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RV Carpet and Upholstery Dyeing: A Low Cost Alternative Buying New

This post was updated on March 15th, 2024

This article was contributed by Todd Wilson of Professional Carpet Dyeing Services.

RV’s typically have light colored or even white carpet installed by the manufacturer. They tend to do so to make RV’s look more spacious. However, because of usage patterns and other issues unique to RV’s, light carpet is impossible to keep clean. Replacing RV carpet can be very costly not only because of the expense for new carpet, but also due to labor.

Typically RV’s have less than 100 sq. ft. of carpet. Yet, to replace carpet in a RV, sliders have to be removed, carpet needs to be cut and placed, and it needs to be bound around exposed edges. The whole process may take weeks to complete and can cost thousands.

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The alternative to new carpet is to have your RV carpet professionally dyed for a fraction of the cost. In many cases, you can literally have carpet that looks like new in just a few hours. The dyeing process leaves brilliant color and an even tone across the entire carpet. The carpet will also begin to show vacuum tracks again, the lack of which typically shows carpets age. Dyes will set and dry in minutes and the RV will be ready to use same day. To give a better idea of the results and application of dyeing services in a RV, we have outlined a few examples.

RV Carpet Dyeing Project #1

Mr. & Mrs. Penny, Newton, Iowa: The RV carpet was matted from high traffic and had brown stains that they were unable to remove. Mrs. Penny said she even had professional’s clean the carpet only to have stains reappear in few days. Mr. Penny, while winterizing one of the holding tanks, accidentally drained onto carpet removing most of the color in some spots.

After some apprehension from the Penny’s we explained that dyes are not like paint as they do not cover stains, they actually penetrate the fiber to create new colors. Though a perfect match of color is not guaranteed, it is possible to create an even tone that will remove the years of aging that the current carpet shows. We suggested that they let me dye to darker shade of brown, better concealing bad areas in the carpet.

RV carpet dyeing

Carpet dyeing in an RV

Dyed carpet in an RV

RV carpet

Above you can see the results with the before and after photos from this RV carpet dying project. You can see that the color is now more even in tone after the dyeing. Part of the dyeing process includes stripping carpet of everything that is not supposed to be there so that texture is restored and vacuum tracks are visible again.

RV Carpet Project #2

Mr. & Mrs. Whitney campers at Adventureland Campground: The carpet was sun faded, it had high traffic wear and even some bleach spills. Because of the need to replace the carpet under the pop-out replacing the was not an option as it was cost prohibitive.

Before dyeing the carpet.

Before dyeing carper

After dyeing the carpet.

After dyeing carpet

 

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We explained that the bleach stain would have to be removed before it could be dyed. We luckily have a chemical that neutralizes bleach allowing it to be removed and it’s to be done a day prior to dyeing the carpet. The severity of the discolorations in their RV carpet and the bleach spilled areas left us with some concern that the color may not match.

We were confident however that the color would be a lot closer than what they had. After the dyeing process, the RV carpet is now a darker brown and variances in color are not as noticeable. Even bleached areas are now brown and less visible.

RV Upholstery Examples

In addition to RV carpet, RV Upholstery can get a new lease on life as well through the dyeing process. In much the same way that color can be changed in the RV carpet examples above, the upholstery in your RV can be dyed to cover wear, an updated décor, or simply because you don’t find it visually appealing anymore. An example of a chair and drapes that we recently dyed.

 

You can see that the color wasn’t exactly the most aesthetically pleasing color, but in just a few minutes we had it looking like new again with a totally different color profile. The RV upholstery on sofa’s, chairs, drapes, and other window treatments can be dyed to a wide array of colors to your liking.

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RV Carpet Dyeing Wrap Up

The dyes we use are guaranteed for life which is common among most reputable dyeing companies as well. Dyeing carpet will not void any carpet warranties in most cases, as we are not affecting the carpet in any way but through color. We find that most RV carpet dyeing projects will cost $400-$600 on average. The carpet will typically be damp for around 8 hours after we complete the dyeing. The use of fans are encouraged to speed up the drying time.

If you are interested in seeing more before and after photos, examples of other dyeing services, or would like more information from us, please visit our RV carpet dyeing website www.idye4u.com or call us using the information below.

About the Author:

Todd Wilson, Dye Master Technician, is the owner of Professional Carpet Dyeing Services (As featured in the Des Moines Register). The only On-Site carpet dyeing service in Iowa. They specialize in restoring and changing colors of carpets and upholstery. They have restored and dyed an array of items in homes, commercial businesses and RV’s with impressive results. They can be reached by phone at (515) 282-1326.

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