Ok so I cover my walls with 1/2" plywood. What is everyone using after that to make everything look good? Wall paper, fabric etc. Curious minds want to know.
1/4 by 4" tongue and groove knotty pine pieces for walls and ceiling. I'm just putting satin poly on top. I like the look of wood cabins.
Glenn
Anything but drywall - although I did see someone doing that several years ago. I never found out how long (or short) it lasted though.
Its all about your budget and taste. because the amounts are small even very expensive stuff can be affordable.
Visual
Shine vs no shine,
sound deadening
cleanablity
carpet or ozite vs hard surface
color
What your neighbor has in his back room.
How easy it is to install
removability to get to utils behind it, or to replace
I have cherry wood, tile and upholstery material on mine. Not done yet, may find something else to put on there.
Ours is not finished either. We used white tilebaord, easy to clean and bright. Aromatic cedar in the closets, also some carpet on the walls in the storage area in behind the queen bed, helps with noise and things don't slide around.
Thinking of using some t&g in the front half mixed in with cabinets and tile in the kitchen.
As was said before, small space lets you to use more expensive materials. Look at other coaches to get ideas, that's what we've done.
Good Luck,
Paul
Formica! Comes in large sheets, relatively easy to work with since walls are flat, comes in many different styles and colors and is VERY durable!
I did the bottom half of my walls with a mahogany colored formica and did the upper half in paintable wallpaper even though it's not painted. It too has a design and seperated it from the bottom with a stained wood trim or chair rail right at just below the window line!
BS
wainscoting in the living and bedroom area, formica on the kitchen and bathroom walls...
I used wood panelling on top of 5/8" sheathing for our walls. Nice looking (to me), easy to do, and has been very scratch resistant.
Warm gray ribbed indoor/outdoor carpet below the window line - Pearl Gray Formica with dark red oak trim above the window line and on the bathroom walls
The carpet is glued using solvent based carpet adhesive on both surfaces - gives you time to move the carpet around a bit - takes a few days to dry completely - also absorbs the road noise
When I remodelled the bus 3 years ago, I did it in 1950s style to match the exterior. I did the interior walls bellow the windows in aluminium sheets. A friend has a sheet metal shop and we shaped them to match the silver sides on the outside of the bus. Stainless would have been nice, but too pricey. The alum. turned out nice anyway.
JC
All the above comments are good. Don't use wallpaper. I did and it is all gone now. I switched to carpet in the lounge and tileboard in the bath, much better.
David
Our wall paper has been up for about 3-4 years and looks as good as new minus someone's dirty hand prints!
You can't just wet it and slap it up on bare wood or panelling. You have to paint the wall surface with "sizing". Looks like white paint!
BS
On the wallpaper method. This is what I get paid to do, so I make sure it isn't going to fall off. I hate paying to replace somebody elses wallpaper. On the paint type. I can't make this strong enough. Prime it with an oil base primer first before painting. Lots of that primer. You are trying to water proof it so the paint won't soak the paste off the wall. If the paint softens up the paste, it will never be as strong again. You will start having seams open and bubbles appear in the future, like the first cold damp weather that comes along.
We have wallpaper on our walls. It had done well. I primered all the walls with the oil base primer and used heavy duty clear paste thined with water, even though the paper was prepasted. Commercial grade wallpaper would be a good choice. It is just a little hard to come by, and it isn't prepasted. It is usually 54" wide, heavy, and tough as nails.
Don and Cary
GMC4107
Neoplan AN340
Maybe a different direction, but we're trying to preserve as much of the original coach as possible. After we stripped the darned carpet off, we found the original sheet metal panels on the below-window sidewalls (PD4107). The original vinyl was there, but in rough shape. Went to the fabric store (never like that, they won't wait on men), and bought a roll of similar vinyl; Home Depot for a can of 3M #90 spray adhesive, and replaced the vinyl. Matched the color as best we could. Easiest to take the panels off and do them on a workbench in the woodshop, then re-mount them with new stainless screws and trim rings.
I don't see why this wouldn't work with other, properly prepared substrates - even plywood with the pores filled with Bondo & sanded, so the grain doesn't telegraph through.
Arthur
The problem I had with my wall paper was a wrinkle/tear at every plywood butt joint. Our old metal buses grow by about 3/8"~1/2" in 100 degree heat and shrink when in Colorado ski country in the winter. The plywood didn't do that so it just created about 1/32" gaps with the movement. I did prime the substrate, so I could get the paper off if needed. I was warned the paper would do this before I installed this back in 2000, but I didn't listen. Anyway, it was pretty while it was up until the tears appeared but gone now. It was time for a makeover, anyway.
David
What I did and it worked out great so far was to use a felt weatherstripping on all the metal crossers and uprights then put up 3/4 inch plywood with glue and screws over it, then used a patterned wallboard in an off white, we like it and it has held up well so far. The felt weather stripping was a tip given to me by an old time converter, he said to do it to prevent any squeaks on the road from movement and it created a thermal break between the metal and the plywood, the cost was minimal so I tryed it.