Stripping interior vinyl covered walls

amfab · 03-10-2003, 08:31 PM

I actually had a fan goin and all the windows open and I rarely worked for more than a couple hours at a time. No combining of stuff - I cleaned it all off before trying other stuff.

Oh and that aircraft stuff- Ive used that before, it is the nasty of all nasties. Probably the longest warning label I have ever seen. I understand though, for zolatone it is probably the only thing next to grinding it off that will work.

-Andrew

swebster · 01-04-2004, 07:43 AM

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how to remove the wall covering from the aluminum in a mid eighties MH? I know some people have trouble keeping it attached we have the opposite problem.

As part of our interior retro...we really want to expose the bare aluminum under the wall covering. I've tried citrus based stripper, which couldn't get through the vinyl. Also tried a heat gun as I've read a few posts where heat was turning the glue to goo and the covering was coming off. I was a little nervous about the heat gun as I didn't want to burn aything. Neither seemed to work very well.

The alternative is to re-skin the interior so I'm looking for any and all suggestions.

famofive · 01-04-2004, 08:47 AM

As a matter of fact I do have some experience with this. We recently gutted our 1978 31' Trailer and from the kitchen forward we stripped and polished the inside walls. I included a picture.

You want to use RemoveAll #510. Here's some information online.
http://www.restorationproducts.com/e...ingremoval.htm

I was able to find a 5 gallon bucket of it at a paint store about 20 minutes drive from my house. I had to call napier environmental technologies (search at google and you'll find lots about them) and they got me in touch with a local dealer.

Seriously, anything else just doesn't work well and dont' even bother. I tried.

With this, just put paint it on in a nice thick coat and wait about 12 hours until the vinyl bubbles off the surface. Then just put on some thick rubber globes and peal it off. It helps to run a razor blade along the inside the seams of the aluminum panels otherwise you'll pull and tear the vinyl rather than have a clean edge.

Be sure to remove your furniture as much as possible and tape anything else off, but beware it eats most types of plastic however it does clean up with water and is water based and environmental friendly.

Once it's removed, there is some discoloration from adhesive used with the vinyl. I used a heavy duty DeWalt drill with wool polishing buffer and some polishing compound. Talk to Tom at perfectpolishl.com and he'll set you up with what you need. This is hardest part as it takes about 20 minutes per square foot to get it polished on average. I hired a couple people to take over for me on this part and they worked with me to make it go faster.

Let me know if you have any questions and good luck! I'd like to see pictures of it when you're done.

Troy

swebster · 01-04-2004, 08:53 AM

Troy,
Tanks a ton! I'll try this method. I'm removing the cabinetry and furniture as I move down the RV. I'll try this ASAP.

aviontt · 01-04-2004, 09:11 AM

famofive
Do you have some more pics? it looks very COOL in there let's see more !!!

famofive · 01-04-2004, 11:04 AM

Yes, i have lots of pics but need to learn how to post them. any tips?

**Stefrobrts** · 01-04-2004, 12:49 PM

So how do you like your polished interior? Isn't it a little like living in a funhouse

It looks great!

InsideOut · 01-04-2004, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Yes, i have lots of pics but need to learn how to post them. any tips?

I put together some step-by-step instructions in an earlier thread: How to post photos 101...

However, please note...airstreamphotos.com is "down" right now so you can't post anything there. You can however still post into a thread using "Attaching Photos to a post or thread"...in 4 easy steps" (5/5/03 05:18pm) or "Attaching MULTIPLE Photos to a post...in 5 slightly more complicated steps" (11/11/03 11:11pm) as guidelines. Hopefully, the photo site will be back up and running soon and you can post into your own gallery...

Good luck...if you need any help, feel free to PM me ~

Shari

amfab · 01-05-2004, 08:31 AM

lots of info here on removing vinyl

http://www.airforums.com/forum...&threadid=2625

76sovereign · 09-12-2007, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by famofive

As a matter of fact I do have some experience with this. We recently gutted our 1978 31' Trailer and from the kitchen forward we stripped and polished the inside walls. I included a picture.

You want to use RemoveAll #510. Here's some information online.
http://www.restorationproducts.com/e...ingremoval.htm

I was able to find a 5 gallon bucket of it at a paint store about 20 minutes drive from my house. I had to call napier environmental technologies (search at google and you'll find lots about them) and they got me in touch with a local dealer.

