As we feared, the curves at the front of the ceiling made things extra challenging today. The van roof slopes from the center to the edges, but of course at the front it also slopes down. These compound curves caused some tough gaps in the planks as we tried to install toward the front today. Think of wrapping a flat board over the surface of a ball. As you move out from the very center of the ball the middle of the board has a gap relative to the two ends. So the tongue and groove fits nicely at the ends, but not so much in the middle.
This was … very frustrating. The hardware store was nearby so I ran out and bought a couple more clamps to pull the boards together. Unfortunately, even with the clamps the process is still quite difficult and we chipped a couple boards in the process. Nothing so bad that we pulled down the board to start over, but definitely things that will give the ceiling some “character” and will probably irk us every time we look at it. Perhaps we finish it all well now that we know what we are up against and those blemishes will just be a reminder of what we overcame!
Here are some boards at the front clamped together, propped up with supports, glued with construction adhesive, and held in place with tiny brad nails. Sheesh, that seems like a lot writing it down.
Me adding some nails. Again, we shoot the nails into the furring strip through a small piece of wood to act as a spacer and then clip off the head to leave a little spike to hold the boards in place while the glue sets.
A lot more challenging curved boards to go, but here is the view looking toward the front.
More of the back is done, including the first two boards where our ceiling lights will go.
We also both worked out with a personal trainer, I made two trips to the hardware store (one for the clamps and one because we kind of melted an extension cord running our electric heater), I made one stop shopping for more adhesive, and after dinner we went to The Last Jedi with my dad.
Sure beats a day at work!