What Can I Use To The Inside Walls Of My Rv?

That sounds exhausting. It probably wasn’t all that comfortable living in it at the time. You have a lot of patience. I’m glad Doug was there to help. The tape must be removed pretty soon after painting. We stained the cabinets in our home kitchen and that was a nightmare due to improper preparation and had to be redone. I had a serious meltdown because I was so exhausted so I can imagine how you felt. Thank God after all that work it looks amazing. Another commenter mentioned resale value. In your case, I would pay more because the work is already done. Everyone complains about the brown. Congratulations on surviving that trial.

Killz. FTW. Use Killz primer and paint. It’s not just the RV walls. I repainted a cabin with that nasty wood panel walling. It doesn’t matter if you scratch or sand. Killz will adhere to anything. Just wipe/clean surface, prime with killz, THEN paint the color. Do not use Killz in a spray gun. Prime it with rollers first. THEN paint color with spray gun. Speed things up. I hate wallpaper. Ugh. You have to steam and scrape it off. Or just leave it on and putty and prime Killz over it. If you have any sealing to be done, do it before you prime it. It will really turn out nice by the time you’re done and keep sealer from molding / peeling / moisture. I despise the corner stripping they use in RVs. It’s always done poorly and it doesn’t seal right. You should be sealing gaps before you even prime. As for your RV wallpaper, peel off any of the decorative layers / vinyl stickers. Putty and sand gaps/holes. Killz it. Killz it again if you have to. Then enjoy. Killz outdoor primer will also create a thick seal coat. It’s REALLY thick stuff. So don’t spray gun it. Use the spray gun AFTER you Killz it. It’s intended for the outside of your house. Nothing can destroy Killz. I even swear, it might be bullet proof. Killz your bathroom. Use an enamel gloss /semi-gloss coat over Kills. Watch the water run off your walls and down to your floors. Instead of mats and towels, try using that new stone stuff that dries instantly. I forget the name of it… Might even want to side your shower with it or use it in Kitchen instead of rags / towels.

I renovated a vintage Silver Streak. Fortunately, no wallpaper to deal with. But that ceiling! I did several coats of kilz. It just absorbed it like a sponge. I don’t know how many coats I did now. And yes, nothing is straight in an RV. The end results are glorious though! It’s nothing like painting house. Takes 3 to 4 times longer. Tons of detail, detail, detail. I am thinking about doing the motorhome next, but am in no hurry on that…thinking about it is easier than doing it 😉 Your RV looks great!

Everything in my 2014 Landmark is brown and beige, it isn’t ugly, but it is just not my taste anymore, and I am dying to bring in some black to give it some contrast and liven it up. The counters are even beige with multiple shades of brown speckles, I can’t justify the expense to replace them with white Corean or bring myself to paint the existing custom-made Corean counters either. I am trapped in an environment I don’t hate but also don’t love. These units are gorgeous at first site but after living in them you start to see threw the smoke and mirrors then can really notice all the corners they cut putting them together. I found out after buying my Heartland Landmark trailer that it is a unit you want to park under a permanent roof and keep it in one location like a mobile home, which defeats the purpose of buying a trailer instead of a fixed home. People are having issues with these units literally falling apart when using them for road trip traveling.

Cabinets are painted. Benjamin Moore. Walls will be shiplap panels, slide out done looks sweet. Got some vinyl plank for a new floor, doing that last obviously. I got a nice big piece of butcher block, gonna dump the existing kitchen countertop and make the top slightly larger with a drop leaf. Trailer when bought was converted to house plumbing so sink hunting should be easier.

Oh, how I feel for you guys! Painting can be such a difficult learning process. Prep is everything, as are proper tools, techniques and the right paint. *TSP with chemical resistant gloves is a great prep cleaner & degreaser. *Kilz is a great primer, they have several kinds for different surfaces/purposes. Basically, a high solids paint covers better, which means fewer coats. *There is a decent caulk remover tool usually sold in the bathroom section of DIY stores; remove what you can, then recaulk with a paintable similar color caulk, then prime, then paint over that. *Use an elastomeric spackle to patch areas; it has a bit of flexibility good for a moving RV or homes with expanding cracks. *I’ve used so much painters tape, yes, remove it before the paint dries, and pull it back on itself. *Learning how to edge with a good angled edging brush is a valuable & time saving skill. *Clean your rollers before using them! You can wash in a machine, but I prefer removing fuzzies with packaging tape. I make loops with the sticky side out, fit over my 4 fingers and pat the roller. I do this with several pieces until the roller isn’t shedding. *Small foam rollers work well and a good brush for “tipping” for cabinets. Thick nap rollers for textures. *This Old House & other sites have great articles for painting tips and techniques. Take heart, we all make mistakes & learn from them. I started painting and staining when I was twelve when my parents built a house. I’m still learning. Great article; your hard work shows.

Thanks so much for the ideas and help! We definitely need it Paying someone else to do the work is most definitely not an option for us, so we’ll have to figure it out…but definitely won’t use tape 🙂 thanks for sharing! We got this small trailer a hybrid 2007 forest river shamrock 17′ because we, along with our grown son, do a huge amount of volunteer disaster relief, but we’d like our own place to stay with all this covid junk. We never ever thought we could, but this deal came up and was too good to pass up. Though now we have to get it next week, very very far from us and our truck has just now chosen to break :/ so….I can’t sleep and covered in hives so I’m binge perusal articles to learn more on what to do with this trailer that we’ve no experience with 🙂 so any help is awesome!! Thanks so much!!!

Hi, the white looks Beautiful. You and Doug did a Wonderful job!!! Why won’t these RV manufactures build RV’s with white interiors, so they’d be light and bright, sure would save people a lot of headaches painting. I have been to a lot of RV shows over the years, never seen any, with white walls. It’s a SHAME!!!!

