Picture Hanging at 60 MPH
Unlike our art work at home, a simple nail in the wall won’t do the trick as our walls in the RV are hurtling down the highway at 60mph with all the resulting bumps and swaying.  A simple trick that I’ve used successfully for many years is to secure the lower corners of the picture frames to the wall with “Museum” or “Earthquake” putty available online and at most home improvement stores. A small nail to hang the picture and support most of its weight is pushed into the luan wall.  A nail or brad 1/2″ or 3/4″ is more than enough as the putty will also adhere the frame to the wall. The broader the head the better to keep a good grip on the frame hanger.  Needless to say, these applications are for reasonably small picture frames, which scale wise are appropriate for our RVs.

Putty your pictures on the Wall
The putty comes in “sheets” and you simply pull off what you need.  It has the consistency of warm taffy, so it is easy to work with.  

 
Roll a small ball of the putty and place on the lower corners of the back of the frame.

 
Hand the picture on the nail and light press the lower portion of the frame into the wall.

If you step back to admire your work and find that the picture is crooked, simply pull the lower part of the frame away from the wall, and reposition it.

Very Putty Pictures!
The simple addition of family pictures or artwork from your travels is a rich addition to making your home on wheels truly “yours” and unique.  If you decide to remove the pictures for resale, Museum putty is non staining and a small bit of filler will restore your wall to its original condition.

Using the same techniques to paint hard surface laminates, like Formica, you can apply paint to a vinyl coated wall and have excellent results. While the following steps may seem time consuming, they are all relatively easy, because there is much less actual wall space to paint than in a S&B home.

The first step is to make sure the walls are clean of any grease or oils that may have accumulated over the years. The best product for this would be TSP. It will break down any type of oils and make for a clean palette. The most important part of using TSP though, is to make sure, after you have wiped down the walls with it, that you thoroughly rinse the wall with clean water. Failure to rinse the TSP off, could result the primer and paint coming off in “sheets”! If the walls are new or clean, you could skip the TSP step.

The second step is to “break” the gloss surface of the vinyl. Using a “fine” grade of sandpaper on a sanding block will do the job. Apply light pressure, being carefull not to actually sand down past the layer of vinyl into the luan!

The third step is to remove any dust from the sanding, using a “Tack” rag. These can be purchased in the paint department at the BBS (Big Box Stores) or at any hardware store.

The next step is one of the most time consuming, but the most important one for a professional looking end result: taping. Using blue painters tape (I haven’t tried the new green tape that is supposed to be better) carefully mask off the areas that won’t be painted. Many manufacturers use “gimp” the vinyl round beads that cover the seams at the corders and separate the wall from the ceiling. While it might be a pain in the tail, mask off the gimp at the wall-ceiling junction.

This will give a more professional result, and keep any stray paint off the ceiling if the paint “bleeds” through the tape. Also make sure to sand these gimps that are going to be painted, because paint doesn’t like to stick on them.

To give the paint something to really grip to, using an oil based primer is the next step. While it is tempting to use the latex version of “KILZ” or “BINZ”, everything I have read and have used specifies Oil Based primer. While it is harder to clean up after, the oil based primers are necessary for proper bonding. One note about these primers. Most stores will tint your primer so that it will be easier to cover with your final choice of paint color. The problem with this, is you may find yourself missing areas when applying your final paint, mistaking the primer for an area you have already painted. This wouldn’t be bad with a solid color as you can just go back over it when you catch the miss after it dries. But with any type of “faux” or ragging techniques, it can be a critical mistake. While most of these primers say that they dry within 30 minutes, let the primer cure at least overnight for a good bond.

Finally it is time to apply the paint. What color paint you use is strictly a personal choice. The rules apply in the RV just like in a traditional home. Dark colors will make the room look smaller. That’s probably one of the reasons manufacturers use white walls, lots of mirrors, and brass. Sorry, but that look just makes me think, motel room. But that’s just personal taste. The darker colors, make for a richer, homier look to your RV. IMHO

Another thing to consider is the finish of the paint. In our fulltimer rig, in the living room area, I used Ralph Lauren’s “Suede” paint. This is a faux finish, requiring a special roller and a two step process. While the end result was spectacular, a flat finish is not the most practical for RV use. If there is just the two of you, it would be fine, but pets and/or grandchildren have taken their toll in a couple of years, so I’ll need to be redoing it. An egg shell or semi gloss finish is more practical in an RV. I just finished the bedroom using a Ralph Lauren “antique leather” paint that I used before, and it has the egg-shell finish and is a more practical application as it can be damp rag cleaned. This is again a two step finish using “stipling” brushes. If any of these “faux” techniques appeal to you, buy a quart of the base and glaze and by a 2×2 piece of drywall to practice on. They have a real “wow” factor when finished.

