Interior Paint for walls and bathroom

[perryfamily6]

Not to my knowledge. It was smoked in, and has a kind of a textured wallpaper like covering on the skins. Skins are removed currently.

[thesignlady]

Originally Posted by perryfamily6

Not to my knowledge. It was smoked in, and has a kind of a textured wallpaper like covering on the skins. Skins are removed currently.

Awesome your wall are rescuable. Don't paint the walls. You will regret it ten years down the road. I have a 69 the walls were black and sticky when I started and they are bright white and beautiful and like new now. Use Tilex mold and mildew bathroom spray cleaner or something similar, scrubbing bubbles with bleach whatever and a Mr clean magic eraser. Spray the walls down with the bleachy spray and scrub with the Magic eraser. Don't worry about the overspray hitting the wood cabinetry just do them at the same time just don't leave it to soak into the wood, the vinyl walls you can spray and let sit/ run down the walls and work. Rinse and repeat till clean. Buy the heavy duty magic erasers as they do break down as you work and only will work when wet you'll probably need 6 of them. After your walls have dried use a citrus based adhesive remover and spray it on your walls scrub in with a soft bristle brush and wipe off with a paper towel that will get the years of nicotine and greasy cooking of the walls and the adhesive remover will not hurt your vinyl. Repeat till not sticky. Make sure the product you buy smells like oranges (don't use goof off) wash down with soap and water and a Mr clean eraser one last time and you are good to go camping. Open the windows and get a fan or two going when you work.

Ps your end caps are likely gel coat like mine. You can't do the Krylon fusion to paint them it will NOT stick

[Minno]

We painted with Bondz primer, then 2 coats of exterior grade latex paint. Aside from a few touch ups due to scratching when we installed cabinets, we have had no problems. We painted over the vinyl wallcovering after a very thorough cleaning and even more thorough rinsing of the walls. Paint has been in place now for 5 years through many freeze thaw cycles with no problems. I think cleaning and rinsing well are key. We did not sand.

Kay

[voyaginator]

To cover old paint, would sanding then a layer of Kilz oil primer then enamel paint be a good lasting solution ?

[thesignlady]

Originally Posted by voyaginator

To cover old paint, would sanding then a layer of Kilz oil primer then enamel paint be a good lasting solution ?

My preference for things that have movement is latex paint as it's more flexible. Oils dry rock hard and you can get cracking particularly at the panel overlap seams and any other areas where you get flexing and movement. I have four Airstreams and the two that have been painted by previous owners are in atrocious condition. Major flaking at the seams and skylights and vent areas. The one is so far gone with so many layers if paint it's not worth stripping so I actually did apply a coat of new paint. With what was as proper prep work as was possible the previous years of paint actually chunked off onto my fresh new roller as I painted the new coat on top. Turned out there was actually mold growth between the layers of paint so it sheeted off. I had actually taken a rotary sander to the old paint job to, but it didn't fall off then of course :-( ... So your paint job over a previous persons bad idea to paint will only hold up as well and they prepped it in the first place for you.

[perryfamily6]

So is it preferable to take the vinyl off the skins if it already has been painted? Especially in a complete overhaul?

My skins are out, with vinyl still attached. If the vinyl starts peeling off the skins, should vinyl be removed?

[thesignlady]

Originally Posted by perryfamily6

So is it preferable to take the vinyl off the skins if it already has been painted? Especially in a complete overhaul?

My skins are out, with vinyl still attached. If the vinyl starts peeling off the skins, should vinyl be removed?

It's been done before but it's a monumental task
to do without scratching the aluminium. I personally have never tried but I recall reading someone elses thread on it.

[moparjohn]

Do you think it will work on a 1973 end cap in the bathroom?

[thesignlady]

Originally Posted by moparjohn

Do you think it will work on a 1973 end cap in the bathroom?

Yup :-)

[kidjedi]

Originally Posted by perryfamily6

So is it preferable to take the vinyl off the skins if it already has been painted? Especially in a complete overhaul?

