RV and Van Interior Services in Yorba Linda

Three constraints separate the two, and every one of them is measurable. Weight, movement and heat.

Weight is a hard number printed on a sticker inside your coach. Cargo carrying capacity is what remains after the vehicle is built and fluids are filled, and it is often only 1,500 to 3,000 pounds on a Class A. A twenty square foot galley countertop in three centimeter quartz weighs roughly 250 pounds, sits high in the vehicle, and raises the center of gravity while eating a sixth of the payload. The same counter in a solid surface material weighs about a third of that.

Movement is the second constraint. A coach racks and twists over every driveway apron, and the sidewalls flex measurably at highway speed. Residential cabinets are shimmed plumb and screwed into a rigid stud wall. Do that in an RV and the carcass becomes a stress member, the joints work loose, and the doors stop closing within a season. RV cabinetry is fastened to framing members with allowance for movement, not locked rigid across the span.

• Cargo carrying capacity limits how much finish weight the vehicle can carry
• Chassis and sidewall flex loads any interior component fastened rigidly across a span
• Closed cabin temperatures routinely exceed 140 degrees in an Orange County summer
• Adhesives, laminates and foams behave differently at that temperature
• Interior walls are thin, so fastening depth and framing location matter more than in a house
• Every fastener that penetrates an exterior wall is a potential water path

From outside to inside, a laminated sidewall is a sandwich: outer fiberglass or aluminum skin, adhesive, a substrate panel, framing with block foam insulation filling the cavities, then the interior wall panel. Everything is bonded under vacuum press at the factory, which is why the wall behaves as one stiff panel rather than as separate layers.

The substrate is the layer that decides how your coach ages. Lauan is a thin tropical plywood. It is light, stiff, cheap and hygroscopic, which is a polite way of saying it absorbs water and then rots and delaminates. Azdel is a polypropylene and fiberglass composite that does not absorb water and does not rot. Owners hear that and assume Azdel coaches do not get water damage. They do. The water passes straight through the composite and rots the wood framing and the subfloor behind it while the panel itself still looks perfect, which means the damage is hidden longer and is usually worse by the time it surfaces.

Framing is normally one by two lumber or aluminum tube at sixteen to twenty four inch centers. The interior panel is often an eighth of an inch of vinyl faced lauan. That eighth of an inch holds nothing. Anything heavy that goes on an interior wall has to reach the framing behind it, and finding that framing without cutting the panel open is a real part of the labor on an interior job.

Water enters at penetrations and seams, almost never through the middle of a panel. Roof vents, air conditioner gaskets, antenna bases, refrigerator vents, slide flanges, window frames and the awning rail account for the overwhelming majority of interior water damage we see.

Once inside, water does not fall straight down. It runs along the top of a framing member until it finds a low point, which can be several feet from the entry. That is why a stain over the dinette is frequently caused by a failed seal above the bathroom vent, and why chasing an interior stain without inspecting the roof produces a repainted ceiling and a repeat visit.

We locate the source before touching the finish. Moisture meter readings across the affected area, a look at the roof and slide seals, and where necessary a small inspection cut in a low visibility location. Interior finish work performed before the leak is closed is wasted money and we say so.

Our posted body and paint rate is $210 per hour and our mechanical and electrical rate is $260 per hour. Interior finish work is billed at the body and paint rate. Lighting, twelve volt wiring and anything powered is billed at the mechanical and electrical rate.

Published bands run as follows. Lighting upgrades $250 to $2,500 at 1 to 10 hours. Wall and ceiling panel work $500 to $5,500 at 3 to 22 hours. Cabinetry $500 to $7,500 at 4 to 35 hours. Flooring $750 to $9,500 at 6 to 40 hours. Furniture and upholstery $750 to $8,500 at 4 to 25 hours. A full interior remodel runs $1,500 to $50,000 and beyond at 20 to 250 or more labor hours.

An RV systems estimate is $150 and is refundable as a credit against an authorized repair. That covers diagnosis on powered interior systems. Straight finish work is quoted from an in shop walkthrough.