Replacing Paneling

[camperguynj]

Sent: 7/24/2006

I am faced with the daunting task of replacing interior roof and side paneling.  My thoughts are to keep the interior of my 68 D22 looking as original as possible. In scoping out my choices I have come up with a question that I hope some one can answer.

Several types of paneling are sold at Home Depot and Lowes.  The one that is the best match is a veneer or paper product on composite board and states that it is not suitable for mobile homes.  Is that because of flammability or failure from moisture or some other thing that I am not thinking of.?  I'm hesitant about using it.

Any input you can provide would be appreciated.

- Jim

[brians1969]

Sent: 7/24/2006

I ran into the same problem when I started re-paneling my motor home. Lowes and HD only have 1 or 2 types of paneling made of real wood. The rest is that pressed wood stuff.
I ended up using a paneling that was darker than I wanted, but it is real wood. I figured this would hold up the best in such a damp environment.
brian

[Slantsixness]

Sent: 7/24/2006

Ok....
Here's the deal....


"Not suitable for Mobile Homes" means it does not have a fire rating that qualifies it as HUD or FHA approved Walls.

It does NOT mean that you can't use it in a Motor home. There are no construction or loan inspections for Motor homes or RV's.

Now here's a catch:

Real wood veneer has to be bonded to something. In our case,  high density Polystyrene foam insulation.... the properties of wood veneer (by itself) do not allow any structural  support. Most veneers or real wood paneling are just layers of veneers assembled as plywood, and coincidently...similarly to a thermopanel wall.
But.....
Composite wallboard, when properly bonded to the polyfoam and wood walls, is far superior in strength, and..... unlike the old chipboard or particle board made wallboard, Composite wallboard IS Waterproof. (really!) The finish, although not exactly your "Teak wood" Yacht cabin quality, is very durable. Another plus of composites is that you don't have to have the seams, the composite board can be run almost indefinitely in length, but you would have to have some way to ship it...  so I got the composite board at Lowe's... made them open up a fresh pallet of them, and checked each one for defects. I have one visible seam  in my winnie. Right in the middle of the dinette.Basically, you have to look hard for it, and I could have touched up the seam rather than using seam trim (plastic) but I figured there would only be about 4" that showed anyway. There are plenty more seams, but they are at corners and cabinets, so they're not visible.....

The ceiling in mine, along with the roof is also composite wallboard, as is the tile wallboard in the Bathroom..

PL185 Wallboard Adhesive.... This stuff is better than the spray adhesive Winnie used originally (and it makes a mess, a really sticky mess...). Take a look at the photo album "Restoring Smurfbago" just about everything is shown step by step. Some of my Cabinet walls were not replaced, just "re-covered" as they weren't rotted.

Smurfy's restore is a year old + now. the finish and fit has not changed. The last photos in the album are of the Pull down bunk install.... which was done two weeks ago...

Of course, this is all just my opinion, but hey... everyone's got one, right?

Tom

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Sent: 7/25/2006

For the walls, Tom has those down pat...his cabinetry and walls look like his rig just rolled off the lot!!!  I am eventually going to redo my cabinets and walls, and I'll be leaning heavily on Tom for advice to make it look even half as good as his!

For the ceiling though?

Original is great and all, but our ceilings simply suck.  They are low, and originally they were thin wood paneling overlaid with contact paper.  When we repaired a section of our roof and ceiling, I overlaid the whole ceiling with very thin white paneling, turned backwards, and put on my own version of contact paper:  Popcorn ceiling textured paintable wallpaper...it looked great!!!...for a month or so~~~~

Now its yellowed, dingie, and prone to collecting dust from the A/C!

If I were to do it again?  Well, if I were to cut corners and do it the way I did last time by just repairing one section of the roof and overlaying everything, I would use those fiberglass white panels they sell at Lowes/Home Depot for bathroom walls and ceilings...you know, that very white thin paneling that is way overpriced but very durable and easy to clean.  When I do it the RIGHT way, ie. replace the WHOLE roof, with arched supports and a rubber roof, I'll still use this style panel...sorry, we have pets, and we both smoke...lol.

Kev

[sailpwr]

Sent: 7/25/2006

I completely agree on the white ceiling panels.  I priced them at about $30 each for a 4x8 at HD and Lowe's.  My ceiling was wet in several areas and is sagging, so I'm thinking of going in and replacing at least the affected places, possibly the whole ceiling.  I wondered if anyone else had experience working with these panels and how well they would stick to the Styrofoam insulation.