My skins are out, with vinyl still attached. If the vinyl starts peeling off the skins, should vinyl be removed?

Getting the vinyl off the skins to leave the aluminum nice is insanely difficult (but not impossible). It's the reason you see so many Airstreams for sale where the previous owner has "given up" and used a grinding wheel, leaving that awful 90's swirly-stainless look.

Nasty chemicals and time are pretty much the only way to do it. I opted to keep the vinyl on our skins (which were all completely removed), since it's adhered to the aluminum so well and is a great, durable coating. I learned a lot from using all kinds of different things to just get the skins clean. I think that a gel-type paint stripper (something that sticks) is best for removing the vinyl from skins. It's better than anything else I tried, and I tried a LOT of things. Just don't use paint stripper unless you definitely want the vinyl off the aluminum; it is extremely aggressive.

I am using rattle cans to paint everything. In my research, Krylon Fusion is the best for adhering to the vinyl and plastic in our Airstreams, but has fewer color choices. I am using Rustoleum 2x Painter's Touch because they have so many more color choices. The one end cap I kept (the fiberglass in the rear, which used to be the bathroom in my '72 Tradewind), I'm actually using Rustoleum Universal Advanced Formula Metallic. It's the best "charcoal" color I could find, and only looks slightly metallic on the textured fiberglass end cap.

I have been using Rustoleum's Universal Primer on the vinyl and plastic, and in some places I used Krylon Fusion as a primer (because I do think it adheres better than the Rustoleum Painter's Touch and maybe even better than the Rustoleum Universal Primer).

Another good "primer" is Dupli-Color Trim and Bumper (from the automotive store). It only comes in three colors (all dark), but it is made to flex a lot and seems to work well for an undercoat.

I have been finishing everything with a million (not really) coats of clear, but do some tests because the different finishes (gloss, matte, flat) can really change the look of what's underneath. Also make sure you do a lot of very, very light coats (like, you can't even see that you're putting paint on), or the paint below will bubble and peel. I was originally putting my clear coat on too thick and almost gave up because it was ruining everything I was doing.

The most important thing in making things work is to get the vinyl skins clean, clean, clean before you start. If someone has already painted the skins and didn't do a good job (if the paint is coming off, but you can't get it all off evenly), you may be out of luck, but if you can get back to that factory vinyl and do a final wash with TSP before painting (but be careful, 'cause that stuff is nasty), you should be golden.

[stephseattle]

A latex bonding primer will work well on the vinyl that is on top of the aluminum skins. I agree that the latex is nice and flexible. It takes about 3-4 weeks to fully cure and be less scratch resistant.

I used Rustoleum Cabinet transformations on my home formica cabinets and it has held up remarkably well. It is a super easy kit to do and comes in tons of colors. Even first timers can do a faux wood grain pretty easily.

I'm planning on using a marine epoxy for my bathroom plastic and probably the end cap.

I have heard the folks at Benjamin Moore are pretty helpful and know their stuff, but I also live close to the "mother ship" Home depot in Seattle, and the folks in their paint department are pretty savvy on various paints.

[hjf080880]

I have used Annie Sloan chalk paint and clear wax for my walls and top deck (I think that is what it is called) for the bathroom in my 1966. So far so good, but both were painted this year.

[nickclifford]

Spray painting with cans is a very tricky, I'm no dummy but not a skilled handy,am type either! The cans are awful to use, they drip everywhere and very easy for paint to run ...

[kidjedi]

Originally Posted by nickclifford

Spray painting with cans is a very tricky, I'm no dummy but not a skilled handy,am type either! The cans are awful to use, they drip everywhere and very easy for paint to run ...

The solution is patience. You've got to put the paint on in super thin (barely visible) coats and give it a few minutes to dry before going over it again. Also, consistent distance between the can and the surface you are painting. FWIW, they make an attachment that you can put on the can that gives it a lever handle istead of having to push down in the spray nozzle.