Bathroom Wall - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum

Becky · 05-09-2011, 08:53 AM

Has anyone ever replaced any of your interior walls. We need to replace wall above bathtub, top section. Was wondering what type of material to use and how is the beat way to go about it. Taking it to J&R Repair is not an option for us so if anyone could give some suggestions as how to do it!!!!! Have checked for leaks and it appears that it was water from the shower, curtain wasn't used appearantly by the people that had it before we purchased it.
Thanks in advanced for any and all help.
Becky

PopRichie77 · 05-09-2011, 09:33 AM

Don't know of anyone doing it from the inside, however it may be possible. Wall repair is usually done by getting at it from the outside.

JMDoering · 05-10-2011, 12:25 AM

Becky,

Does your model year of Hi-Lo have the styrofoam laminated walls, or does it have the older fiberglass batting style walls? Best way to determine if its the older style is to press on the inside paneling and feel it "give" a bit between the frame members.

If your walls are the older style, you could probably replace a section in a similar fashion used to replace a damaged section of sheetrock. In this case use a stud finder to find the steel frame tubing and cut to the middle of the tube. Then cut a new piece of paneling to fit and rivet, or screw it to tubing.

Jim

Becky · 05-10-2011, 09:02 AM

Thanks, Jim.
I printed of your comments and I will show them to my hubby tonight. I have wanted to remove the wall paper from the bad area, but have been to afraid to for fear of what I was gonna see and not be able to fix. We really like this HiLo and want to get many years out of it. Kids are in 4-H and Hubby and I are both on our Fair board so we practicaly live at our fair grounds. This trailer is much bigger than our previous pop up and I think we will be alot happier in our new, old HiLo. I love this board as I have found several usefull ideas on how to fix things in our trailer. Hubby had to redo the top half of our door and the rear awning bracket came off so have to fix that. Still not sur how the awning comes out, but we'll figure it out.
Thanks again,
Becky

JMDoering · 05-10-2011, 09:49 AM

Becky,

Our 1969 developed some panel de-lamination issues with the paneling behind the stove top after many years of boiling water for coffee and other cooking causes. To put this in perspective, this is the old style paneling you would have put in your basement rec room back in the 1970's. The the wall itself was structurally sound, being the old style described in my previous post.

I bought a piece of 1/8" thick tile-patterned white melamine used to protect the walls around bathroom sinks and urinals, cut a piece to fit, installed some plastic edging, and mounted it on the wall with good old Weldwood contact cement. Looks like a back-splash and has held up REALLY well for the past 13 years. I believe one of the pictures in the 1969 Hi-Lo photo album under my profile shows a peripheral view of the back-splash. If not I'll post a photo of it.

If you have the newer laminated wall type, and the damage isn't too extensive, you could use this same technique and simply bridge over all the soft spots. This melamine paneling comes in 4' X 8' sheets, so you could actually cover the entire shower wall with one piece! This would be an inexpensive fix, and of course wouldn't address potentially damaged insulation, but may be fine for what you plan for the trailer!

Jiim

Becky · 05-11-2011, 09:02 AM

Thanks Again for the great info. I guess I need to just peel off the wall paper and see what is under it! I know the whole side is soft. I had thought about removing all the bad and then glueing some type of board that is of similar thickness pack onto the wall. I don't think we will ever use the shower as we have a shower trailer at our fairgrounds during our fair. Eventually we will have a showwer house there but until septic system is installed we rent a trailer for the week for all the exhibitors to use. See we just relocated our fairgrounds, from in the city to out in the country. So we are building as we go and as money comes.
Thanks Again
Becky

