Wall Tile or Wallpaper

[Blue~Go]

I presume you are talking about the walls that have a sort of textured vinyl surface? (Not sure which model you have, but in the 90's-onward Concourse this would be by the stove and sink; in the Premier I think the same material is outboard of the couch and table as well.)

From all I can tell, this is a vinyl type surface that comes on the wallboard when it's purchased. The backing is some sort of ~1/8" wood product. If I were going to paint it I would probably stop in at a Sherwin Williams or similar paint store, as I believe they now have primers/paints for this sort of thing. I have seen where other folks have painted RV walls (not Chinooks, but this type of wallboard is pre-made for the RV and mobile home industry - with the wallpaper as an integral part of it - so we're not the only ones who have it). Or do some online searching so that if I went to Home Depot etc. I'd already know what I wanted.

You could also do a test patch under the sink, where it wouldn't show, then try to make it fail.

[kdarling]

Anyone ever replace what's on the wall behind the stovetop with something like tile or wallpaper or something? I'm looking to get some kind of tin panels to put up there but didn't know how to work around the fabric wall that's there.

I put up fake resin tin tiles (from Home Depot - I think they're 18"x24" @$20 each - I needed four to make the seams match going all the way up.

Tin oven backsplash

Other treatments I've seen on Yahoo and YouTube:

Stone backsplash

backsplash-stone.jpg (21.11 KiB) Viewed 1689 times

Glass backsplash

Kevin

[kdarling]

Our 1994 also had a cloth ceiling that matched the seating.

Cloth ceiling

After I did the stove tin backsplash, my wife insisted upon the same for the ceiling.

So I stained some wood edging, painted the faded cream color Fantastic Fan and A/C shrouds each a grey stainless steel color, and put a tin ceiling up as well:

Tin ceiling

It gets lots of compliments from visitors.

[Blue~Go]

Kevin,

Interesting! I had seen in a few photos that some rigs a bit earlier than mine (I have a '99) had the same "blue velvet" on the ceiling as the walls. But I had not seen the "upholstery" ceiling before. I have the later standard of marine hull liner carpet (sort of grey overall). Still, because the carpet is not very reflective (in terms of light), I have considered running a strip of something white/shiny down the middle hump (under the lights/vent/etc.). Cool to see an example on yours. Would you mind posting a bit of detail on the wooden side strips, how you attached, etc.? Really nice job.

Being a "less tall" person, I'm actually a bit envious of the earlier rigs that didn't have the "extra hump" in the ceiling - oh how much easier to install solar panels up top!

Here is a photo of one. This is a 1991 model. Grey fabric on walls and overhead, and no center hump.

[Skillet]

Wow, that tin ceiling looks really sharp. It's no wonder you get compliments. How did you get it to adhere?

[kdarling]

Wow, that tin ceiling looks really sharp. It's no wonder you get compliments. How did you get it to adhere?

Thanks! I was hesitant to do it, but my wife insisted it would look good, and she was right.

Most of the 18"x24" resin panels are held up by the ~8' long rounded edge stop moulding on each side (stained with some pecan poly stain I had laying around) which are held on the ceiling with pre-drilled black screws.

Of course the fan, A/C and lights also help hold up most of it in the middle. Only the two large pieces towards the rear needed some slight help with some staples in their middle grooves (almost invisible due to being same color).

Interesting! I had seen in a few photos that some rigs a bit earlier than mine (I have a '99) had the same "blue velvet" on the ceiling as the walls. But I had not seen the "upholstery" ceiling before.

"Upholstery ceiling"... I love it. Perfect description. I have only seen one other with it online, a blue one though.

Interesting about the older models with flat ceiling.

You might be interested in my Pinterest collection of various Chinook photos:

https://www.pinterest.com/kkadarling/ch ... il-wagons/

Some of it is boring, but I also have collected weird models like the Winchester most people know about, and a black leather Harley Davidson model that I did not know about. I also like the 4x4 Chinook Maverick. All had been on sale online.

[Blue~Go]

Wow, that tin ceiling looks really sharp. It's no wonder you get compliments. How did you get it to adhere?

Most of the 18"x24" resin panels are held up by the ~8' long rounded edge stop moulding on each side (stained with some pecan poly stain I had laying around) which are held on the ceiling with pre-drilled black screws.

Of course the fan, A/C and lights also help hold up most of it in the middle. Only the two large pieces towards the rear needed some slight help with some staples in their middle grooves (almost invisible due to being same color).

Thanks for posting the additional info. As I've gazed at mine (you know how you lie on the couch, plotting...) I was thinking the same thing, that the roof vent bezel, AC (or vent there), lights, etc. will help hold up quite a bit of an insert (or disguise additional fasteners). I even thought if I put up something lightweight, maybe some velcro on the ceiling carpet in selected spots. Mine isn't "weird," being just the same off-white carpet that's on the whole overhead, but it sure doesn't reflect any light. It's like the "off-white hole" when it comes to soaking up light

[HoosierB]

From what I can tell on mine, the velvety walls are a thin board (plywood?) with a foam backed fabric applied with adhesive. The "wallpapered" walls look like a board that came pre-finished (with the patterned paper).

