Need ideas for wallpaper that is falling off

[Anita1]

The wallpaper is falling off in my 1994 T-1700. It is only at the top by the ceiling and on two seams. The former owner had these areas taped. The damage was done prior to my buying it.

My plan is this:

Score a line 3 inches along the top. This will eliminate most of the loose wallpaper and allow me to secure any loose wallpaper below that line. Use a dryer to soften the underlying glue and carefully peel the wallpaper off to my score line.

Install a 4 inch border using border paste (for better adhesion). I lucked out and found the perfect wallpaper border that is an exact replica of the upholstery. What are the odds?

Take the pc's of 3" wallpaper that I carefully removed from the upper part of the wall and attach a strip to each of 2 painted white wood strips. Put the "enhanced" wood strips over the two outlandish wallpaper "gaps." Yes, unfortunately, the wallpaper on these strips will be sideways but because of the nature of the pattern of the wallpaper I think I can get away with it.

Does anyone have a better plan than this?

In addition, I touched up the wood cabinets and everything went perfect until I got to the lower cabinets. The lower cabinet edges are totally beat. Water was dropped onto them and left to wreck the wood. They look like oak but appear to soak up stain like cardboard. When I apply touch up stain to these areas it just turns super dark...no matter how light the stain. If I just put polyurethane on the edges would that look ok or do you think it would turn super dark???

[Anita1]

At some point in the past somebody had a border up but that was ripped down by the former owner. In its place dark blue tape was used. The dark blue tape failed to adhere. I used my trusty blow dryer to carefully peel the tape off (not one ounce of additional damage using this method.) My dryer has spent more time styling my camper than styling me! First we used it on the roof to remove caulk, then I used it to remove tape over the wallpaper gaps, then I used it to remove a plethora of velcro holders.

Thank you in advance for any ideas

[Janalee]

Hi Anita...looks like you have a good idea of what to do and how to do it! Your approach to adding a border is good --but before you add the border you must seal the raw wood w either sealer, or paint. As for your staining problem, I would use clear polyurethane..it should make a close match.
Are you sure you have no roof leaks? These things all look like water type damage either by roof leaks or possibly vents left unattended, or even high humidity w /o proper ventilation. Water intrusion and humidity are your worst enemies in my opinion! Just make sure you are not masking problems that may come back to haunt you later. Good luck -and enjoy your projects -it 's what makes rving so addictive. I can 't travel as much now but my Sunny sits right here in the driveway for me to climb in and just enjoy! Janalee

[Anita1]

Janalee,

Thank you for the advice. There was a water leak on a window but it is fixed. In addition, new vents were installed that allow a person to leave the vent open even in rain. That will combat the excessive heat without ventilation.

My husband has been up by the metal roof and fixed some of the caulk and now everything looks good (or so we think lol.) We have been having some horrible driving rain plus we washed down the camper and haven't found any leakage yet. Plus, the camper doesn't smell like anything. I can't stand mold....musty...anything like that. I smell it right away. I am the first one to smell everything and anything.

I have looked at other campers of this year and the wallpaper is actually some type of contact paper and then they took a pc of the contact paper and stuck it over the seams. All of the campers had one thing in common and that was that the contact paper shrunk by the seams and caused a gap. In addition, the original little strip of contact paper that was supposed to cover the seam falls off. I guess it is a common for all of this to happen in this particular year of camper. The twist for my camper is that they tried to stretch the contact paper to cover the gap and when that didn't work they threw out the cover strip and just taped over the gap with packaging tape. But you are right, none of this would have happened with adequate ventilation to combat the excessive heat. Probably got so hot in there that the glue let loose. I'm peeling it off by warming it up with a hairdryer.

Once again, thank you for the advice....I appreciate every little bit.




I'm glad that you at least get to still enjoy your camper by backyard camping. Maybe you can team up with a traveling companion and get out more.

[Anita1]

Janalee,

Don't know if you are interested but I will give you an update in case you are.

I cut off the bad areas of wallpaper and secured the paper that was left using seam paste. Because the wallpaper was wrinkled, I also used blasts of hot air from a hairdryer to help the wallpaper smooth into position. The hairdryer was also used in other areas in the camper (along edges...doors, cabinets, ceiling etc.) where the wallpaper was letting loose but wasn't loose enough to get wallpaper paste behind it. The hot air from the hair dryer made the underlying glue hot which allowed me to reposition the wallpaper and smooth the wallpaper out to the edges using a plastic trowel. The hairdryer and trowel technique worked like a miracle.

