. We also provide gutter cleaning as well if you wish to eliminate more of your working at heights home inspection duties!

Contact Fish Window Cleaning

You can request a free estimate from Fish Window Cleaning for your windows, awnings, gutters, and more. We can be a regular part of your home maintenance responsibilities so you can focus on enjoying your property instead of cleaning it.