Need to replace mice damaged upholstery

[wesslvm]

Anyone here ever disassemble your sofa bed and install new upholstery?

I just opened our '04 2720SL in preparation for an upcoming 2 week trip only to discover that the mice had decided to enjoy the virtues of the camper.

They have chewed parts of the sofa itself, mostly in the front along the floor, but also the cloth covering the cushions.

So, have any of you recovered your sofa? Any tips for a DIY repair?

Thanks,

Wes

[countrygirl]

Oh one guy totally reupholstered his TM couch. I will look for the pics for you. His TM sofa looks awesome.

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...highlight=sofa

Click on his photo bucket link.

[wesslvm]

Originally Posted by countrygirl

Oh one guy totally reupholstered his TM couch. I will look for the pics for you. His TM sofa looks awesome.

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...highlight=sofa

Click on his photo bucket link.

Thanks for pointing me to this thread.

Wes

[mbd4kids]

I recently purchased upolstery fabric at Joanne's fabrics and recovered our sofas. I used a staple gun for the back cushions (lots of staples close together into the wood frame) and stitched the fabric into the old fabric under the seats using a curved upholstery needle. I loosened the metal frame on the sofa bed and stuffed the fabric under on the ends and stitched. For the fronts I stapled close to the floor on the inside of the fabric the folded the fabric up and stapled into inside edge of wood frame. I also took the front pieces off the arms and recovered the arms using staple gun and glue gun, then before stapling fabric onto the trim pieces gently tapped a couple of 1" nails through the front of them. After stapling the fabric around them, I lined up the trim pieces, felt for the nail heads, then nailed them into the front of the "arms". They look like new sofas. I used extra fabric on the window trims, also using staple gun to fasten the fabric. I didn't need to replace foam, but have used foam from Joanne's Fabrics for other projects. You would probably need to secure it with thin cotton fabric before the upolstery fabric so it doesn't move. If I can figure out how to post pics I will show the completed project. It took a few days after work and couple of evenings-not bad for end result. Hope this helps. Good Luck.

[Keith Wire]

Wes,

Where did you have your TM stored? IOW, was it in a garage, or out in the open?

Ours is in a garage where the doors are always open. We never leave any food inside. But even so, my wife and I are always afraid mice will "go exploring" in our TM some day...

I have considered putting mouse poison in the garage, but was afraid it would only attract them to the garage, and the TM.

We do have several wild cats in the area that do a pretty good job of patrolling the garage, so that may be why we have never had any trouble.

Thanks, Keith

[wesslvm]

Originally Posted by mbd4kids

I recently purchased upolstery fabric at Joanne's fabrics and recovered our sofas. I used a staple gun for the back cushions (lots of staples close together into the wood frame) and stitched the fabric into the old fabric under the seats using a curved upholstery needle. I loosened the metal frame on the sofa bed and stuffed the fabric under on the ends and stitched. For the fronts I stapled close to the floor on the inside of the fabric the folded the fabric up and stapled into inside edge of wood frame. I also took the front pieces off the arms and recovered the arms using staple gun and glue gun, then before stapling fabric onto the trim pieces gently tapped a couple of 1" nails through the front of them. After stapling the fabric around them, I lined up the trim pieces, felt for the nail heads, then nailed them into the front of the "arms". They look like new sofas. I used extra fabric on the window trims, also using staple gun to fasten the fabric. I didn't need to replace foam, but have used foam from Joanne's Fabrics for other projects. You would probably need to secure it with thin cotton fabric before the upolstery fabric so it doesn't move. If I can figure out how to post pics I will show the completed project. It took a few days after work and couple of evenings-not bad for end result. Hope this helps. Good Luck.

I had a chance to look at the sofa a bit last night after work. The back cushion, seat cushion, and side cushions all should be easy. Basically just rectangles. The bottom frame and lower side sections are what will take some work figuring the best method. I would think I should be able to remove these frames from the unit and recove then reinstall.

Any pictures showing work in progress would be great!

Wes

[wesslvm]

Originally Posted by Keith Wire

Wes,

Where did you have your TM stored? IOW, was it in a garage, or out in the open?

Thanks, Keith

Hi Keith,

We store our camper for the winter months inside a barn at a state fairground here in CT. It is very clearn, has probably 40 or more other campers inside. Great deal and it gets the camper out of the way. I could put it inside the garage but with our winters I prefer to keep the cars inside.

I believe the mice paid us a visit after I got the camper out of storage back in April. I didn't open it up until last week so it sat outside in the driveway for almost two months.

This is the first time this has happened in the 6 years I've had the camper.

[mbd4kids]

Unfortunately I did not take pictures during the process. (forgot to take before pics too) I was too excited that it was working and wanted to finish. My only extra advice would be to buy extra fabric if possible, and watch patterns. I only had 8.5 yards of fabric, so had to cut and piece on the one sofa front, but I also hit an amazing sale and only paid $29.00 for the fabric! It was definitely worth the cut and piece section! Remember to scotch guard afterward to save your fabric and hard work! I will try to take pics of the various pieces and post, but am not to savy with this.