Wood ceiling panel

[Tom and Pam Brown]

Wood ceiling panel.
Heated coach up today and the front ceiling panel split almost down the middle.  Anyone else have this issue or even heard of it?

[Joel Ashley]

Can you provide a photo, Tom?

[Tom and Pam Brown]

Will do tomorrow.

[Tom and Pam Brown]

Here is the picture

[Tom and Pam Brown]

The split goes from one end to the other lengthwise.  Looks like just into the polyurethane.

[Carl Marchant]

Tom had this to happen on ceiling on previous bus, I just cut a piece and covered up the crack but added some design to make it look as if it was made that way. Never another problem and was cheap fix.

[Edward Buker]

Tom,

This is a known problem with the finished that was used on these panels from the factory. It is a catalyzed finish over veneer and there is no way to deal with this without making a new panel that I have been able to find. The finish tends to have a crack run in it from a point source like glass would. If you check you may find that it comes from a screw or a sharp corner of something pressing against it. It may have been exacerbated by temperature and that is when it decided to crack and run. If you have panels that have not cracked yet I would consider relieving any screw holes that go through them from  using a larger drill bit or countersink. You only need to drill through the finish and a touch into the wood. Without that stress point you may never get the start of a crack.

later Ed

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Tom,
Removing the finish is almost impossible. Best solution is to replace the panel. Dave Cunningham used cherry plywood to correct same problem and they came out beautiful. See  Marquis Replacement Ceiling Panels in Redecorating section of forum.  
Steve

[Tom and Pam Brown]

Ed,

This runs down fairly close to the middle, no stress that I can see anywhere, guess it was cold weather related.
Will remove soon and take to a cabinet shop to get repaired.
Not something I could have have imagined needing repair.

[Edward Buker]

Tom,

You may have a screw or something where the crack starts that is not obvious, just a guess. My cracks in the finish emanated from a metal ceiling air conditioning vent cover corner and also a mounting screw from a Cherry roof air inlet vent cover. The finish is thick and tough to remove  and below that is Mappa Burl or whatever you have as a veneer glued on a stable probably luan or plywood substrate. If your cabinet shop has any success beyond the major expense of building a new one let us know. Most of us just live with this crack issue given the expense vs the irritation of just leaving it. I have considered making new panels but have not gone there. I considered putting up a piece of thin clear plexiglass against the crack thinking I would put another layer below the panel within the trim surround. My thinking was that if you bury the crack and the surface finish was smooth again, the crack would be far less noticeable. I have to say there was almost no improvement so I canned that idea.

Later Ed