Headliner failure on our 05 Itasca Horizon and the repair

I already posted this on the remodeling/renovations area, but it really belongs here.
We have an 05 Itasca Horizon.  At the end of a recent trip the headliner developed large bubble looking sags in 2 panels.  The headliner is foam backed vinyl and the bond between the foam and vinyl broke down.  I determined that this was from washing the vinyl to remove soiled spots and rubbing on the vinyl, stretched it enough to break the bond.  Our model is the 35GD and upon returning home, I removed all the vinyl forward of the bulkhead for the shower/bath (about 20 feet) Bath area and bedroom seemed good.
I purchased an acoustic carpet material from "Wall coverings.com.  They were most cooperative, furnished samples and free advice. The material I ended up with was made by "Shaw" carpet and is a light weight non backed carpet designed for walls and other acoustical applications.  The adhesive was "Roman Pro 838" a heavy duty wall paper adhesive recommended by "Shaw" Carpets.
The procedure was to first remove (Scrape) all the foam off the ceiling to expose the plywood.  Buy a 4' X 8' sheet of 1/4" plywood as a work surface.  Saw a aprox. 1' X 8' strip off the sheet to use as a straight edge for cutting fabric.  Cut the fabric to width and to length plus 1/2" KEEP CUTS SQUARE.  With 2 people start installation by applying adhesive to ceiling (1 thin and 1 medium coat) position the first piece.  Now, using the strip you made for cutting, place it under the fabric and using 1" X 1" x length poles brace the plywood strip in place.  A paint roller is used to roll the fabric in to the glue and staples can be used on the edge as they will be covered by the trim strips.  I opted NOT to use spray adhesive as the fumes in that enclosed space will render you unconsious.

Yours is the first report I've heard in the 2004+ Vectra/'Horizon series of headliner issues.  Effective and creative fix - thanks.  More pictures would be great if you have them.

I am having the same headliner issue on my 2004 Itasca Horizon 40AD.  We have two slides in the living area and the one with the refrigerator slides over the headliner and there is no defined edge.  Did you have that problem and how did you deal with it?

Having the same problem develop on my 2005 horizon. It seems to start on the edges in 3 different places now. So it seems it is going to affect us as well John, ?? :-[

Groan.  I'll probably be not too far behind you guys  ??? :

Hi Folks, my 2005 Horizon is having the same problem.  I tried the spray adhesive , it worked temporarily.
The foam has deteriorated to the point where the liner has separated.
Iwasouth's fix sounds the best I've heard. I've heard of carpet squares being used, but not sure how that has lasted.
Any new ideas or fixes out there?

Grospoint fabrics are idea for this. They are a very short loop pile material used in airliners for lower sidewall, bulkhead and other areas.

https://www.tapiscorp.com/products/grospoint/grospoint/

In the cab over section of my Winnie View ('07 model) the ceiling material is sagging. This is similar to auto headliner material which is foam backed, the foam rots and the material sags. I am going to look into the Grospoint as a possible replacement material.

Thanks for the tips in gluing it in place.

Charles
2007 Winnebago View 523H on a 2006 Dodge (Daimler-Chrysler aka Mercedes) Sprinter 3500 chassis (T1N). Bought Sept 2015 with 18K miles on it, Prog Ind HW30C, Prog Dymanics PD4645, Coleman Chill Grille, PML/Yourcovers.com deep alum trans pan, AutoMeter 8558 trans temp gauge, Roadmaster sway bar, Koni Red shocks (front & rear), Fantastic Ultra Breeze hood, added OEM parabolic mirrors and RH aspherical mirror, MB grill conversion.

Piper23t said:

Hi Folks, my 2005 Horizon is having the same problem.  I tried the spray adhesive , it worked temporarily. The foam has deteriorated to the point where the liner has separated. ..

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Yup, spray adhesive will never be a permanent solution. The best way to deal with the problem it to strip the headliner and start over. Marine products would be especially suited for this application.

John Canfield said:

Yup, spray adhesive will never be a permanent solution. The best way to deal with the problem it to strip the headliner and start over.

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John, I hope your wrong as I really don't want to do this project over again  . I used this 3M contact cement to replace the vinyl. If I did do it over I might consider rolling a contact cement on the wood and spraying the vinyl instead. Spraying glue over your head just isn't fun at all. You are however correct in that every bit of the old headliner and foam needs to be removed. You need to be down to the bare wood.

tonaphun said:

I am having the same headliner issue on my 2004 Itasca Horizon 40AD.  We have two slides in the living area and the one with the refrigerator slides over the headliner and there is no defined edge.  Did you have that problem and how did you deal with it?

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We have the exact same model. Over the refrigerator I pulled down the old vinyl and cleaned the stuck foam with a small wire brush as far back as I could reach. As you can imagine I my arm was quite soar and scraped up by the time I was finished. Sprayed the glue as far back as I could go and cut the vinyl about 4 - 6 inches longer then area cleaned. I was (and still am) a little worried that that vinyl "flap" will continue to pull down but so far it's held up OK and not visible unless you get up close with a flashlight. On the slide over the buffet I used a piece of cherry to held it up (see pic).

For those looking to do this, Lichtsinn RV was great in matching a current foamed back vinyl to what was orginally used by Winnebago.

sgkane said:

John, I hope your wrong as I really don't want to do this project over again  . ...

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What I meant was attempting to use spray adhesive to 'fix' a sagging headliner that has deteriorated foam. That spray should work well on a clean surface. It would be interesting to correlate sagging headliners with units that were stored with no power, i.e., the interior temperature gets to 95+ degrees for long periods of time.

Auto manufacturers had the same problem several years ago with headliners that came loose, car interior temperatures can reach 120+ degrees which probably broke down whatever they were using to bond the material to the ceiling.

John Canfield said:

What I meant was attempting to use spray adhesive to 'fix' a sagging headliner that has deteriorated foam. That spray should work well on a clean surface. It would be interesting to correlate sagging headliners with units that were stored with no power, i.e., the interior temperature gets to 95+ degrees for long periods of time.

Auto manufacturers had the same problem several years ago with headliners that came loose, car interior temperatures can reach 120+ degrees which probably broke down whatever they were using to bond the material to the ceiling.

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Yes I believe you are correct. Our MH sat in the Florida sun unattended  for a few years before we purchased it. When I bought it, the headliner looked to be in pretty good shape. After about 1000 miles it started coming down everywhere. 

I purchased my coach second hand as well. I've had it A little over two years. I keep AC or heat On all the time it's not being used.
The problem has gotten considerably worse. Currently using thumb tacks until a more permanent solution.

Uagh - Our has two places it has started.  one is in the closet and the other in the middle of the drivers side slide.  What about a small hole in the liner and shoot some adhesive up there to give me a few years?????

Sounds like taking the whole liner down is more than I have time for now.

If you are going to recover the ceiling,  you could use staples as a temporary fix. Use monel staples  (non rusting.)