Carpeting over "elephant skin"

[steve in texas]

We have remodeled our 1987 Scamp and the final touch is to carpet the entire inside. We hired a carpet layed who did an excellent job except the adhesive gave way in the Texas heat. He has made another attempt and it is improved, but is still falling in some areas. We left the air conditioning on for a full week on this last attempt. Does anyone have any adhesive ideas, or has anyone else done this? Thanks for any help.

[Leia T]

Might not be a helpful response but maybe consider hardwood or bamboo flooring? I live in Arizona and have heat issues as well. I have a 1995 13 foot Burro and got hardwood flooring from Costco for 60 bucks a package, only takes one or two. Doesn't take much to cover these little guys. Good luck!

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by steve in texas

We have remodeled our 1987 Scamp and the final touch is to carpet the entire inside. We hired a carpet layed who did an excellent job except the adhesive gave way in the Texas heat. He has made another attempt and it is improved, but is still falling in some areas. We left the air conditioning on for a full week on this last attempt. Does anyone have any adhesive ideas, or has anyone else done this? Thanks for any help.

I'm not sure what kind of carpeting you're using, but most carpeting I know of is pretty heavy compared to "rat fur" (marine headliner). In fact I'm surprised that the ensolite ("elephant skin") didn't come apart with the added weight.

[BigMike]

Originally Posted by steve in texas

We have remodeled our 1987 Scamp and the final touch is to carpet the entire inside. We hired a carpet layed who did an excellent job except the adhesive gave way in the Texas heat. He has made another attempt and it is improved, but is still falling in some areas. We left the air conditioning on for a full week on this last attempt. Does anyone have any adhesive ideas, or has anyone else done this? Thanks for any help.

I hate the fact that I am even suggesting this but try Liquid Nails.
My 72-73 PlaPac had the walls and ceiling carpeted when I bought it. The carpet never sagged or fell off.

[DonDeutsch]

I have had to remove a headliner installed with liquid nails. Boy if that stuff dries it is TOUGH! Just about a permanent installation adhesive.

[LukeP]

I'm going to be using DAP Weldwood Landau Top & Trim High Heat Resistant Contact Cement. According to a local guy who installs interiors and headliners in cars/rv's - this works the best with high heat and humidity. He said he used to use other products when humidity wasn't an issue (when he lived in CA). SO, in his opinion and experience, humidity and heat both need to be considered.

That said, I had to remove carpeting in my Boler that had been installed by both Liquid Nails and Construction adhesive. My life was miserable in the process - so it worked! But the backing of the carpet provided strength and so the bead didn't have to be very wide to still have solid adhesion. When putting in ensolite/reflectix/headliner - I would think a wider contact point would be necessary as the backing itself isn't strong... so either a wider bead or a cement seems like it would work better.

[campfrugal]

Originally Posted by steve in texas

We have remodeled our 1987 Scamp and the final touch is to carpet the entire inside. We hired a carpet layed who did an excellent job except the adhesive gave way in the Texas heat. He has made another attempt and it is improved, but is still falling in some areas. We left the air conditioning on for a full week on this last attempt. Does anyone have any adhesive ideas, or has anyone else done this? Thanks for any help.

Steve, you say "The whole inside", I take that to mean walls and ceiling too ? Anyway, for insulation, and being soft walls I used contact cement and it did NOT work. Gorilla Glue is what I like....they say spray both surfaces with a water mist first, then add glue. Works for me.
Doc the boonDOCer

[LukeP]

Doc, what kind of contact cement did you use? Do you know if it was formulated for High Heat Resistance by chance? I'm interested to know, thanks!

Originally Posted by campfrugal

Steve, you say "The whole inside", I take that to mean walls and ceiling too ? Anyway, for insulation, and being soft walls I used contact cement and it did NOT work. Gorilla Glue is what I like....they say spray both surfaces with a water mist first, then add glue. Works for me.
Doc the boonDOCer

[campfrugal]

Originally Posted by LukeP

Doc, what kind of contact cement did you use? Do you know if it was formulated for High Heat Resistance by chance? I'm interested to know, thanks!

LUKE, I use Gorilla Glue, it is NOT a contact type'
it is a bonding agent, use a water mist on both
surfaces first, then squeeze on the glue and bond.
It will 'set' in two hours.

Doc the boonDOCer

[LukeP]

Hey Doc!
I was referring to this part of your comment: Anyway, for insulation, and being soft walls I used contact cement and it did NOT work.

I wondered what contact cement THAT was? Since I'm using some contact cement, I would like to know what DIDN'T work! I agree, Gorilla Glue is dang near immovable. Hadn't thought to use that on the reflectix/fabric.

Originally Posted by campfrugal

LUKE, I use Gorilla Glue, it is NOT a contact type'
it is a bonding agent, use a water mist on both
surfaces first, then squeeze on the glue and bond.
It will 'set' in two hours.

Doc the boonDOCer

[campfrugal]

Originally Posted by LukeP

Hey Doc!
I was referring to this part of your comment: Anyway, for insulation, and being soft walls I used contact cement and it did NOT work.

I wondered what contact cement THAT was? Since I'm using some contact cement, I would like to know what DIDN'T work! I agree, Gorilla Glue is dang near immovable. Hadn't thought to use that on the reflectix/fabric.

Sorry Luke,
All I remember about the contact cement is, It was left over from
a Formica job I did.
Doc
the boonDOCer

[spudfriend]

So anyone, would you say that using even a cheap low-pile carpet for the ceiling would probably not be a good idea? We found something at Lowes for 50 cents a foot. We can't seem to come up with a good idea for how to attach it to the ceiling. We've used Gorilla Glue before, but how much would you need to do the whole ceiling? Where do you buy it in those quantities, and how do you best apply it for a whole 12 foot run of 2 foot wide carpet?

[campfrugal]

Hi Spudfriend,
Oh man that concerns me, doing big sections with regular carpet.
Mine is like 1' squares of carpet tile. We lightly sprayed water on each section of the fiberglass at a time, then sprayed the tile. Only on the tile we squirted on the Gorilla glue in ribbons an inch apart, then slapped it up and held it in place with 15" x 15" piece of plywood on the end of a paint roller adjustable handle. Later we started doing two at a atime and increased the size of our 'Press Board'.
Insulation was a factor, the carpet tile has a medium density 1/4 inch thick backing which gave us an acceptable 'R' factor.
I hope this helps you,
Doc the boonDOCer