[BabyBuffy]

Not an area I've focused heavily on yet but just came from a fabric store to casually have a look at possible future materials for ceiling and wall panels.

That got me thinking on the subject after realizing the embarrassment of riches that lie ahead in that direction.

I've noted that people have attached panels in a way that results in there being visible "buttons" holding things in place.

I'm thinking I would use an approach where every panel would be held in place with strips of velcro. The idea especially appeals to me in that they would be so easily removable to gain whatever access was required in the future.

Anyone see a downside to such an approach? It could even be done where wherever wood furring is mounted to attach velcro, the seam would be such that narrow strips of nice wood would overlay/overlap the intersection.

 

[driley]

I had a 1/4 in piece of Celtec held in place on the side of the van with hook and loop closure for months and it did not budge. This was a temporary setup and I may use this in some areas for the final build.

For the final build, my roof and side panels will be held in place with some hardwood with L-Track attached. I just now starting on this and do not have many pics. There will be no visible buttons or screws in the panels.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=NHROWU9lVGF1eGVGcVA1ZnhTWk1TcFVuUURVZER3

Below is a link to what I used to hold up the panel on the side of the van. It is much stronger than regular Velcro. A twelve inch by 3 foot panel had only for postage stamp size pieces at the corners. The glue held up through the summer heat as well.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007OXK1AK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[DrJean]

I think the buttons you saw are called snap caps ... they go over the ends of screws to make them look like upholstery finishing buttons. Like seen HERE

 

[sschefer]

I looked at as many conversion projects as I could find on the Web and everyone was paneling the walls and the ceilings before anything else.

After I got all my cabinets installed I realized how much material and time I had wasted.

My build was a hurry up and get it done with the full knowledge that I'd be ripping it out and redoing it. For that reason I used 3/16 Luan door skin. If that's come across your mind, don't do it. It's stains blotchy, you have to scrape it because it's too thin to sand and it telegraphs badly. It also sucks up any finish you apply. I put 5 coats of Marine spar poly urethane on it and it never got to the gloss I expected.

This time around, my paneling needs will be far less and I'll be using a high gloss cherry laminate over 1/4" shop grade birch cabinet plywood. It will not be applied until all of my cabinets are in. The other advantage to that is that they can be removed without having to tear out cabinets.