Community Forums

Andrina72 · 08-12-2015, 02:16 PM

Hi everyone...

I'm a newbie to RV renos, so I'm hoping for some help in getting started on the right foot.

We have a '79 35ft Terry travel trailer. It has an auxiliary roof on it and a full length addition along side it (the rear 1/2 is an enclosed room and the front 1/2 is a covered porch). It sits on our recreational property in WA State.

The addition is only a couple of years old and only after it was almost complete did we start to question the sanity of building something so costly alongside such an old RV. Oh well.. hindsight is 20/20, I guess.

Anyway, we’d like to renovate the interior of the trailer to #1. make it a bit more functional and #2. bring the interior into this millennium.

Step one will be to paint all of the walls and cabinetry. Before we get started, I have a few questions…

1. Is priming necessary or will a good-quality paint/primer combo do the trick?
2. Our cabinets have the doors that swing upward. There are hinges and struts as well. Is there some trick or tip to removing the doors and also to reinstalling them?

Thanks in advance.

Skip426 · 08-12-2015, 11:50 PM

Depending on the surface, combo primer/paint, just won't bond , require an etching primer, for glossy surfaces. Etching primer will bond to glass or ceramic tiles, so will do to prime anything.
Most of the hinges are of questionable quality , as far a manufacture tolerance is concerned , so mark every door and hinge placement to make sure the go beck in the exact same place, or you may find screw holes that don't line up and doors hung at odd angles.
I've never seen a door strut the wasn't straight forward as far as removal, if you've got something that's different , could you post a picture ?

ronspradley · 08-14-2015, 04:14 PM

Painting the inside should be something like painting an old kitchen in a house. Need to clean the years of grease and smoke first, then a good primer.

Looking forward to interior pictures.

ronspradley

Andrina72 · 08-14-2015, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronspradley

Painting the inside should be something like painting an old kitchen in a house. Need to clean the years of grease and smoke first, then a good primer.

Looking forward to interior pictures.

ronspradley

Thanks to both of you... I figured that it would be like painting old kitchen cabinets in a house... but I wanted to double check.

I'll definitely be posting some photos along the way. Here are a couple of what it looks like now. (the only reason we're renovating is purely cosmetic and functional/space-wise... other than being ugly as sin, everything works perfectly and is in tip-top condition considering its age)

bap · 08-18-2015, 06:09 PM

looks nice and comfy to me,,,,,,not ugly at all,,,,,,look forward to more pics

JaycoEagle10 · 08-18-2015, 11:08 PM

The cabinets in an RV is many times NOT the same as wooden cabinets in a house. The RV cabinets/doors are generally vinyl laminated, which is a plastic sheeting that imitates a wood look, so many paints that are used on real wood products don't stick well, even when using wood primer.

You will probably need to use a particular KILZ primer first, that is designed to stick to plastic laminate, which of course will determine what type top-coat paint you need to prevent peeling/cracking paint separation from primer.

As another member pointed out, the hinges will need to be marked to reinstall in same position due to drill holes and alignment.

bap · 08-19-2015, 05:22 AM

i have actually been able to peel that layer off and then sand then paint,,or just use a palm sander and start with a courser paper then fine it down a little, then paint,,,
.....both have worked very well for me..i will see if i can find before and after pics of some we have done this way..