The wallpaper is like contact paper and stretches out of shape. The area I took it from repeatedly had wallpaper glue applied to it in an effort to make the border and edges stick. The areas that stuck were REALLY stuck. I only managed to get one decent 4" pc.....however, if all goes well that will be enough for my strips. If I had done this at the back of a closet or cabinet (using the hairdryer to warm the wallpaper glue up prior to removal) it probably would have come off real easy and I could have had plenty of strips.

I took a pic of the upholstery and intended wallpaper border. In real life the border is just a tad darker and really matches the upholstery nice. I plan on cutting off the edges and using the center 3 1/2" because otherwise the border would be too large for such a small wall.

The toilet wouldn't hold water so my husband replaced all the gaskets and other various parts. It was an awful job because, although it did not leak outside of the toilet (thank goodness), it did leak inside the plastic toilet which is hollow. Apparently, a gasket failed. The stuff still went down the tube but it was totally disgusting and had to be cleaned up. In addition, the guy that sold us the camper failed to empty the septic part (didn't tell us) of it and we had go and dump it. What does heck???? It was a crappy job (couldn't resist) but he managed to fix everything.

The "little camper that could" already looks better!

[Janalee]

Anita..you are doing a great job! And I sure am interested..the main reason I have owned 19 campers is precisely what you are doing! I would buy, redecorate and repair, and then get a different one..my happiness! Then I also did some for a local dealer and loved every minute..hated to see them sell and "leave home "! Lol!! P.S. nice border match..and don't forget we LOVE PICS! Janalee

[jim44646]

Nice job.Of course we're interested. You never know when your idea might be what someone needs down the road. I've read about different mods and later referred a new person with the same problem to that mod.

[Anita1]

Jim,
Thank you for the encouragement. The going is slow because this camper was in rough shape. There must be over 100 holes in the wall or woodwork (chunks of wood screwed here and there for whatever reason), somebody screwed the screen for the picture window to the outside of the camper instead of installing it on the inside like it is supposed to be. In addition, the screen was shot but they sewed it back on. After the toilet install and wallpaper install, I have to do some work on the flooring. Hopefully, I can make it look good. We also have to take is somewhere to have two broken windows fixed. I'm doing my level best to bring this puppy back. The best part was that the guy advertised it as "in excellent condition" and "well maintained." Couldn't have been further from the truth. He said that he had installed a bathroom fan...I didn't look but I should have because although there was a fan motor the blades were broken off. What the heck??? I don't know what I was thinking but all will be good when it is finished. It's a good summer project.

[jim44646]

You stated doing work on flooring. Home depot has a do it your self vinyl floor covering called Allure. While a little on the heavy side it's very easy to install. and looks good to. Keep up the good work, just maybe you'll get a chance to camp in it.

[Anita1]

I saw the Allure that someone put into their camper and it looked awesome! I am hoping to not have to replace the flooring this year. It is all scratched to heck, has a few screw holes in it, and it is actually wrecked in one corner. Lucky for me, the corner is where I plan on putting my Chihuahua's bed. Hopefully, when I strip the no wax coating off of the flooring I will be able to scrub everything up real nice. I plan on using Armstrong New Beginning Extra-Strength Floor Stripper S-325 at Menards Then I plan on putting 3 coats of this on: Armstrong Shinekeeper Resilient Floor Finish S-390 at Menards I have used these two products before and the results are amazing. That said, one time I used that stripper on my Grandmas front hall telling her "Gram, by the time you get home this will look like a WHOLE new floor!" She left, the stripper wrecked her floor, I ran to Menards and bought new flooring and by the time she came home she actually DID have a whole new floor. lol

[Anita1]

Janalee,

I couldn't get the sticky stuff off the wood wall. It was glue and not wallpaper paste. I used a border to border adhesive and without using water (as the wallpaper boarder paste instructed) I applied the adhesive to the back. Then I put a coating of Zinsser Wallpaper Seam Repair Adhesive on the wood wall and then stuck the wallpaper border to the wall. The Zinsser Wallpaper Seam Repair Adhesive REALLY makes seams stick so I thought it would just add another layer of glue. So far, so good. I can't take pictures yet because my husband is remaking the entrance door and we have the entrance to the camper blocked with a shower curtain. I'll take pictures for you when I can get back into the camper again. I'll probably fling the camper door open to discover that my wallpaper boarder is down....if that happens you will hear my NOOOOOOO!!!!! all the way to where you live! The door project has been going on hot and heavy since Sunday. It LOOKED simple but it is not. The dairy board/milkhouse board that was used on the surface is no longer being made in that thickness. It is a lot thicker now and you have to sand the edge of the reverse side of the board....or if you have a complete wood frame, sand the wood. We don't and had to sand the milkhouse board and FORCE the metal edging on. Holy cats! Not lining up just perfect and it looks like we will have to remove the ends and do some sanding to the wood ends. Now mind you....we haven't even camped one single day in our camper yet and we are already calling it "that da$n camper!" lol