Seriously, anything else just doesn't work well and dont' even bother. I tried.

With this, just put paint it on in a nice thick coat and wait about 12 hours until the vinyl bubbles off the surface. Then just put on some thick rubber globes and peal it off. It helps to run a razor blade along the inside the seams of the aluminum panels otherwise you'll pull and tear the vinyl rather than have a clean edge.

Be sure to remove your furniture as much as possible and tape anything else off, but beware it eats most types of plastic however it does clean up with water and is water based and environmental friendly.

Once it's removed, there is some discoloration from adhesive used with the vinyl. I used a heavy duty DeWalt drill with wool polishing buffer and some polishing compound. Talk to Tom at perfectpolishl.com and he'll set you up with what you need. This is hardest part as it takes about 20 minutes per square foot to get it polished on average. I hired a couple people to take over for me on this part and they worked with me to make it go faster.

Let me know if you have any questions and good luck! I'd like to see pictures of it when you're done.

Troy

Aloha
We bought our 76' AS Sovereign this summer at that point I started looking for ideas to redo the inside of our Aluminim treasure. I search for days and somewhere stumbled upon the pictures of AS conversion. We LOVED the things you did and I have kept the pictures all this time hoping I would find your email address or other contact information.
Low and behold today is the day!

I have many questions to ask you. Would it be ok if I emailed you?

I am SOOOO excited!

InsideOut · 09-12-2007, 08:56 AM

Pssst...check the date on the quoted post.

Seems famofive hasn't been online in over 3 years...last activity 8/2004 Doesn't mean you can't email them, but...

Shari

76sovereign · 09-13-2007, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InsideOut

Pssst...check the date on the quoted post.

Seems famofive hasn't been online in over 3 years...last activity 8/2004 Doesn't mean you can't email them, but...

Shari

I know huhhhh. Thanks for pointing that out an confirming that I DO need to adjust my medication.

Actually I posted to the wrong person anyway. It was the post before or after that I meant to send the message to. I did resend the message to the right person and found out they live near Irvine Ca. and we are flying out of Missouri on Friday the 14th to take our granddaughter to DISNEYLAND! And who invited us to there house to look at their awesome AS. THEY DID!

When we bought our AS this past summer I started looking on line for ideas for our AS transformation. The picture that blew me away the picture that is still on my laptop wallpaper was a picture of Troy's conversion. I couldn't remember where I had found the picture and have been looking everyday for the past 3 months looking for it.

You can imagine my JOY when I stumbled across it by accident here at the fourm. To be able to converse with this family online and look at pictures is one thing but find them 2 day'sbefore we leave for Cali and them graciously inviting us to see the AS 1st hand is amazing. . .fate. . .whatever you want to call it.
AND the fact that we are flying into John Wayne airport and staying with my husbands brother and his wife THE GUY LIVES IN THE NEXT TOWN.

I don't know whether I'm more excited about going to Disneyland or going to Troy's house. I think it Troy's house! Is that wrong?

Kani
P.s Are you sorry you posted a comment? Long reply huhhh?

InsideOut · 09-13-2007, 10:58 PM

Verry cool! Glad you found what you were looking for - even if it was in a round about way! Here's another little "thing" to add to your "whatever you want to call it"...I used to live in Tustin...right next to Irvine!

Happy travels - enjoy your trip to both Mickey's house & Troy's house! Wave as you fly over Colorado ~

Travel safe ~

Shari

clboyd · 11-19-2007, 08:14 PM

We had to remove the deteriorated vinyl wallpaper from most of the interior walls of our recently acquired 1976 Sovereign, and we found that Goo Gone Gel Adhesive Remover (bought at our local Ace hardware store but also available in the paint department at our local Wal-Mart) did a good job; however, it took two or three applications, allowing each coat to soak in about 5 minutes, then using a plastic scraper to remove as much of the goo as possible with each application.

I would be very careful about trying acetone for this job; you could easily be overcome with the fumes from this solvent, and you would need to wear rubber gloves and other protective gear. Also, acetone is very flammable and could ignite accidentally -- if you did resort to trying it, open all the windows and ventilate the trailer with a fan!