water stains on ceilings

[bigjohn]

hello everyone

 

we are having to have our rooflights re sealed as we have suffered a water ingress resulting in badly stained ceilings, the van is out of warranty ,and because it is 8mtrs long my local dealer has told me it would cost in his words "thousands" to strip out the van and re paper it.Anyone got any ideas how to remove water stains or. do you think it would be covered by insurance.

thanks in advance

[fred22]

Hi,I have had some damp in my ceiling and cannot get any matching wallboard so I am carpeting the whole ceiling with a light coloured carpet. Not as big as yours though.

Someone may suggest a weak bleach solution but make sure if you try it you do so in an area which won't be seen.

I have never had much luck trying to hide ceiling patches ,although,many years ago we had an early Thompson caravan that had a kind of hessian ceiling and I painted that with emulsion paint and it looked great.

A lot of ceilings are covered in sections and, if yours is, you may get a matching board from O Leary's. As I said, I couldn't match mine but they do have a good selection of boards and carpet.

If you do go down the "recovering road",why not get a quote from a local painter and decorator, after all a ceiling is still a ceiling no matter where it is.

[Guest Tracker]

I painted a badly stained van ceiling a few years back and it worked well.

 

I first used an oil based undercoat / primer to seal and cover the marks and create a good base for the top coat to adhere to and when all the marks were invisible I used a roller with vinyl silk emulsion to get a decent brush mark free finish - having first taken all lights and fitting off as it is so much better than trying to paint round them.

[flicka]

Hi John

I think your local dealer is refering to stripping out the whole roof & replacing it & covering himself for that money, as it is difficult to tell the extent of the damage just looking at the ceiling.

Has he carried out a Damp Check to find the extent of the problem ?

 

You say your motorhome is out of warranty, but an idea of make / age / condition, etc., would help to find a solution.

 

Also Water Ingress Guarantees are sometimes longer than standard warranty periods, if the stipulated Damp Tests have been meticuously adhered too.

 

If recently out of warranty that does not exclude replacement being available.

How long have the Roof lights been leaking ?

When re-sealing check around the apperture for any visual signs of water damage. If present it could be much more extensive than is visible.

If the ceiling is only stained & the ceiling/roof structure is not water damaged, try the manufacturer to see if they have any of the covering or board available or if they can advise a source. It should be possible to just replace one or two sections, rather than the whole ceiling.

 

[David Dwight]

If you go down the route of painting the Ceiling, do as Tracker says use oil base undercoat, its the only thing that will stop the stains coming through any paint.

 

Charles and Son at Poole carry a good stock of wallboards etc.

 

I had a water ingress in the toilet/shower in our first M/home, having sorted the problem I coated the walls in oil based u/coat then found some wahsable tile effect paper similar to what had been on the walls and re papered When we sold the van a few months later the dealer who had it off us did the damp test and never found a problem.

 

David.

 

 

[Vernon B]

Are you sure your lining is paper Bigjohn? Most motorhomes have something more substantial and it's possible to remove water stains with an upholstery cleaner once it has dried out.

 

V

[bigjohn]

thank you all for your replies, i have tried upholstery clnr on stain just waiting for it to dry now