[Janalee]

Anita..right about now you have to wonder just how good that camper deal was...lol! Well, first off, Sunline didn't use wallpaper..it is a contact type covering over luan paneling.In my experience you can 't remove that residue.. I remember suggesting you use paint to prime the bare spots as Luan is very porous. I am "praying " your border sticks. This really sounds like a huge project and my heartily offered recommendation is for you to back off awhile --go camping --and then finish up or you may end up canning the whole endeavor. In the meantime I am glad to know about that seam repair stuff as I have some opening in my stick house!! Keep us informed on your progress! By the way, we just came home from a 3 day local trip..came home two days early..daughter had appendectomy first day out so we rushed back home for overnight..and now bad storms are coming our way..AGAIN! So we gave up and came home! I DID find eight four leaf clovers there but that seems to have just been a joke on me..Haha..not.!!!

[Janalee]

Anita ..p.s....don 't use self stick flooring..will look fabulous until the weather changes. Those are made for dry, above grade installations...not floors with no basement. It will look fab until the weather changes. They WILL pop loose! Use one piece flooring attached at the edges, carpet, interlock hard surface laminate, or even carpet tiles (some look like wood!) JMHO of course...Janalee

[Anita1]

Janalee,

Sorry to hear about your daughters awful situation. I hope everything is ok. Please let me know...she is in my thoughts.

lol@4 leaf clover. Maybe your good luck is right around the corner.

Oh man...I figured since I couldn't get the glue off that I shouldn't put the primer on. Rats. But, that Zinsser Seam repair REALLY worked good. Have your water bucket right there because it dries pretty fast and you will need to clean off the residue really quick.

I heard that the self stick tiles come right off in hot weather when installed in campers. My plan was to either use the interlocking kind or make a 1 pc pattern of the camper and use one pc. of flooring. I plan on doing that next year. I think I can make the floor look fine for now.

Lucky for us, we are almost done. All I have to do is strip and refinish the floor, iron and hang the curtains, clean the cushions once again and then put them back in the camper and then paint the black stuff on the trailer. I used spray and buff wax on the camper last weekend after washing it so the outside is nice and clean.

I hope that everything is fine with your daughter.

Anita

[Anita1]

The camper is almost done. We have to clean the cushions again and then take the camper to the camper place to get 2 windows and the grey water tank fixed and then have the gas setup tested for safety just because we are newbies and I would prefer not to die on my first camping trip in our new camper.

As soon as the cushions are in the camper I will take pictures of the interior and post them. The wood strips that I painted and put a strip of wallpaper on (that I salvaged from the wall under the boarder) to cover the wallpaper gaps turned out fantastic! You would never even know that it is not factory. A person could do this by stealing the wallpaper (mine wasn't actually wallpaper it was like plastic contact paper) from a closet or in the cabinets.

Janalee, I hope that you daughter is doing good.

[Janalee]

Anita.. can't wait to see the pictures..you have really worked hard on this camper (which year and model is it?) Don 't forget to have it state inspected if required. And before and after pics are the best! P.S. my daughter is just fine, thanks for asking..Janalee

[Anita1]

To recap: The wallpapering is done. To cover the wallpaper gaps I used strips of painted white wood with recycled wallpaper scraps (that I pulled off of the camper in the areas that are now covered with the border) attached to the front of the wood strip. The wallpaper goes sideways on the strips but because of the random pattern you can barely tell and no one is going to be the wiser. I wrapped the border around the wood strip. They look factory. This would be easy enough to duplicate by stealing wallpaper strips from a cabinet or a closet (then rewallpaper the closet using different wallpaper). If your camper has contact paper instead of wallpaper, cut the wallpaper and then use a hairdryer to remove the paper. Do not pull on the contact paper or it will wrinkle forever and you will not be able to reuse it. Slow and gentle will win the race. If despite doing the best that you can it still wrinkles a little bit, when you attach it to the board and the glue (I used Zinsser seam glue) is almost dry use the hair dryer again to pull and smooth the contact paper. You will really have to work it so it is best not to let it wrinkle in the first place. This wrinkling would only be a problem with the contact paper type wallcovering. Regular wallpaper would be fine.

Here are some updated photos:

[Wannabes]

Wow! Excellent work, Anita.

Hope that all of your final preparations go well. Never hurts to have the LP system leak-checked. Not dying while camping = good thing.

[Gene]

I like that wallpaper border. Nice job, it looks like it should have been there from the beginning.

[Poppy & Nana]

What an improvement - looks great!