After bouncing over hundreds of miles of potholes on New England highways I noticed the fancy beveled plate glass mirrors are falling off the walls inside my coach. They're just glued on with some kind of adhesive. There's basically nothing preventing them from going airborne during a crash. Of course they'd be broken shards of razor sharp glass flying through the air. Needless to say, I removed the mirrors that are only glued in place and I'll be giving them to someone who lives in a house that doesn't move down the highway at 60 mph with insane Massachusetts drivers zipping back and forth all around it. I strongly suggest you closely examine the adhesive securing your interior mirrors and consider what it will be like when those things break loose and fly through the air at a high rate of speed... Scare tactic videos will be shown right after the rare roast beef is served... :)
We took off the mirror in the bathroom and it was not going to come off without a lot of work. It was well stuck on. I have not had that happen yet but we put tile up in its place. The amount of adhesive they put on was enough to hold it and to make taking it off in pieces the only option. Even then it did not shatter as the back was all held together with the mastic.
The only two mirrors I removed so far are the two over the kitchen shelf. The small one was about to fall off and the large one only took a little prying to get it off. They're heavy, fragile, and dangerous if they take flight in a crash. Neither of them broke when I removed them. I haven't given them away yet. I'm sure someone will take them because they are beautiful... for a stationary house where they won't kill anyone! ...I actually like the look of the walnut a lot better than the mirrors. It didn't take much getting used to. I liked it immediately, kinda similar to when I removed the little TV / VCR and cabinet from the bedroom and liked it better immediately. The unresolved issue is getting the adhesive off the wall where the mirrors were. I'll work on that later when I get some time. I want to remove the mirror over the bathroom lavatory beneath the medicine cabinet too, not for safety reasons but because the humid environment has caused the reflective surface to peel away from the mirror and it's starting to look ugly. That particular mirror is securely mounted in an aluminum frame so I doubt it will fly through the air in a crash.
I removed the mirror that was mounted under the cupboard facing forward next to the entry way (we don't have the dinette) and it was not easy to get off. Plus the remnants of the glue were not easy to get off. In fact, I still haven't gotten all of that junk off.
But I agree that it looks a lot better with the walnut wood than it did with the mirror (as beautiful as the mirrors are). I was going to mount the Midnite Solar Classic 150 solar charge controller in that spot but the wiring challenge was just too much (I mounted the controller over the hole where the vacuum hose would have gone after I evacuated the built-in vaccum from that space).
Those mirrors are heavy, too. Definitely first class work. If they come loose they can do a lot of damage even if they don't break. The big plus is I don't have to look at my reflection in that mirror when I sit in the bucket chair. :P
Craig
What have you tried so far to remove the glue from the walnut? I was considering "Goo Gone" because everyone raves about it. I suppose some diesel on a rag might work too but then I'll have the smell for a while... of course every time I fuel up I have the diesel smell so who cares?
I put up tile when I pulled off the mirror and it was a bear to get off the glue.
Goo-Gone didn't do it for me.
Craig
I suppose I could sand it down and refinish it if I knew what Foretravel used for the original finish.
Make a new thread specifically about removing the glue from where the mirrors were mounted. I'm sure someone has an idea.
Craig
I'd be careful sanding on the walls. On my coach, the walls are covered with a walnut veneer plywood. What you see
is real walnut, but only a thin surface layer.