Ceiling Remodel and TV install

[Richard and Rhonda]

Those of you who have followed my rants about the ceiling mounted swing down TV in my coach know all too well, it was not my favorite thing. I have groused about since I bought the coach. I'll spare you the details.

Anyway, I finally got up the nerve to tackle the project. Knowing that the entire front expanse of ceiling vinyl would have to be replaced when the mount came down. Much slicing was down in the ceiling to add the mount. It was covered up under the mount, but I knew it would be ugly when it came down. In addition, the original owners of the coach had it built with swing down bunks in the front over the couches. It's a pretty neat feature, but the bunks had been removed before I got the coach. However the remains of their mounting had to be left behind. Here are a few pictures of the before situation.

If you look you can see that the TV blocks the front access to gauges and whatnot. Also you can see the rails that the bunks mounted to.

[Richard and Rhonda]

So the first thing I did was take out the old TV and start on the mount. Well, whoever put it in must have been afraid it would fall. There were large pieces of 3/4 plywood screwed to the ceiling, with 1 1/2 angle iron lag screwed to that. The frame of the mount was secure to the angle iron with 3/4 bolts. And oh yeah, some more lag screws through various and sundry parts of the frame. I was about to find out why. I removed all but two of the 3/4 bolts and called my bride and 17 yr old son to help. Rhonda took out the last two screws and the mount drove my son and I through the floor. Gee whiz, the mount alone weighed almost two hundred pounds. We wrestled it out, and I started taking the rest of the bracing out. That was a half day of work.

Then I started on the bunk bracing. I had no idea what was lurking under the ceiling there. Like most things Newell, they didn't want those kids to fall. More plywood and steel bracing. Another half day to get that out and remove the ceiling vinyl. On our coach the vinyl is divided in the middle by a wide aluminum trim piece that holds the lights. Front to the back of the galley is one uninterrupted spanse of ceiling. I bought 60 feet of matching vinyl at the upholstery wholesaler to match.

Before I could rip the old vinyl down I had to remove the side pieces and all the trim. The side pieces are held by screws but many of them well jammed against the light valences, so the valences had to be loosened to get the side pieces out.

The trim is a whole nother story. Here is what Newell does so no screws or nails show on the trim. They first nail 1/4 luan where all the trim pieces are. The trim itself is really thin aluminum. They glue that aluminum to 1/8 masonite. Then they glue the masonite to the luan. Of course trying to remove all that without destroying the aluminum was painstaking. Forget about the luan, it had ten gazillion crown staples in it. It came out in pieces.

Here's pics of the stuff removed.

[Richard and Rhonda]

Now I'm starting back in the right direction. The way the vinyl is done is that that is a frame that runs the entire perimeter of the ceiling. You can see it in the pics. The vinyl is stapled to that frame. You just have to take your time, put in some stiching staples, and they go back and carefully stretch the vinyl to get all the wrinkles out. Lucky I had an air upholstery staple gun, or it would have been impossible.

Next, I ripped new luan on the table saw and put it up with a air brad nailer. Then used contact cement to put up the trim.

Finally, the new TV. I decided to go with a 32 instead of a 26. The 32 is a bit big but not big enough to hide any guages or access. My first thought was to mount it on piano hinge swing to give a storage space behind the TV. I gave up and hard mounted it.

By the way, did you know that those guages that read shore voltage are live when you are plugged in?

Any way, here are pics of the finished product sans new plexiglas doors.

Total cost 170 for the vinyl, another 50 in misc stuff, and 500 for the new TV.
Total labor 3 days of a labor of love

[encantotom]

richard,

fantastic job, as usual. looks much much better.

are you going to cover the equipment up front? i have mine behind doors and put in infrared repeating system

you are a master

tom

[encantotom]

richard,

fantastic job, as usual. looks much much better.

are you going to cover the equipment up front? i have mine behind doors and put in infrared repeating system

you are a master

tom

[fulltiming]

Excellent job Richard. I know you will be much happier with the large overhead TV out of there. Looks extremely professional. The plexi doors will really finish it off.

[Richard and Rhonda]

I forgot to post the major lessons learned while doing this. Hopefully this will help someone else in the future.

You absolutely need a pneumatic upholstery stapler and also a brad nailer or crown staple nailer. The electric or hand held staple guns do not have the power or the long nose to access the area to be stapled.

Du huh, when you cut the old vinyl down use is as a pattern to cut the new. That hit me after I finished. Also, make some kind of padded vertical brace to hold the vinyl up to the ceiling while roughing it into place. The vinyl is heavy and tends to sag while you are working with it. If you can hold it up a couple of feet away from where you are working, it goes easier. Use staples sparingly until you have the material like you want it, then go back and fill in with staples. My initial staples were six to eight inches apart.

Go slow when taking the trim down. Find or make some sort of LONG slim tool to gently pry the masonite away from the luan. It will pay off later if you take precautions to preserve the masonite/aluminum sandwich. The luan trim is a different story. Have at it, and just rip some new strips to staple up. By the way, take some tape and label the trim as it comes down. It will save you haveing to reassemble a jig saw puzzle later. Many of the trim pieces are close to being the same, but not exactly.

Wait till the vinyl is completely installed before cutting the holes for the halogen light pucks. It was easy to find them and use a razor to cut out the hole. I loosened the puck, cut a slightly small hole, and the material slipped right over the lip of the puck. Tighten the screws back down and you're done.

I used a really simple mount for the TV. I screwed some hardwood pieces to the BACK of the console opening with screws that did not break through the laminate. I then screwed plywood with the mounting holes to those pieces of hardwood. That made the plywood mount virtually flush with the front of the console. I was able to access the back side by removing a panel on the passenger side of the console. That's how I tightened the bolts to the TV.

MEK, methyl ethyl ketone does a super job of cleaning up contact cement.

[HoosierDaddy]

Excellent job Richard. Thank you for sharing. I am planning a similar project for my Newell. (Although I dont have a ceiling mount TV to remove)!

[Show 488]

Richard,

It’s a beautiful job, looks great! At 6’5”, I’m not a fan of swing down units either.

Duanne

[chockwald]

Richard.....thank you for all the detail and pictures. That swing down TV was huge! I"m not 6'5", but I am hitting my head on things in the coach all the time anyway. Looking forward to seeing the work in person in a few weeks.

[zcasa]

Great job, Richard. Thanks for showing us all. The work is really professional. Denise and I look forward to meeting you in three weeks. Must be wonderful to have such a home entertainment system in the Coach. Nothing like a good movie on a rainy day.

David