Wrinkled ceiling from prior water leak.

[MikeW]

Due to poor craftsmanship by previous owner on a roof repair I have encountered a roof leak which has since been sealed and stays dry now, but the remnants of the leak have "wrinkled" a section of my ceiling panel approximately 1 ft wide x 2 ft long area. It is not torn through but it is unsightly to me because I know it's there. Nobody else seems to notice but it bothers me. Outside of replacing the whole ceiling panel which involves removing all the kitchen area cabinets on both sides of the trailer, does anyone have a suggested fix for my issue? I do not have photos currently because our trailer is parked at it's summer spot. I want to do something about it this winter season and I am asking for ideas on a possible repair. Thanks for any thoughts.

[sep]

Hi Mike,


You could probably cut out the section between the ceiling joists/rafters and replace it with this tile board stuff I used from home depot. You will have to find a vinyl or thin wood strip to run the width of the camper to hide the seams. Here are two pictures. The first is the wall board I used to fix my rear walls and the other 2 are from from my first Shasta that had ceiling damage.


Steve P

[Sunline Fan]

Hi Mike,

As Steve said, you can patch in a piece. But it might be more obvious if you try to do that.

Just an FYI though, your wrinkle in the ceiling is probably a sign of worse hidden damage. So you are probably better off going in from the top and removing what is damaged, and then work your way in. Most water damage is always worse than it appears, because it takes a lot to get through all the wallboard and vinyl covering. At the very least, probably lots of moldy insulation.

[JohnB]

When you get a chance to post pics, do so as it may spark other ideas.

The hard part may be trying to match the texture/color of the existing ceiling board. A possible thought, go to a Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams paint store and ask for a book on commercial wall paper or vinyl wall paper. See what you can find to match what you have.

Next is the wood repair. I was able to order 1/8" luan plywood from our local Menards lumber yard. While Menards may not be in your area, other lumber yards may be able to do this. 1/8 luan is what the original wall board and ceiling board is made from in my 2004 Sunline. And by the way, 1/8" is not really a full 1/8 any more either. What they call 1/8 and what Sunline used in my 2004 as 1/8 actually measures 0.113" thick or 2.7 to 2.8mm thick. And the new luan I bought matches the same thickness within a few thousands.

Find the roof rafters. Go to the rafter that will allow a good splice to get ride of all of the wrinkled board. Mark off on the center of the rafter and using a vibrating tool or small circular saw with a fine blade, set the depth and cut just the 1/8 ceiling board. If you do not want to go a full 8 feet across the ceiling, then cut 90 deg to the rafter and remove that section.

Splice wood in between the rafters and at the wall area, a strip in the ceiling attached to the rafters to allow fastening the new ceiling board on. And flush with the bottom of the rafter to make the splice not have a bump in it.

In the lumber yard they do sell plastic joint trim top join two 1/8" sheets. Sunline used these on mine on the 4 ft seams. Put this on the rafter joint if you are going the full 8 feet. Looks like this. This is overseas but they make it here too. I could not find it quickly on the web. https://www.tpextrusions.com/page/pr...h-sections.php

here is a web pic.


Apply the new ceiling paper.

If you do not want to made a joint with the trim piece then make the joint with the wall paper on the ceiling. Overlap the wall paper at the joint or slit a piece of paper strip approx 1" wide like Sunline did on the wall board at the 4 ft marks and use it as seam tape

Taking down all the cabinets to do this is close to not practically doable. They screw in the cabinets from the ceiling down and the walls from the outside in. You would be tearing them out making holes in the wall board, or taking off the siding, the rubber roof to get to the screws if you are not ripping them out. Better to fix just the local location and make the mend match the best you can.

Hope this helps or spurs some thoughts on how to expand on this.

John

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Sunline Fan

Most water damage is always worse than it appears, because it takes a lot to get through all the wallboard and vinyl covering. At the very least, probably lots of moldy insulation.

Good point, try one of these moisture meters to scan the ceiling and see if there is anything wet up there.
http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f7...per-17613.html

It will look right through the 1/8" ceiling board for anything wet up there