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Hi,

We are (slowly) renovating our Autohomes Travelhome. Great advice on here! I have been having a lovely time making curtains and seat cushions the last couple of weeks.

The next step is to redecorate the bathroom/ shower room. It currently has that wallpaper/ tiles on a roll thing going on, that is semi waterproof, on the walls. My Mum suggested sticking thin vinyl floor covering to the walls as this would be pretty waterproof. Has anyone else tried this/ and/ or do you think it is a good idea?

Thanks for your help!

Phae

Go to one of the carpet shops and pick a very decent Lino and use that.

For the corners use the Lino's Straight edges so its a tight fit Stick it to the wall with Evo stick and a brush (NOT the spray on stuff)

Seal the corners and edges with a fine bead of Sikaflex or Car Bond

B&Q sell 1/2inch aluminium strips. Drill and countersink some of these and use these at the top, halfway down and sides using galvanised screws if possible.

We did this to a friends shower unit 5 years ago and its still fine.

Alternatively you could use the bare walls and a good quality Yacht paint

Hi Phae

Been thinking about this since yesterday my thoughts are

Formica sheets bonded to walls with waterproof glue, then silicon the corners to get a seal, but think this might be a tad expensive

So now the skinflint way B&Q do uPVC cladding that is hollow, very light weight & cheap about £5 a pack (5 per pk x 8ft long)+ easy to cut, if you siliconed each tongue & groove as you assemble it up the wall it should be watertight

mick

if you look in any van you will see water proof wallboard's .cost about £15  6x4 sheet

glue to existing wall silicone joints job done ,just like that

any caravan dealer sells them .or autocraft stavley chesterfield as them.

Thanks for all your suggestions! Not sure which way to go yet, will have a think about it.....

Have nearly finished recovering all seat cushions and driver and passenger seat- phew! My brain hurts trying to work out the front seats, they look amazing though!

Phae

Hi there Phae,

I have just recovered the shower walls in my old(1992) Euramobil 540 with self adhesive cork floor tiles and then sealed them with 3 coats of yacht varnish.Not only did it tidy the shower room up but it added a layer of insulation at the same time and  will help keep the cold out in winter.Obviously it does make it a litttle darker in there as before the light wall covering reflected the natural light but as this had faded in places it looked a bit tired so the new cork finish looks much better.It was cheap to do as I used B&Q tiles that were on offer for 50% off and the varnish I already had kicking about in my garage.Merry Xmas Michael.

Hi Phae

Just read your pre-xmas post - hope the repairs went well.

Ours is a Travelhome too,  a 1992 model, which we bought last year.  I love it, but am afraid it will fall apart.  The Ford diesel is a bit slow going uphill but downhill or on motorways it flies - you have to keep an eye on the speed limit then! 

I'm delighted that there is another Travelhome owner out there.  I have a few questions and hope you can throw some light on them for me..

1. How is the water in the shower and washroom sink heated?  The kitchen boiler doesn't seem to be piped to the washroom - it only heats the tap in the kitchen.

2.  How do you heat the oven - it took us nearly 2 hours to cook a frozen pizza.  We have been sticking to the grill since!

3. How do you fix leaks in those flimsy skylights in the luton?

As I say, any advice you can share would be helpful.

By the way, have you any photos of your project?

VanGO

Kath     

Seeing things that I may never see again,
I can't wait to get on the road again. WILLIE NELSON

Hi VanGo,

Am I allowed to post my email on here? It's phae.burfield at ntlworld.com i'll mail you some pics if you email me your address....

Very excited to find another Travelhome owner! Sorry for delay in replying- very hectic at the moment.

Ours is a 1991 model. From extensive research (bordering on obsession) when I was looking for a Travelhome to buy i found out Autohomes didn't make that many of them and they are all slightly different- no two are the same- even in the same year!

I have had mine a year. I have spent quite a lot on the mechanics, so it is mechanically okay. It will go 85 mph, however on the motroway this causes it to bounce and sway all over the place, esp when windy or lorries going past. So I stick to 50-55mph- takes forever to get anywhere! My boyfriend has suggested having the suspension stiffened up and maybe having another wheel put on the back axles as the back wheels are well underneath and makes very unstable. we have polished up the bodywork with an industrial buffer, but still have some jobs to do on the bodywork.

On the inside we have recovered all the seats and cushions and made new curtains, mended the saggy roof and laid new carpet. It was filthy when I bought it, but now shines like a new pin! There are a few small jobs still to do, but two large jobs- windows over cab are split and leaking and the quote I got was £140 x 4 plus carriage- eeek! currently thinking about an alternative. We haven't redecoarated in the shower room yet as we need a new shower tray- is split and leaking. We know someone with a fibreglass business, so will ask them to make me one to fit.

To answer your questions:

1) Our boiler heats water for shower room and kitchen sink.

2) Our oven is fine. maybe you should get a corgi gas man to check them over. Our gas fire doesn't get very hot, but I know a good plumber and he is gonna mend it for me and check out all the gas appliances are safe.

3) We have 3 skylights. The one over the cab bed was leaking. We parked it next to our garage, got on the garage roof, unscrewed it and pulled it off, cleaned up all the old silicone/ sealer. Used loads of that sicaflex caravan sealent (see other posts if your'e not sure what to buy) and then screwed back on. seems to have sorted the leak out.

Look forward to hearing from you soon!

Phae