The SAUNTUR Ceiling install:
Didn't think much of this originally... but have realized since that it is at least a /little/ different than others, so I'll hit the "how we did it" here. (Especially after I barfed exactly what /should/ have been here
on @eranrund's thread. 😄 )
The ceiling isn't completely installed as of this post. But the method is 100% complete and we're pleased with it. Just haven't taken the time to pull down all the cabinets and finish the work on the driver's side or passenger side front.
The material we used for the ceiling is 1/4" melamine-coated MDF.
This is a page of the type of stuff we used from a local shop. We're using finished birch of similar stuff for the side panels.
We have three cabinets installed on each side which are removeable with a few bolts each. That removability and flexibility of size and location is part of the ceiling design, so I'll touch on those in this post as well. As noted below, our ceiling install method extends down the first foot or so of each side - this is an important part of the approach in how it holds the ceiling up as well as how we addressed the un-square-ness of the ceiling versus walls.
Here's the ceiling from the rear (older photos without all cabinets in). Lights and center screws all nice and neatly spaced and centered and all that. In hindsight, might have been better to move the lights so that the open cabinet doors don't cover them when opened. 🤦♀️
Here's an example of the rear setup
This is what the top and sides looked like without the 30mm extrusions were bolted in. At this point, the rails had been bolted on (to confirm that they worked) then removed because they have to be loose to get the ceiling panel to slot in correctly. As shown, those 1/2" ply segments are bolted into rivnuts at each roof cross-beam. You can see the 1" polyiso is held up in place by the plywood. Because it's bowed, there's tension. Thankfully, it has not been noisy.
Here you can see the rear-most panel inserted into the slot in the extrusion. In this photo, all the 90 brackets shown above are still loose - just snugged up enough to hold the panel in place. When they're tightened, the panel pulls into the slots really tight. It took some trial-and-error to get the width right.
Here you can also see that there's a layer of Thinsulate right above the ceiling panel. The ceiling panels are 1/4" MDF with white melamine coating. This means a rigid-enough panel (while still having a little flex) and a more durable white finish than if we painted something ourselves. You can see here the holes drilled for the puck lights, as well as #16 speaker-wire pairs dropped down for the lights - the hot line on the right, then a connector between two lights at each pair.. Not clear is the holes drilled for the screws that would hold the panels up at each roof-cross-member point.
Each cross-member has rivnuts in the center to which a piece of 1x2 pine is bolted in. Visible in the below photo as the small piece of wood above the end of the panel and above the Thinsulate. Those 1x2 boards serve to make a flat base at that width AND to allow us to use wood-screws to pull the panel up into place little-by-little by starting with 3" screws, pulling each point up tighter, then eventually swapping those 3" screws for 1.5" screws - which were too short to reach initially, but easily swapped one at a time once snugged up. The screws can go /through/ the 1x2s because we targeted them right where the steel beams have openings (see the above photo). The Thinsulate creates a lot of pressure on the panels so nothing makes noise once tightened up. And yet it can all be disassembled and removed (and reinstalled) if necessary since there's no glue or anything like that.
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The finished center panels shown below with lights in place as well. Reminds me that I need to replace those screws and washers with white ones. Getting from the above to this was a 2-person job of holding the panels in place while tightening up all the screws and bolts little-by-little until it is all so snug it doesn't move. It looks and feels like it's all glued in place. It's that solid. This photo is before any cabinets.
In this one, there's no change to the ceiling; but these two cabinets have been installed - with no doors and we haven't dealt with the ceiling side panels or the upper wall panels. At two points, the ceiling has 1/2" x ~3" plywood cross-members to cover the seams between panels. Came out good enough that we'll probably leave them as-is.
I'll go ahead and cover the front panel. I'm pretty happy with how it came out; though it will probably have to be re-cut one more time since I'm considering modifying the blobs. Basically, I cut multiple versions until it got good enough to use. Here's the second pass. The first one was really straight lines. This one started to have some curves.
By the fourth cut, I did it with the white material. You can see the two holes that go into a 1x2 similarly mounted to the cross-member at the back of the cab.
Came out well - still need to figure out the blobs, though.
Looking the other direction, you can see the finish came out pretty well (blobs aside). You can see in this photo our first attempt at the upper-wall panel on the right side. Next post will address those (only 10 photos per post).