Great article! I really like how you walked through the process an the kind of real life obstacles you faced including taking some shortcuts from fatigue an trying different things. While trying to do a professional looking job all the way to the nooks an crannies. I’m currently upgrading mine an the more I get into it, the more I see just how awful these things are slapped together for the price they sell for. One thing I think will take a short time takes four times as long because of all the extra work being done to make the surrounding area of a project right. While living in it, it definitely does take up space to work on, constantly moving things around. The whole thing has been a fight. 🤣 It’ll be worth it though. Anyway, good job on your article an thank you.

I have painted 3 rv’s. I removed all the wall coverings on all three, using adhesive remover. I luckily never ran into silicone – hallelujah! All three rv’s turned out beautifully. One I did in a callidascope of color. It was bright and colorful. We loved it – but got an offer for that we couldn’t refuse. Got more for it than we had in it. The other 2 we went for just making them light and bright. I would do it again. It is a lot of work but well worth it because it just makes living in that space so much more enjoyable. We love our current rv and plan to keep it for a very long time!

Most paint companies suggest 220 or 320 sandpaper at 400 is what is used to remove over spray 600 is used for clear coats/ polishing and generally not good to start with for base paint. 600 sandpaper leaves little to no surface resistance for the paint to adhere to(to smooth). When working with clear lacquer(any clear coat finsh) a light sanding might be required between coats. Again check with manufacturer and cure times between coats. Cure times are temperature and humidity sensitive. And if they give you a touch test make a test sample at the time of painting (usually a piece of cardboard works great).

Removing caulking is a water leak waiting to happen, Cut it low and caulk over it with siliconized acrylic caulk that is paintable. Keep the water seal though. Never use spackel in a moveable building of any kind. It will not flex with the motion and will chip,crack and peel over time. Good luck with that. Use something flexible like a paintable caulk if you must. Also look into plastic paint edgers. That crack along the ceilings at the walls is a motion area so just slip a two foot long edger into the crack, paint with brush and pull the plastic out. Perfect edge. Wipe excess paint off plastic and do it again. Pretty soon you will use less paint and not need to wipe any excess because you won”t have excess. Shellac based stain sealers are great primers for all staining especially on wood. Saves tons of grief with bleed through stains and cuts down on prep work but washing all surfaces is a must. Traditionally use TSP which is a non sudsing soap that does not need rinsing is used. Will get rid of grease, grime, and smoke including nicotine. Probably the main ingredient in that expensive fancy spray bottle you have there. TSP is TriSodium Phosphate. Follow directions for how to mix because it can be used as a paint stripper as well in strong mixes. Just curious how this spakle has held up over time. Any cracks or pops? Any water damage from removing caulk around countertops and bath/kitchen areas?

That’s an overwhelming amount of work- for something you thought would be an easier job. Home improvements all around seem like they always end up being more than you bargained for. Lol You could always put some molding/ trim up between your ceiling and walls. They sell white painted trim at Lowe’s. Are cabinets in RVs made out of the same material as cabinets in a house? I’d like to paint my cabinets, but did that in another house and it was more work than I want to take on right now.

👋🏼I worked at Sherwin Williams for years and my grandfather was also a contractor. A couple of things that may help anyone who reads this on their next endeavor when painting. Clean the surface, scuff up the surface, prime it, paint it! Make sure to speak to whoever is working at the paint store about your surface to determine a good primer and the right tools such as rollers! When painting when painting cabinets, use a foam roller or very fine nap. It’ll take longer to paint but will make the surface look flawless! Also check out using an enamel paint that has self leveling technology which will make your job sooooo much easier! Also getting a paintable caulk for those spots that need to be sealed. Using a good quality tape is also important when painting and picking the tape based on how long you want it to sit on the surface. Do not take the tape off before it is dry. This is a myth! Taking it off before it is dry causes it to look splotchy and peel. Use the right tape and do not over paint! Less or more, allow proper dry times, and then add coats.

My brand new trailer, 12×40 feet, set in place was brown. brown and I hated it. Little did i know how much work it would take and all the mistakes I would make. That was twenty eight years ago. Now I live in a stick built, last 20 years and still remember that pain of all my mistakes. Your article is a great must watch for others.

It looks like your hate for silicone that you didn’t apply any after you painted . That silicone helps not let moisture in that rv are key to having and mold . I would recommend going back to seal everything you can . And your getting cracks along the edges because there’s no silicone. Silicone helps keep things tight and seals things together. It’s does a good job at that, that’s why it’s so hard to remove and that’s why it’s clear because of the amount you must apply . It’s. Not paintable because it bonds to many different surfaces that are not white or easily painted like windows, tile, flooring, base boards, countertops

I painted mine too. That “wallpaper was so wrinkled and loose that I pulled it down, leveled the edge, primed and painted. Then I put up some of those sticky tiles. They were okay the first year but when I opened up after winter storage they’d all come off the wall. So I stenciled a pattern on as the “backsplash.” I love it.

I’ve found that with any type of caulking, if it won’t come off easily, I clean it up as good as possible, gertting all the bigger chunks off, and run a brand new bead over the old stuff. It makes it super smooth. There is also a trick if you are painting house walls and want to do walls separate colors. Run a bead vertically down the corner of where the two walls meet. The caulking makes a super smooth line, so when cutting in for the second colored wall, makes it loook super professional.

I am wanting to paint the interior of my older 5th wheel. It has the typical vinyl wallpaper, but also has a vinyl border. I am afraid to remove the border as it seems to be stuck really well. What do you suggest or any ideas on how to remove the border before we paint? I am afraid to use an steam, or remover as it might bubble the wallpaper it is on. Tks for any and all advice.