Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hey Folks,

Well, I am ready to begin skinning my inside ceiling. I bought some of that white tileboard at Home Depot thinking it would work for an inside ceiling but after trying to test fit it yesterday, two pieces broke right into pieces. The stuff looks sturdy but it's backing is some kind of hardboard or cheap backing. With the failure of the Tile Board, I am in need of some other materials to use on the inner ceiling.

I have a Home Depot and Lowes nearby so if any of you can give me some insight as to what would bend easily around the curves without breaking. Wood, etc..... I know the local stores don't have 1/8" Baltic Birch. What would you use?????

Also when most of you guys install the inner ceiling, do you rely on glue only or do you use screws and or brad nails???? The Tileboard had instructions on the back saying not to use pneumatic nailers for installing. I did a brief test on the tileboard with my pneumatic nailer and turned the pressure way down and it still shot the brad nail right though the tileboard.

Just use luan if you can find it in the correct dimension.

And brads only for me--no glue.

Ira, Thanks for the super fast reply. Does Luan accept paint very well??? I want my inside ceiling to be white semi-gloss. All the Luan I have seen a Home Depot has rough edges and looks very porous. Can you shoot brads through Luan without it shooting straight through.

Paint is never really a problem, and you should definitely be able to use a gun on it. If not, it's no big deal to tap in the brads. Take your TIME, because as you're well aware, there ain't a lot of room in there, and you can KILL your back and other parts of your body getting that thing fitted right.

The problem with luan is that depending on where you live, you can't always get it in 4 by 8 in the box stores. Down here by me, we usually can't. The only size they sell is under--used for reskinning home doors.

Maybe someone will find my infamous "Larry Luan" thread from way back.

I gotta tell you--90% of the work involved in building a TD is finding the dang MATERIALS.

www.boulterplywod.com ships too...but do you want to deal with having plywood shipped and PAYING for that?

Also, you may be thinking paint, but not only can you varnish luan, you can do some other ceiling treatment--like applying fabric with 3m spray adhesive.

REAL simple…opens up a million design possibilities...easy....and CHEAP!

Lowes sells a rough textured thin plastic panel back by the interior paneling - Looks like it belongs in a service station restroom. It's tough and very flexible and since it'a already the correct color, you wouldn't have to paint it

Don

Ira wrote:www.boulterplywod.com ships too...but do you want to deal with having plywood shipped and PAYING for that?

Also, you may be thinking paint, but not only can you varnish luan, you can do some other ceiling treatment--like applying fabric with 3m spray adhesive.

REAL simple…opens up a million design possibilities...easy....and CHEAP!

That should be www.boulterplywood.com with 2 "o"s.

If you want white, check out a marine upholstry shop.
And have a look at the white galley headliner material.

http://www.garysupholstery.com/ntomarheadline.html

For the ceiling in my TD I used a product called Structoglass. It's a fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) type product, usually used in kitchen, restrooms, dairy operations. It is very strong and bends easily. Plus it looks really nice once it's in, kind of a production type look to it. It is glued in place with standard construction adhesive, on mine I used an air stapler to tack it in place. It also takes latex paint very well if you want to change the color. At my local home improvement store, Menard's, it comes in bright white or almond and was around $27 per 4X8 sheet.

Alphacarina wrote:Lowes sells a rough textured thin plastic panel back by the interior paneling - Looks like it belongs in a service station restroom. It's tough and very flexible and since it'a already the correct color, you wouldn't have to paint it

Don

i used that stuff for backsplash in a house i bought to flip worked out great and really brightens things up!

Sand,

I used 1/4" red oak from Home Depot. Construction adhesive w/ 18ga finish nails. It wouldn't have painted worth a damn though. I used helmsman spar polyurethane on it. I too think the birch would paint best, but the luan would look OK with a high build primer under the top coat.

I used 1/8 Birch (4'x8') bends really well if you go slow. I even put boiling water on it to bend a 12" radius. If you can't find it try a cabinet shop!

Alphacarina wrote:Lowes sells a rough textured thin plastic panel back by the interior paneling - Looks like it belongs in a service station restroom. It's tough and very flexible and since it'a already the correct color, you wouldn't have to paint it

Don

What you describe is what I used on my ceiling and the hatch ceiling. I applied luan first, then glued the field and pneumatic stapled the edges.

Tony...That looks great!!!

I'm not there yet...but have been thinking something like this marine hull liner on 1/8 birch ply. Hull Liner