Community Forums

rlg4675 · 03-11-2011, 09:12 PM

Hello all. I just bought an older six pack(early 80's) that needs the ceiling/roof repaired. The vents have leaked and ruined the ceiling panels. I removed the vents, then tore out the ceiling panels to expose the 1x2's and 1x4's. These are sagging. I live in Nevada so there isn't much wood rot, the water damage is only near the vents. My question is, what kind of paneling do I need to buy for the ceiling panels? The original is a white painted, very thin Lauan type of plywood. I went to Home Depot but didn't see anything that looked like the old panels in the ceiling. Tomorrow I am going to roll the aluminum roof back so I can remove the 1/8" Lauan plywood and the old 1x2's and 1x4's. I know on the newer (and much nicer) campers they use a plastic or vinyl covered panel. I also noticed that they don't carry any fax wood paneling any more at Home Depot.
Should I buy more 1/8" Lauan ply wood and wall paper it or paint it white?
Thank you for any advice.

RedneckExpress · 03-20-2011, 04:17 PM

You can use 4x8 luwann from home depot, it'll be a little thicker than the original stuff, but it'll still work, just compensate by custom cutting new roof stringers out of 2x4s to the exact thickness you need.

My rebuilt roof uses it and is just painted white.

If there's enough left over overlap to the edges of the roof material, you can always make the roof a little thicker and more durable.

W4RLR · 03-21-2011, 01:14 AM

Second on the lauan panels. One coat of Kilz primer followed by a semi-gloss bathroom paint applied with a long nap roller gives a nice textured finish. Redid the bedroom in my fiver that way.

rlg4675 · 03-21-2011, 12:06 PM

Thank you both so much for your kind input. Now if it ever stops raining and snowing here I can get back to work in it.

rlg4675 · 06-25-2011, 12:02 PM

Well got it done uses 5mm Lauan plywood from Home Depot. and all new wood for the stringers. Painted it white before installing it and volla its done! I can say if I knew how much work it would take I might not have done it. They must have used 2000 staples ,200 nails and 3 cases of Liquid Nails when they built this thing! Now I need to buy 3 new roof vents , one for the fridge, a 14x14 and the 15x 22 escape hatch and Im at long last done.