Kitchen Ceiling Delamination Repair

BrianZ · October 2018

At the end of our last camping trip we noticed the aluminum surface of the kitchen ceiling was coming loose from the underside of the wood cabinet, mainly around the edges but especially noticeable near the light fixture & right edge. Of course, by the time we got back home and could deal with it, our warranty period had expired, and fixing it myself seemed like a better option anyway since our dealer is located in another state.

I picked up some of these stainless steel #8 pan head 1/2" sheet metal screws for reinforcement.

I drilled small pilot holes every 3.5" around the perimeter about a half inch from the edge & put the screws in with a drill driver. It's nice to have the driver with clutch settings for jobs like this. The hardest part was measuring & marking all the spots in this awkward space for using a center punch & hammer to make a small dent for drilling.

As one might expect, the problem was primarily just on this right half, above the stove, presumably due to the increased temperatures in this area affecting the adhesive. We've always made a point of opening the front window & running the fan when using the stove, though we do tend to run it at lower speeds now that we have a continuous fan speed control, as the noise is much more tolerable.

I wonder how many have had this issue? If I was a new T@B owner & knew this could happen, I'd probably do this proactively to reinforce it.

jkjenn · October 2018

I will look, but I do not think my T@b has a piece of aluminum in that location. I wo der if it was a mod by the last owner?

dsfdogs · October 2018

I just checked mine and the aluminum is still stuck well. I hadn't paid attention it was up there and like it!

BrianZ · October 2018

We bought ours new from a dealer, so no previous owner. I wasn't sure it was aluminum until I drilled into it & got some metallic shavings, but it's fairly thin & seems to be laminated on a thicker base which is glued to the wood. The whole laminate layer was coming loose at the edges. I suspect it's a function of how much heat exposure the glue receives and maybe how much residual "memory" the sheet metal retains from being in a roll at some point. Our T@B spent its first summer sitting in a dealer's lot in the Wlimington, NC, heat.
We first noticed it when pressing the light switch button and the whole fixture would move up and down a little bit, then realized some of the other edges had some play in them when pressing upwards. It did not appear to be loose in the center though. I'm satisfied now that we won't have to worry about it anymore.

Estancio · October 2018

Mine's bare wood...and it will most likely catch fire before it will delaminate.

Kitchen Ceiling Delamination Repair

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