Interior walls and ceiling cleaning

[Olegus]

We purchased a 1972 Overlander. The interior walls and the ceiling need to be cleaned. Can I use Dawn detergent to clean them? Any suggestions?

[thesignlady]

Those vinyl covered walls are very durable. You can use anything you have on hand to clean them. My favourite thing to use is bathroom sprays with bleach, stuff like Sudsing bubbles with bleach or Tilex mildew remover, that sort of thing. Just because I like to test the limits of things I did a test on a scrap of my 69's vinyl wall to see what kind of abuse the walls could take and nothing I threw at them hurt. I've used comet, pinesol, Tilex, paint thinner, scrubbing bubbles and hell even my house house carpet cleaners hand held rotary furniture attachment on the walls, no damage. Another awesome thing to know about is citrus based glue removers. Sometimes the walls in these old trailers can get sticky, very sticky...That can come from years and years of build up from cooking in the trailer and smokers from days gone by. I found that spraying citrus based adhesive remover on the wall and scrubbing it in to the textured finish with a nail brush, leaving it sit 60 seconds to break the grease down and wiping off with a paper towel works really well. Repeat as needed until its not sticky.

Enjoy your new trailer :-)

[Silverflames]

I used TSP and dish soap after a bathroom fire. Worked well. Still had to prime and paint.

[dbj216]

I used a hardware store product called "krud kutter". It is just a stronger spray on cleaner similar to 409 and the like. It worked quite well for me.

David

[Olegus]

Thanks everyone. I used Dawn and warm water. It's better than it was, but definitely will need to clean again and eventually painted.

[TWaugh]

Once you get it clean and if you decide to paint it you might want to get a can of Krylon Fusion spray paint (True Value, Hobby Lobby, etc.) It adheres wonderfully to the vinyl and covers thoroughly (thats one of the materials its made for without any extra prep such as sanding or scuffing the vinyl) and it comes in a variety of colors and some different textures. I chose the Dover White satin finish and it looks wonderful.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...06923889,d.eWE

[r carl]

Simple Green works great too.

[CaCraig]

Marine Clean from the POR15 guys and a stiff brush cleaned mine well.

[TxDave]

We just cleaned our walls and ceilings on our '71 Sovereign this past weekend. We used a combination of Tilex mildew remover and a Mr. Clean magic eraser. The walls look like new. Amazing!

[Amybeth]

After you get them clean use pledge floor cleaner on a damp rag to shine and remove stickiness. Works great

[jvannamee]

I used Awesome from Dollar stores then followed by Mr Clean Magic Eraser (light pressure when using). Cleaned up our recently acquired 72 Overlander quite nicely. Interior hadn't been done since new.

[NOAZRK2690]

If all else fails, pick up some Spray 9, available at most home centers. Here's the trick. Put it on a dry surface, agitate with a wet brush or piece of damp towel. Works great for the white raised letter tires too. Often used in hospitals to kill like 99.9% of germs. I mixed a batch with about 70% spray 9, 5% bleach and 25% water then sprayed it on the material side walls of my 2004 AS. Let it work for a while, scrub with an dampened old white wash cloth, left it dry. The mix had no effect on adhesion of the material to the wall and cleaned everything like new. Worked great on the white vinyl ceiling also, but overhead just dipped the cleaning rag in the solution rather then to have a spray mist flying around. Rubber gloved recommended.

[msimon]

Be careful with Spray 9. It will take powder coating and paint right off any metal. (Watch out for your trim pieces especially.)

For additional discussions and suggestions on dealing with sticky walls, do a Google search on Airforums.

Good luck. Cleaning the walls and ceiling and getting rid of the stickiness is a royal pain. But you'll have strong arms when you're done!

[65Streamer]

I used Greased Lightning to clean the vinyl walls in my 65 after hearing it recommended years ago by fellow streamers. I bought several bottles at Ace and only used a portion of one in a 30 footer. It worked that well.
NOTE: it contains acid. Ventilate well and a respirator would help. Also keep away from aluminum and stained wood surfaces. It didn't hurt my overhead door handles but did bleach my front console wood where overspray landed.
Simply spray on and wipe the gross brown dripping stuff off. Repeat as needed. I did not experience sticky surfaces before or after but have used Future floor wax on my door to try it. No difference in color or tackiness after 3 years.

[TxDave]

Here are a couple of photos to show the dramatic before and after cleaning of one of the bathroom skins on our '71 Sovereign we're renovating. I used Tilex mildew remover and a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I was amazed at how well this combo worked. We had thought we would have to paint the walls, but they look like new after cleaning.

[Skatiero]

Yes dawn is great but add amonia to your dawn water solution and it's much more effective. Remember always add the acid to the base not water to the amonia. Kryon fusion paint is awesome but it is super important to clean very very well. It says in its directions to use an amonia based cleaner.
Rob

[3wd67rg]

Originally Posted by thesignlady

Those vinyl covered walls are very durable. You can use anything you have on hand to clean them. My favourite thing to use is bathroom sprays with bleach, stuff like Sudsing bubbles with bleach or Tilex mildew remover, that sort of thing. Just because I like to test the limits of things I did a test on a scrap of my 69's vinyl wall to see what kind of abuse the walls could take and nothing I threw at them hurt. I've used comet, pinesol, Tilex, paint thinner, scrubbing bubbles and hell even my house house carpet cleaners hand held rotary furniture attachment on the walls, no damage. Another awesome thing to know about is citrus based glue removers. Sometimes the walls in these old trailers can get sticky, very sticky...That can come from years and years of build up from cooking in the trailer and smokers from days gone by. I found that spraying citrus based adhesive remover on the wall and scrubbing it in to the textured finish with a nail brush, leaving it sit 60 seconds to break the grease down and wiping off with a paper towel works really well. Repeat as needed until its not sticky.

Enjoy your new trailer :-)

GOD BLESS YOU! Apparently ours has 27 years of build up, it's very sticky and gross and I have not been able to remove it. This has kept me from adding any form of decor to the walls because nothing will stay stuck to the wall despite the strongest and most permanent tapes. Is there a particular brand I should look for? And how long would it take to clean the entire inside of our AS motorhome? I look forward one day to removing this vinyl stuff for something nicer, but until then. . .

[TxDave]

PammieSue...see my last posting in this thread (#15). Working together, my wife and I did the entire interior of our 44 year-old Sovereign in one day. You can see by the photos that our walls were pretty gross. We did the Tilex mildew remover then came back with a bucket of water and the extra strength Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. The walls are clean and not sticky at all.

[Dingo Girl]

Originally Posted by CraigCA

Marine Clean from the POR15 guys and a stiff brush cleaned mine well.

I used the marine clean too and over a year later no sticky residue.

[NOAZRK2690]

Yes, those vinyl covered walls are durable, however before hitting them with too harsh of a cleaning product remember that you don't want to use anything that could seep through the vinyl and attack the foam rubber or glue that holds the vinyl onto the ceiling or wherever.