Finally, when removing the tape, be mindful that while using latex paints are wonderful for cleaning, that word “latex” also means that the tape will have a tendancy to try to take some of your wall paint with it. I use a razor knife to carefully score the paint between the tape and the wall for easy removal. And while the paint may dry in just an hour or two, it won’t fully “cure” for a week or two. I realized this when I wanted to see how well the paint bonded to the vinyl the day after I painted. I ran my fingernail over the wall and was shocked to see the paint had come right off! After touching it back up, I left it alone for a week or two and had no more problems with adhesion.

For too many years, manufacturers have given us a wall paper border running throughout the RV and called it “style”. Maybe leaving the walls white is just an invitation for us to use our imagination. Good luck with your project!

   Now you’re probably saying: “Well that’s all well and good, but I don’t have a central vacuum system!”  Well, neither did I, so I went low tech (read cheap) and built one.  I started looking around at garage sales and scored an Oreck Portable vacuum for $5.  Basically, any brand of portable vacuum will do, so long as it has a hose attachment.

Installing the Central Vac
Knowing that there is a lot of wasted space behind drawers in most RV kitchens, I pulled a large drawer out below my oven and found a void that was about 10″ deep.  The hardest part of this project was finding power for the vacuum and this was accomplished by tapping into a 120v line that was running nearby. (Note:  If you are uncomfortable with working with electricity contact a licensed electrician to put in an outlet.  But there goes the “cheap” part of the project!)  There may be an outlet in your basement that your converter plugs into that could be used.  After wiring in an outlet, it was just a matter of cutting out a place in the baseboard for the Vac Pan assembly, securing the vacuum and connecting the two.  To wire the vacuum to the VacPan, I simply removed the on/off switch on the vacuum and connected a set of wires to the VacPan.  I used heat shrink on these connections.  I used zip ties to secure the vacuum in place.
 

Pros & Cons
The only downside to this arrangement is changing bags.  We’ve been using the system for over a year now, and haven’t needed to empty it yet, but since we are not fulltimers yet, we can’t judge how often it will be necessary.  The plus side is that it does not take up precious basement storage like conventional central vac systems.  And since it is so easy to use, you will find yourself using it more often than dragging out the broom/dustpan combination.  The kids like it so much, you may have to limit how often they sweep the floor!

The product itself comes in 6″x36″ “strips” that have a glue strip along the long edge. One on top of the strip and another on the bottom. You lay your first course by cutting off the bottom glue strip and putting the remaining piece against the wall. Then, stagger the next course by laying the bottom of the glue strip over top of the glue strip on the first course. This process sounds complicated until you open a box of the material and see how it is manufactured.  Cutting the material requires a sharp utility knife. To cut , just score it, and snap it. Cuts along the length of a strip are a little more time consuming, but there are few of those type cuts.

The benefits of this product are, easy clean up, easy installation, and it is a “floating” floor. As the pieces are glued to each other, there is no need for adhesives and spreaders. The product itself is about an eighth of an inch thick, so it is very forgiving with regard to the subfloor. On my install, I had to remove a small section of oak parkay in the kitchen area. As I pulled it up, I inadvertently pulled up some of the subfloor. I patched it with Fix-It-All and after 2 years, there is no sign of the subfloor repair bleeding through.

I was concerned about my furniture sliding around, so we bought some area rugs to place under the chairs and our kitchen table, but everything else seems to ride fine. One of the best investments I made was a “VacPan” (http://builtinvacuum.com/inlets/vacpan.html) that is basically a little trap door that you install on a kickplate that sucks floor sweepings into your central vac system. If you don’t have a central vac system, you can make a “poormans system” like I did for about $60. That’s a column for the future!

Some hints for a good installation:

• Floor Prep:
  • Allure is remarkably forgiving unlike traditional sheet vinyl that reguires ardous floor prep. In fact if you can’t remove the pad staples, just beat them down flush and the strips will hide it. No subfloor joint patching is necessary.
• Acclimating the product:
  • Make sure you have the product open and in the RV for at least 48 hours prior to installing it.
• Installation temperature:
  • Try not to install it in excessively cold or hot room temperatures. I did mine at about 65 degrees and have found no expansion problems. I have heard from others that installed it in very hot and cold temps and had the seams separate.
• Roll the seams:
  • Once you put the glued edges together, they really stick!! So get it right and get it tight the first time. But do yourself a favor and rent a linoleum roller for the job. It won’t cost much and the seams will stay put!
• Room for expansion:
  • Leave at least an eighth to a quarter of an inch around the perimeter to allow for expansion. Quarter round on the perimeter will hide the gaps.
• In heavy wet areas:
  • Run a bead of silicone around the perimeter to prevent excessive moisture from getting under the strips.

I’ve had several guests mistake Allure for Pergo or real wood and have found that it has an advantage over these products in that it is lighter (less weight to haul around) and will not swell if exposed to moisture. If your carpet is getting grungy and it’s time to upgrade, consider vinyl planking. We did and have not regretted it!