sam · 05-12-2011, 12:44 AM

I have a 90 25ft.HiLo classic with my br. wall delaminated all the way to the other side of the dinette. My guess is that you would be talking a full scale repair. We don't know if it was present when we got thr Rv. We sure know all about delamination now. I once saw our salesman go into a HiLo and feel the shower wall for delamination. At our National rallye I got to talk to some one who worked at a HiLo dealership and she told me that HiLo had a lot of trouble with delamination issues in the 1990's. We don't shower in our HiLo. We use flip flops and shower at the campground. Why use propane and electric? I also have delamination on the passengerside wall from the rearend to the rear door lt. Hubby just wants to use the trailer as is..I want him to fix the delamination next year. We just love the layout and the inside is beautiful and works out for us,three adults. You can use the trailer as long as you want withy the Br.delamination. One very important thing is to back your screws off on the awning and caulk. Any exterior hole,vent cover ect needs caulk. Preventive maintenance pays big dividends. When it is raining cats and dogs and you are high and dry you will say to your self all the TLC was worth it. Our service advisor says it is good to remove your windows and remount with butyl tape and recaulk. Butyl tape comes from a RV place.One roll a 7.95 =1 window. When you have the window out it gives you a good snapshot of the condition of your walls. Sam

Becky · 05-12-2011, 09:00 AM

Thanks, Sam for the information. I told Hubby about taking windows out and he said it wasn't happening this year. Do you have any pictures of how the window opening looks when it is taken out? We really like the way our trailer is set up. Previous owner had taken out bunk and removed the front cushions and installed a queen bead. The other dinnette makes into a full bed that our sons fit in comforatably. Our oldest is about 6'4" and youngest is quickly approaching that height. We have the bunk as well as all the cushions if we would want to change it back but we really like it the way it is.
Would love to meet face to face with more HiLo owners but we are busy and not able to go to the national meet.
Becky

sam · 05-12-2011, 03:28 PM

We have two more windows to take out replace with butyl tape. Iwill try to remember to take pictures. It is not hard to do. You just have to be willing to spend half a day doing it. That is good that you have all the cushions ect. if you ever wanted to put the HiLo back to the original layout. I always wondered if someone tall would fit into the HiLo beds. We are 5ft3" & 5ft 5". The beds will be so much more comfortable if you add memory foam,or an air mattress. It is not comfortable sleeping on a crack. My brother lives in Strongsville,Ohio. Where are you? We've had a few really nice days in the 70's. I had a chance to dust off the inside of the trailer. We've decided to splurge and have a flooring place put vinyl on the Br floor. We are so busy between weed wacking,mowing 3 places and trying to get the garden in and other outdoor chores. Take care Sam I'm from Niagara Falls,Ny

Becky · 05-13-2011, 08:55 AM

Our youngest went out to the trailer yesterday and was determinded to see if ac works, we purchased the HiLo in January so we had never tried it. Just went on the word of the previous owner that it worked. Well it does work!!!!!!!!!
Yahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kids told me yesterday that if I wan't gonna turn on the central air in the house they were gonna sleep in the camper since the air in there worked!!!(I want to wait as long as I can on turning on the central air, as our electric rates are high, rural co-op.) We live in outside of Shadyside, along the Ohio River. Niagra Falls I bet that is an awsome place to live. I have never been to the falls but would love to see them sometime.
It is great to meet you Sam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sam · 05-14-2011, 12:09 AM

Today it is 70degrees,high humidity. Probably won,t like me for suggesting more maintenance items. There is a screen in the air conditioner that needs to be taken out and gently cleaned with soap and water. We have to clean ours after a week of heavy use. Climb up on the roof(carefully) and take the shroud off the Ac-socket set. Clean out any leaves ect. Gently clean anything you can,lubricate. We put sonof a gun on the AC cover. I don,t think you will have to worry about using any Ac next week as it will be 50degrees. The screeen is inside the trailer. We also have high electric rates even though we have a huge power plant and plenty of water in Niagara Falls. They ship cheaper power to NYC. Something wrong about this. Maybe you could save $ and come to Niagara Falls. We have a lovely state park to camp at. Lots of things to do. Last year the National HiLo rallye was in Ohio. We couldn't go because my husband was in school. Can't remember the town,stayed at the KOA-near Amish country. Some of our HiLove NY HiLo owners are going back to OHIO after the rallye in Illinois.Back to the Br wall repair..Do glue down the wallpaper if possible. I wouldn't recomend putting up new wall board from the inside. I would wait until you can do a full wall repair.. It could be a can of worms and will certainly take alot of time to do properly. One of our HiLo owners bought a trailer from a dealer that had the wall repaired by the dealer. They found out that the wall was warped on the inside where you couldn't see it. They had the inside cables snap and were afraid the cables would snap again every time they raised the HiLo up. They sold the HiLo.