I was wondering how difficult it would be to change the "velvety fabric" on the walls? It appears to be a basic automotive headliner material with thin foam backing. If one could just lay over a new fabric using spray adhesive, and some tucking here and there? Or dyeing the existing wall fabric a different color? We've been trying to eliminate some of the "Sage Green" that seems to be everywhere... carpet, walls, cab headliner, upholstery, seats, window shades! It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't all the same solid color.

[retiredtim]

Purchased a piece of sheet metal from Home Depot (in the stove pipe section)- $5.00. Mounted in back of stove, gave my wife a place for the magnets from the places we visited.

[Blue~Go]

I was/am determined to get rid of my blue walls. Nothing against blue, but it was such a dull/80's type blue. Ugh!

You are right in that it is simply foam-backed automotive headliner. In the case of the side walls it is glued onto 1/8" luaun type plywood; the molded fiberglass pillars and forward upper piece have it glued directly to the fiberglass.

I have removed the foam from the three forward fiberglass pieces (took them outside the rig for this). I used a multimaster with flexible scraper blade, and then 3M adhesive remover. They came out clean and smooth. I then used fiberglass to patch the hole where the original solar controller was (on the top center panel). I also cut out a square on the right side (where the VCR and stereo were) that matches the square on the left side (where the TV was). So it's just three matching door holes going across (which will get doors), plus the speaker holes. I added some wood (using epoxy to bond) on the insides of the new hole to support the new door/frame.

Then I started shopping for new cloth. I had visions of using something a bit classier, such as the "suede" headliner, but there was no way I could get it to conform to the curves in the side pillars. It's nowhere near as stretchy as the "T-shirt-fabric" type of headliner that was on there to begin with. And even that is a challenge to get onto those lower pillar panels, with their complex curves.

So next I bought some light grey fabric exactly like the original fabric (but not, ahem, dull powder blue). And some HHR (high heat resistant) contact cement in a can, plus in spray cans. Various experiments ensued. Unfortunately, after each experiment one has to clean the glue off again, but I think I'm now ready to get it right (after three learning attempts, before which I watched numerous youtube videos). I have to order more fabric though! It's the compound curves on the pillars...

I bought some of the fabric and glue from Your Auto Trim, and some from Perfect Fit. They were very similar, but maybe I liked the Perfect Fit slightly better (but they are extremely similar). Keyston Brothers and other places have it too. I wasn't able to use the spray gun with the contact adhesive in the can, so instead tried both brushing the canned stuff (on the hard surface) and the aerosol spray on the fabric. That still didn't lay out very nicely on the hard surface, so in the end I went to the aerosol glue on both. That worked well (although I was still getting my chops down on the fabric laying part). So that's what I'll do for the next try (which will hopefully be the charm, but will not be until early winter). The adhesive can be purchased at these same places, and is a special high heat resistant headliner glue.

The walls are a bit trickier. Reason is the fabric goes behind the upper cabinets (which I conveniently removed ). It also goes behind the window clamp rings (inner trim rings that also hold the window in place. I suppose one could work around those, but I may remove the wall panels and do it outside the rig. That would give me a chance to add some insulation here and there (come on, Trail Wagons, I dare you to try this "Arctic" foam in even an Arizona winter...) But I'm undecided on that part, as it would be an even bigger hassle as other things I've done.

Thoughts: I don't think the windows would "fall out" if the clamp rings were removed briefly and while not driving due to the sealant, but it's something to watch. Another note is that the fabric is sewn to make it wide (tall) enough. The seam is about a foot above the floor. Leaving the old fabric behind the cabinets and just running the new fabric up to it wouldnt really show, due to valances, curtains, etc. But it might be a paint to get it to lay nicely, because you couldn't really stretch it around anything. There is a raw edge where it joins the white walls of the stove and sink though, and there it is just stapled, so perhaps that'd be the way to go if not removing the cabinets.

Being one who has a limited appreciation of fabric walls to begin with, I have looked into a product that is commonly used in the UK, which is "wall liner." It's essentially a thick wallpaper that is meant to be painted (because you'd spend a lifetime trying to fill/fair the luaun for paint, I think). "Liner" has no texture, but they also make paintable wallpaper that is white and textured, if you like texture (then you paint it, by design). With that you would not need to remove the walls, and could also paper right up to the upper cabinets. I'd probably want to remove the window clamp rings and go under them. The forward edge could go behind the fabric covered pillars and central piece. That would just leave two little places (one each side) where the walls touch the ceiling carpet ahead of the cabinets. I think you might be able to just pull the wall inward there and tuck the paper behind. In the small area where I have peeled the fabric off the wall (just head of the stove) it comes off relatively cleanly, with minor adhesive residue. 'course that doesn't mean the whole wall will, but it may.

I did have a wild notion of perhaps painting the fiberglass pieces (forward upper and pillars). It might look weird, but they are pretty cool, smooth shapes. And headliner fabric is nothing to write home about (to my mind). I experimented with a can of white Rustoleum hammered effect paint (on some plywood). Jury's out on that one. I'll likely cave and just do those pieces in the grey headliner fabric, and then the paintable paper on the side walls (and then paint the kitchen/stove walls to match). At least that's my thought today I won't be doing it until next winter, so who knows what I'll have decided by then.

If I'd bought a grey Concourse I'd be happy with grey walls; but I liked the blue exterior, and I found a clean, original owner blue one with low miles, stored in a warehouse, lovely exterior, and still having the plastic on the carpets, etc. So ... hello blue interior!