Caravan renovation

[VickiD]

around the air con, middle of vanhatch in bedroom areahatch at front of van

Hello

I am starting a caravan renovation. The van is a 1990 Evernew. It was mostly gutted when I bought it. I would like to replace the ceiling, but I would rather not pull all the walls out. Is it possible to do this? Do you have recommendations for removing the ceiling? Do you have any recommendations of what type of panelling to replace it with?

Thank you

Vicki

"@vickis.van" on insta

Community manager's note: Check out How to renovate a caravan for expert advice.

[EricL]

Hello @VickiD

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about your caravan.

Looking at the photos you posted, I definitely think you can take the roof off without disassembling the walls. I would suggest however keeping the panel join strips and the plastic trim to the opening of the rooftop exhaust just in case. Have you considered painting the roof? This would save you so much effort with disassembly unless, of course, the ceiling is showing signs of structural damage or a heavy infestation of mould.

I propose removing one of the plastic joining strips and seeing if you can access one of the panel's sides. From there you should be able to tell how it's been mounted either by glue or some sort of mechanical fixing. Once you remove one panel you should be able to access the others in sequence. 

Let me call on our experienced members @FloTheCaravan, @Peggers, @twocutekelpies and @woodenwookie for their recommendations.

Please keep us updated with your progress, we look forward to seeing the start of your caravan roof revamp.

Eric

[twocutekelpies]

Hi Vicki, I've seen some use a multifunction tool and carefully trim the ceiling off around the cabinetry to take it down to replace. Ceilings are usually glued and stapled (lots of narrow crown staples) to the timber ribs in the roof. It takes a bit of agro to pull it down, it's very well attached. 😂

You may need to add support timber strips between the ribs to take the new ceiling around the overhead cupboards. Once the new ceiling goes up, you may need to add timber beading to cover the join. 

New joining strips can be found in the bathroom section at Bunnings - 3mm wet panel joiners, staple them to the ribs and slot the ply into them, gluing the ply to the other ribs. 

Hope this all makes sense.

Timber on tent poles are great for holding the ceiling up until the glue cures. 
 
The wet panel range also has corners available to dress the hatch surround. 


Hope this helps 

Shelley

[EricL]

Hi @twocutekelpies

Thank you so much for that information. let me tag @VickiD to make sure they see your suggestions on how to tackle that roof renovation in their caravan. How have you been? Are you currently working on any new caravan projects?

Eric 

[FloTheCaravan]

Hi @VickiD 

I’ll be sure to follow you on Instagram. If the roof isn’t currently leaking it’s amazing what a coat of paint can do.. giving your roof a good sand and undercoat you would be amazed at the difference. 

the old caravan walls and ceilings are very well stapled in, in saying that it would be ok to remove but I could see it damaging the walls at the same time would be my issue.. 

we replaced our walls with 3mm Marine grade ply. I repainted my roof to look as good as new. You can see more photos in my roof highlights on my Instagram @flo_the_caravan 

[twocutekelpies]

After looking at Vicki's photos again, I have to agree with FloTheCaravan, ceilings are really hard to replace so if you can get away with painting, that would be the best solution. Just make sure any leaks are resolved to avoid further damage. 

The ceilings in my vans have always been too far gone to save but Vicki's looks salvageable.

Hi @EricL I'm well, thanks for asking. Between work, constant rain and the election (husband ran as a Labor candidate in Qld) I haven't been able to do any thing on my vans but hoping to get stuck back into my little Franklin this weekend. 😊  

[VickiD]

Thanks for all the feedback. I agree that the ceilings are in reasonably good condition and I definitely don't want to pull things out if it can be avoided. One reason I thought it might be necessary is that there are holes where old lighting was, and the new lighting won't be in the same place. So, 1. is the holes and 2. is getting the electrical wiring to the new location.

Any suggestions on fixing these issues without pulling out the ceiling would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again

Vicki

[MitchellMc]

Hi @VickiD,

What's the ceiling made from? Is it textured vinyl wallpaper over plywood? Perhaps you could patch up the holes with a wood filler. I'd suggest you'd need a couple of good coats of primer over the repairs before painting to help disguise them. If it is a textured vinyl, you'll likely have to do some patterning work to the filler repairs to imitate the surrounding texture.

Although a whole heap more work than just painting, you could leave the current ceiling in situ and clad over it with 3mm whitecoat MDF.

Let me mention @FloTheCaravan and @twocutekelpies to see if they have any thoughts.

Mitchell

[FloTheCaravan]

Thanks @MitchellMc 

Ive used a number of times. Taubmans 3in1 primer and can highly recommend the product to undercoat all your van. The coverage is amazing and would give great coverage of your old roof… 

The old holes maybe handy for new wiring to be fed through the roof. I drilled a hole in my roof for a hook and drilled through the fiber glass also.. so things can be repaired and look great too.. 

think about the area of the hole and once covered having handles or hooks attached to the roof is super handy for hanging clothes to dry overnight etc.. you can get lots of lovely adhesive wallpaper or adhesive vinyl to turn it into a feature strip.. could add a wooden beading along as a feature to cover the main larger hole. Even a round mdf coaster painted the same as the roof be a good way to patch if you can’t get an even finish patching the hole… 

hope this helps @VickiD 

[VickiD]

Excellent, I will try those suggestions first.