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Painting Advice


Kale

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Over the last week I got most of the appliances installed and working on my new rig and am now turning an eye to the interior appearance. Currently there's thin carpeting glued to the walls and ceiling. I've been thinking about tearing it down and repainting everything (wall, ceiling, cabinets). It seems like a good time since I haven't installed flooring yet.

I don't have much painting experience and just wanted to make sure I'm not doing anything stupid.

I'm imagining the general steps to be:

  1. Tear down carpet
  2. Sand everything
  3. Tape off stuff that shouldn't be painted
  4. Prime
  5. Paint

Anything I'm missing there?

I have an electric paint strayer (TrueCoat Plus II) I plan to use.

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Prep is the key to a good paint job.  When getting into something that is a few decades old it needs to be seriously cleaned. If I were doing it and I am going to paint my bathroom soon. It does not have a bath shouldn't I be calling it a shower room?

I will be using TSP, trisodium phosphate, not available everywhere anymore.   It is a serious cleaner, I would not use it without rubber gloves and safety glasses, needs to be rinsed.  I will also use a primer sealer such as  Bulls Eye or Kilz.  I don't want to do it twice!

In my opinion the space is too small for a sprayer, unless you are an experienced sprayer.   

http://www.homedepot.com/p/SAVOGRAN-1-lb-Box-TSP-Heavy-Duty-Cleaner-10621/202935861

Edited by jjrbus
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Good advice, thank you.

I've used TSP before, but had forgotten the name. Seemed to do the job when I helped a friend paint.

What about the small space makes spraying difficult?

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4 minutes ago, Kale said:

Good advice, thank you.

I've used TSP before, but had forgotten the name. Seemed to do the job when I helped a friend paint.

What about the small space makes spraying difficult?

I am pretty quick with a brush and roller, so by the time I get everything taped off, get the gun ready and clean everything up, it would be no faster.   I'm not saying don't do it, only my opinion.

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Probably should have seen this coming. Pulling down the carpet brought a bit of the ceiling with it. Also found a bit of rot near the rear window and roof AC.

Is there any reasonably easy way of dealing with these issues? I wouldn't mind redoing the whole interior at some point, but not this summer.

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Edited by Kale
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It's hard to figure out what's going on in there. Your ceiling originally was the same paneling as your walls. Also looks like they dropped it down. There shouldn't be as much room between the ceiling and the fiberglass roof. You've got your work cut out for you. I painted the inside of my Nissan but everything was intact, just stained. Used Kilz and satin finish paint. Didn't want it shiny like semi-gloss but wanted an easier finish to clean. The satin worked out great.

Linda S

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That carpet looks like the commercial indoor/outdoor that comes on the 6' rolls from places like Lowe's. I'm sure its not factory.

 

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7 hours ago, linda s said:

It's hard to figure out what's going on in there. Your ceiling originally was the same paneling as your walls. Also looks like they dropped it down. There shouldn't be as much room between the ceiling and the fiberglass roof. You've got your work cut out for you. I painted the inside of my Nissan but everything was intact, just stained. Used Kilz and satin finish paint. Didn't want it shiny like semi-gloss but wanted an easier finish to clean. The satin worked out great.

Linda S

How much space is there normally between the fiberglass and ceiling? Seems to be about a 1/2" here. If you're looking at the A/C opening, some wood was added on the roof to level it out.

I like the idea of a satin finish for easier cleaning.

 

The wood around the rear window is pretty well shot. Guess I'll be replacing it and resealing the window while I'm here.

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Ceiling is actually glued to the fiberglass. So is the inside trim off that window. Yeah lots of damage. My windows all had to be resealed and there was some water damage. Fiberglass flexes and windows don't eventually things leak. I use butyl tape to seal the windows. Doesn't dry out so stays flexible for years and protects against leaking. Looking forward to seeing your project progress

Linda S

 

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Not sure I'm doing any of this "right", but I've been slowly plugging away at it. Ended up tearing everything off the rear wall. On the plus side, it gave me a good opportunity to remove some more old carpet (I dislike carpet).

Glued some 2x3s up, filled in with foam insulation boards, and covered with some 1/4" plywood underlayment I found at Home Depot for $9/sheet.

I may try covering the rest of the interior with that plywood. Seems like an easy way to get a smooth surface for painting.

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From here it looks like you are doing OK!  Check all the wiring while you have the opportunity.    What are you using to seal the windows on the outside?   

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Thanks!

I used butyl tape as Linda suggested.

I suppose I should check the wiring. I'm a bit hesitant to do anything that might make more work. I've got several half finished projects in the rig. Every time I tear something apart I think "well as long as I'm here I might as well do X" and another project starts. :D

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Looks very good. One thing you need to keep in mind. That curved area above the window is bare fiberglass. The carpet there was original and was for insulation. Gets cold in Sac. I wouldn't leave it bare. Even some headliner glued on will be better than nothing. They make vinyl leather looking headliner if you hate carpet. You need the stuff with a foam backing

Linda S

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I'm going to try to put foam insulation covered with plywood up there too, just haven't gotten that far. I may take the rig back up to Alaska with me at some point, insulation is important there too :).

Speaking of heat retention. I was thinking about getting one of the thermal cameras that plug into a phone (FLIR ONE or Seek Thermal) to find the hot/cool spots. Has anyone else tried one of those out?

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Butyl tape, good!   You can score the back of rigid insulation the way they kerf wood for bending around the curve. When cutting with a saw it is like a snow storm the stuff gets everyplace and sticks.

