Yet another headliner question.

[Davie B]

I recently acquired a 1997 Lite•House. It's a sweet trailer and has very few problems. The one that bothers me the most is a small leak around the vent. The previous owner used something called "eterna-tape and apparently took care of most of the problem but it's still dripping a bit. The vent manufacture supplied me with a new gasket and installation kit so I think I have a pretty good handle on that.

The problem is that there is a rather large section of the ceiling where the (what do you call that stuff?) furry fabric and the underling foil covered bubble wrap insulation have separated from the fiberglass shell. The next few days are forecast to be cold and low humidity in North Florida so I'm going to do the vent repair and if possible, re-glue the insulation to the shell, and the furry stuff to the insulation.

I'm using spray-can headliner adhesive to get everything back together. That brings up my question. What kind of prep should I do to the shell, insulation and furry stuff before I attempt to glue it back together? Is there a solvent I should use? Should I sand the fiberglass shell? Will I have to replace the fuzzy stuff or the foil covered bubble wrap?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions. I'm on vacation for the next couple of weeks and it's a good time to get this project completed.

ps. Total props to the folks who make Fan-Tastic vent fans. They make an excellent product and provide outstanding customer service. Thanks.

[Robert Johans]

I'm using spray-can headliner adhesive to get everything back together. That brings up my question. What kind of prep should I do to the shell, insulation and furry stuff before I attempt to glue it back together? Is there a solvent I should use? Should I sand the fiberglass shell? Will I have to replace the fuzzy stuff or the foil covered bubble wrap?

To prep for the re-gluing of the insulation to the shell I would, as necessary, lightly sand away any old adhesive on the shell, then clean both surfaces thoroughly with acetone or lacquer thinner. Let dry and apply new adhesive. For best results, and depending on your adhesive and accessibility, you may want to coat both surfaces (like a contact cement) before binding.

To re-glue the "rat fur" to the insulation, I think a quick cleaning of the insulation surface should suffice for good adhesion. Again, lightly coating both surfaces may provide best results.

[Angelo F.]

Yes, sand and wipe clean with acetone. I recommend 3M 90 spray adhesive. Most hardware stores carry it.

[Davie B]

Yes, sand and wipe clean with acetone. I recommend 3M 90 spray adhesive. Most hardware stores carry it.

Thanks - I'm starting to work my way through the "eternatape". I'm going to have to use a hair dryer to soften it up. It's really hard to pull off. Turns out that the builder didn't install the fan to spec. Instead of using screws in every hole, he/she used pop rivets in half of the holes and some sort of black caulk instead of a gasket. Like most refurb projects, this one is getting complicated.