[camperguynj]

Sent: 7/26/2006

Tom,

Thanks for the detailed response.  I spent a great deal of time looking at your photo album.  What a great job!

A couple of questions:

1 - Did you use a roto zip to reface the cabinets or a regular router?
2. Where did you get the earthquake latches and do you mind that the cabinet doors open sideways rather than up?
3. How did you reseal the windows when reinstalled as this is part of my problem as my windows are squared off rather than rounded?
4. Arched roof supports - did you do a whole tear-off?  I was thinking of trying to insert the roof supports from underneath the existing roof but don't know if I am just postponing an eventual tear-off.
5. Roof aluminum ... do you have a resource?
4. Do you hire out ... and if so at how much?

Kev,

Thanks for the input -- yeah, I smoke too ... LOL.  Rather than rubber, I have the eternabond and expect to Kool Seal after words.  I decided on this route as it was cheaper than rubber.

- Jim

[Slantsixness]

Sent: 7/26/2006

hmmm...

Let me answer them in order

1. RotoZip... God's answer to getting around small corners. But, I used a Router bit in it for cutting counter-tops. I could have used a router, but some cabinet facings hd to be cut out "in-place" so the Full size router became cumbersome and impractical.

2. I got the Quake latches from Woodworkers Supply. I bought an entire case lot of them, even though it meant I have about 15 extra, I figured I might break one or two down the road... but as of yet we haven't! They were the cheapest online. However, I find today that these seem to be scarce, so here's the part#--- Amerock AMBP8925W quake/RV Latch.
The second part of the question was whether I minded the side hinges. No, I don't and they don't get in the way, but the were always side hinged in my Brave. the Latches will still work in top hinged cabinets, too. The top hinge cabinets always seem to have the door prop in the way, or it doesn't stay "up", so I prefer the side hinge anyway.

3. All of my windows were totally disassembled, cleaned and new weatherstripping (from www.winnebagoparts.com ). they were reassembled and re-installed by me. Since they are the rounded edge windows, I don't know how the square edged windows are put together. I do know the squared windows are harder to keep sealed, but the parts should still be available at either Winnebago parts or even JC Whitney.

4.The entire roof framing was removed and discarded. It was not the original thermopanel roof when I got it.
The roof is .045 aluminum replacement "Mobile home" roof sheeting. (available from roofing supply companies) I can't take credit for the aluminum, this had already been done by the PO, and although the whole roof framing was done horribly, the roof skin was almost like new (4 years old, sitting under a canopy in a park... boy I got lucky!).
The roof sheet is one piece, but made up of folded seams at  4 ft intervals
Under this "skin", it's bonded to 1/4" plywood that rests atop 2"X3" white pine arched rafters I made (although the very ends of the rafters are only about an inch high) They're set 16" on center, with a doubled up Maple rafters at the AC unit, and one on each end of the motor home, that are not arched, and are 1"x2" maple, for strength without too much weight. Under the rafters are the ceiling panels and within the rafters is R-14 insulation, expect on the top of two cabinets, where I have a removable panel and Styrofoam insulation, for wiring access. The R-14 was a royal pain to squash in the small space, but the insulating is terrific! (on the front and rearmost ends, about half the thickness of the R-14 was used, it was just too tight to cram all of it in.)

5. I don't think I could put a price on my Labor that would keep anybody from a cardiac episode, but heck.... If you happen to be doing some of this, and I happen to be somewhere in Jersey for that weekend.... I'd come by and lend a hand! (it doesn't take much for my wife to want to go to Jersey... she's from there....!)

I'll probably help Kev with his Walls sometime in the next year, we just have to figure out when and where...(VA or FL... or even Jersey...?)

Maybe we should all meet in Jersey and have multiple wall parties?!!   

Always willing to lend a hand,

Tom
( I smoke too... wife says "I smoke too much"....!)

[camperguynj]

Sent: 7/28/2006

Tom,

Thank you! ... You have definitely raised my confidence level in tackling this job ... actually ... might say ... kinda looking forward to it now.  And if it comes out half as good as yours, I will be very pleased.

The information, the time you took to respond to my questions, the imparting of your knowledge ... well, I just can't say thank you enough.

... Anytime you are in NJ ... would love to hook up.

- Jim