Marmoleum Real Linoleum

A few years ago I was able to score a bargain on a full roll of Marmoleum Real Linoleum.

It is a specialty product that vintage Airstream restorers like to use as a premier flooring material.

The roll is about 180-feet long and 6 1/2-feet wide.  Certainly an ample amount of flooring and an exquisite find for a good price.  It is exciting to finally get to use this product.

 The whole roll weighed a ton and was hard to maneuver into position for cutting.

With my ingenuity I was able to succeed.

Cutting the linoleum was daunting.  

I did not want to make any mistakes during installation.

Measure 3 times and then measure once more before cutting.  

This linoleum is too thick to cut with a utility knife. 

Tin snips worked well and offered better control.

 A good felt-backed linoleum glue was used to hold the linoleum in place.

The luan flooring preparation worked out great.

The trailer is 25-feet long inside and the resulting piece of linoleum is quite large.

Much time was spent making exact measurements. It was important to hold the linoleum in place when maneuvering the piece for glueing.  The cement block was a good helping hand.

Once this large 25-feet long by 6 1/2-feet wide piece was glued down, more had to be cut to fill the remaining 7-inch space along the side.  This product is designed to be welded or fused together to hide the seam between the pieces.  However, in this case all the seams will be covered over by cabinets, benches, bathtub or closets.  Glueing without welding will be most adequate.

After the entire floor was finally glued down, a rented linoleum roller was used to smooth out the flooring and make sure the glue made good adhesion.

 A big floor to work with.

Lots of critical measurements made for a good outcome.

I was very happy with the end result.  A professional looking floor!

I have a lot of linoleum left over for the next project that my wife says will not be happening!

Flooring Installation

As part of the frame-off reconstruction, I installed a quality plywood floor. I have protected it throughout the refurbishing process.  However, the elevator bolts used to fasten the wood to the cross members left deep cutouts and voids above the heads.  Also, seams between plywood pieces were not as clean and neat as one could possibly achieve.  So, I decided to apply a layer of thin luan plywood to prepare the surface for linoleum installation.

The luan was placed to cover the existing seams and to ensure seam-free traffic patterns.  A pneumatic stapler gun was used to secure the 4 by 8 feet sheets of wood to the floor.  Staples were placed every 6 inches apart and 2 inches apart on the seams.    

Tin cans help cover the waste tank ports during construction.

A total of 6 sheets of thin luan plywood was used.

The end result was a very smooth surface ready for the linoleum.

Zolatone Paint

Excitement builds as I prepare to apply the finish coat of paint to the inside of the Airstream. 

This Zolatone spatter finish was my first choice, as it closely resembles the Airstream's original finish. However, I do not own the equipment necessary to apply that particular spray paint, and after looking at it for some time, I found it to be too busy.

Zolatone also offers a rolled-on finish called Flex Dimensions. It comes in multiple colors that are similar in style to the spatter finish.  

I chose Zolatone Interior Coatings - Flex Dimensions FLX-02463 (https://www.zolatone.com/finishes/).  

The paint company provided me a sample of this stock color. The paint has multiple flecks of gray spattered over a light white background. Here my flooring sample is on the bottom and the provided stock paint sample is on top.  The background is the primer-painted trailer wall. I decided to proceed with ordering the paint.

The actual process to order my paint was not as easy as I assumed. After several conversations with company representatives, I was finally able to place my order. It arrived quickly, but the sample supplied with my actual order was different than the original sample. Hence the trouble with samples! Here is a picture of the new sample supplied that was shipped with my order.  

I would have preferred to have more flecks of color like the original sample.

Here is a picture of my floor sample (middle) with the first stock color sample on top and the second color sample supplied with my order on the bottom.  The difference between the two samples must be the difference between "in stock" products and "new production" products when an order is fulfilled.  

Zolatone Flex Dimensions roll-on is a two coat process.  The base coat is applied first with a good quality roller.  It provides an eggshell surface to which the top coat can properly adhere.  The top coat containing the color flecks is applied second with foam-type rollers supplied by the company.

The base coat was applied using a 9-inch roller, a 2-inch roller, and a paint brush for cutting in.

I used two gallons of base coat.

The top coat was applied the next day using the supplied foam-type rollers. 

I used almost 3 gallons of top coat. 

The kitchen overhead cupboard was painted in like manner.

The end product is subtle, but it will be easy to coordinate interior decor.

I am very pleased with Zolatone paint.  It is very good at covering the surface imperfections, and it appears to be very tough and durable.  I would definitely use it again.

Painting the Interior

Considerable research went into the decision about painting the interior of the Airstream.   My final decision came about after reading internet blogs and actually visiting Airstream owners' vintage trailers to see examples of paint jobs.  My research indicated that I highly desired to have "Zolatone" paint back inside the Airstream.   ( https://www.zolatone.com/finishes/ )
My Airstream was produced at the factory with Zolatone paint.  It is still by far the most durable and attractive finish for my 1959 Airstream.  However, color is a matter of choice.

Recalling the harsh sanding requirements that were needed to clean the fiberglass end caps and aluminum interior wall skins, it was necessary to choose a quality paint to achieve good coverage over the many imperfections.

Here I am sanding the aluminum roof panels.  The Airstream Factory applied Zolatone paint to the entire interior and it was still very durable.  However, the previous owner painted over the Zolatone.  These roof panels needed enough sanding to remove the secondary paints, but I did not want to remove all of the Zolatone.  

This picture shows the brown fiberglass end cap, the beige roof section, and the silver side panels. These side panels behaved differently when sanded.  All of the paint came off during the process, but these awful looking sanding marks were left behind.

Hopefully, the new Zolatone paint will cover many of the sanding imperfections in the final process.

Next, a primer coat was needed to prepare all surfaces to receive the new Zolatone paint.

I chose this Sherwin Williams brand for durability.

After taping the windows and trim I applied the primer using a 1/2 inch nap, 9-inch roller brush.

The application process proceeded very well until painting the end caps.  Since they are very curved it was necessary to revert to cutting in with a brush and using a 3/8 inch nap, 2-inch roller!

The trailer is 28 feet long with an inside dimension of 25 feet.

It took less than two gallons of primer to cover the surfaces.

This particular primer was thick in nature and covered very well, but it obviously did not look like a finish coat of paint.  As there was some primer left over, some surfaces like the entry and baggage doors received a touchup coat. 

Overhead Kitchen Cupboard

The Airstream factory produced overhead cupboards made of wood or aluminum.  My1959 Airstream Ambassador was equipped with an all aluminum cupboard.  I wanted to preserve the period look and reinstall the cupboard as original.  The piece was originally painted with Zolatone paint similar to the inside walls.  It was painted over a few times during it's history.  A cleanup was necessary and required some complex work. 

Paint stripper was used for the initial cleaning, but the end result was less than desirable.

Most of the old paint was removed, but the inside crevices and shelf were hard to access.

The next step was to take the disc sander to it to remove everything left behind.

To my chagrin, the results were not to my expectations.

Most of the old paint was successfully removed, but the rivet heads were badly

ground off.  The paint around each rivet was untouchable.

The only other option was to dismantle the piece for better access and do a thorough job of sanding.

Each rivet had to be drilled out to free the parts.

Individual pieces could then be sanded and detailed satisfactorily.

Access to all the surfaces was much easier. A proper sanding was achieved on each individual piece.

Once sanded and cleaned, the entire piece was buck-riveted back together.

Proper sanding and brand new buck rivets made the piece look much better.

Having the cupboard out in the open and taking the trouble to clean everything was well worth the effort.

Looks much better.

Once complete, the cupboard was deserving of a new coat of zolatone paint.