The tighter the bend the closer together the kerf's go, put the kerf towards the inside to minimize air pockets.

Spray foam can be sprayed on and then trimmed down,  it would be a mess doing it!  But is useful for filling in gaps.

I can relate to one thing leads to another, everything I touch on my Toy breaks! The plastic cover in the screen door for the handle was not broke, so I hit it the other day putting something in and broke it . :angry:  22 year old plastic, what ya gonna do.  

 

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Hey Kale, just curious: What product did you use to glue the new lumber to fiberglass?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Couple random photos on my progress. You can probably tell that the paint job is... sub-par. I mostly wanted it to look better than when I started, not necessarily great, so I'm ok with it. Resealed most of coach windows. Found a little more dry-rot, but was able to cut it away instead of going down to the fiber glass.

Now working on getting the cabinet doors reinstalled. I also replaced the converter and have been spending way too much time on the cab stereo (weird voltage issues due to reusing an old inline fuse).

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That's looking great @Kale. I love the white interior paint. Are you putting in vinyl flooring or redoing the carpeting? 

I'll definitely reference this post down the road - found a small leak in my overcab driver-side window this past week. Hopefully I can pop out that window, remove the interior siding, and replace it all in a day. 

How many hours has this undertaking been?

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Not completely sure what I'm doing with the floor, I was thinking laminate, definitely no carpet for me. I'll probably go down to Home Depot and get whatever's cheap and in stock. Hopefully get started on that this weekend.

The windows have come out pretty easily. The dry rot slowed me down because I had to let the glue dry overnight on the wood I replaced.

Hard to say how many hours. I bought it about a month ago and have spent most nights, weekends, and work breaks on it. Though there have been frequent pauses; working in there when the electrical is disconnected and it's >100F outside is not fun.

When I bought it, the refrigerator was sitting in the middle of the coach. It also happened to be much larger than the stock one, so I had to tear out and build a new enclosure for it, which ate up time. I also spent a bunch of time installing the furnace (also not stock size), there's another thread on that somewhere.

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I just did my floor I was set on vinyl planks, as I knew the laminate was too heavy.  Till I picked up a box of vinyl planks.  45 feet of plank would have weighed 90 lbs + or -.   Sheet vinyl for my coach was about  10 lbs.  

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Thanks for the info. I've never been a big fan of sheet vinyl, but it might be the most practical option in this case.

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1 hour ago, Kale said:

Thanks for the info. I've never been a big fan of sheet vinyl, but it might be the most practical option in this case.

I am not a big fan of sheet vinyl either, but it is about the best option and now that I have it down does not look bad. 

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If I ever get around to redoing my floor I think I'm going to go with sheet rubber floors like they use in a gym. Not too expensive and they have a good insulating value. Also not slippery. I store lots of stuff under my table and I don't want it sliding around. Found some pretty nice looking ones too. The coffee creek one is nice

http://www.rubberflooringinc.com/rubber-roll/index.html?sl=1043&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=Shopping+-+Rubber+Flooring+-+US&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=s_pcrid_76260206465_pkw__pmt__pdv_c_pprd_1043&gclid=CKfx1qGhus0CFQmRaQoddRQGzg#!showSample=1043&color=5308&popup=samples

Linda S

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Progress on the cabinet doors.

All the original door latches were broken when I bought the Toy. They had been replaced with a variety of other latches; all in some state of failure. They also had handles embedded in the doors, many of which were also broken. I removed the handles, filled the holes with spray foam insulation, and cut down the excess. Then I spackled over the foam and painted the doors. Either the foam wasn't fully set or the heat caused it to expand farther, but it's fairly noticeable where the handles used to be.

I replaced all the door hardware with some inexpensive self closing hinges and handles off Amazon. Most of the doors are secured with strong magnetic latches.

I didn't like having the upper cabinet doors swinging out to side and getting in the way. Instead I bought some gas springs and mounted the hinges on the top so they would open up and out of the way. First I tried screwing them into the MDF, but with the force when closing being exerted front to back, the mounts quickly tore out. I screwed some scrap pieces of wood to the sections between the cabinet opening and screwed the mounts in there. I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I ran out of handles, should be getting some more soon to finish it up.

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You can also see some of the LED lights I installed in the picture above.

Whoever mounted the AC unit didn't seem to realize it now blocks the closet door on the right. I had to lower the door quite a bit, leaving a large gap. I cut a piece of 1x3 and wedged it in at the top, then I covered the seams with wood epoxy. Still need to sand it down and paint it.

Edited by Kale
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  • 2 weeks later...

Wow, this thread is a goldmine! Thanks for posting!

I'm about to overhaul the interior of an 18' Sunrader I just bought with all the walls and cabinet doors removed bc they'd rotted, and now I have inspiration and guidance for recreating walls. 

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I installed the flooring and cabinet handles a couple weeks ago.

Ended up going with the original plan of the cheapest laminate at Home Depot. I used a little more than one case, I doubt it's adding a significant amount of weight over another type of flooring. I bought the more expensive insulating underlayment, it ended up costing more than the laminate. I used 1/2" white vinyl quarter round, saved me the painting effort.

I've been out of town for the last week, so not much other progress. It's currently in the shop having the brakes replaced and new shocks installed. Probably could have saved a bunch doing it myself, but I don't have a good space or jack/stands. Oh well.

When I get it back:

  • Curtains
  • Cover the exposed fiberglass in the back
  • Put some plywood under the rear dinette seats (They're just wedged there now, the old stuff was broken and not very sturdy.)

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Edited by Kale
Posted the wrong picture
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