With the roof complete it was time to start with the interior. It was around this point that the real frustration set in. How exactly am I going to rebuild the front bedroom? What materials are reusable? What materials will be best in such a tight space and will be consistent with the rest of the RV? Furthermore, the water damage in the front bedroom ruined a good portion of the cabinets. I didn’t mention before, but the cabinets were a huge time investment. The manufacturer actually stapled the cabinets from the OUTSIDE which means removal is especially time-consuming. The biggest frustration of the removal of wall panels is that they are secured with aluminum brads, hundreds of them. All of which had to be removed using vice grips. The process involved removing both windows, all paneling (outside walls only), brad nails, stripping all the old moldy insulation, and painstakingly scraping glue and pieces of paneling remaining on the aluminum studs. After this, I used a mixture of vinegar and water to spray on several moldy spots on the interior of the walls and remaining insulation and allowed it several days to dry.
For the ceiling, I had some leftover pine tongue-and-groove wood leftover from a project a few years ago and decided I would take the risk and install on the ceiling. Surprisingly, this turned out very well but it did bring the ceiling down about 1/4’ lower than it was before. This meant that the door and jamb would have to be modified to fit and the cabinets would also be slightly lower.
For the walls I used a hardwood pre-primed paneling from Lowe’s. However, I didn’t realized it was pre-primed until installing the paneling facing the wrong way. Oh well, lesson learned. Installing the paneling is a tedious process as you only have about an inch or less of tolerance for placing brad nails and you must be careful not to place a nail into the wires that run through the wall in numerous places. Doing so could create a short in the system or a “hot skin” condition that could be very dangerous. If I had to estimate, I’d say this process took at least 4 days of about 20+ hours. Front room complete! Time to start painting!
Amelia would bring me a gummy snack every afternoon.
Glamper Love 