Can wood paneling be painted or repaired?

Question

i have wood paneling on the walls in my living room, i want to have it replaced with dry wall but cant afford it. can it be primed and painted or does it have to be taken down? also one of the panels has a hole about the size of a baseball(covered by a mirror) and i want to repair it. i dont even know where to begin to find the panel...house from the seventies...good starter home but can use some updates.

Answer 1

short answer... prime, paint it. to repair the hole cut a couple of blocks larger than the hole, place them inside and s***w them to the paneling, mud and apply blue mesh tape, dry for a day or two, sand, mud again, prime, paint. sheetrock right over it when you have the money

Answer 2

Wood paneling is easy to paint if you follow good surface preparation procedures. Removing the paneling can be a big job. The paneling may be glued to the drywall underneath it and the drywall underneath it may not be finished very well. The thought of just tearing out the paneling is enough to make many homeowners decide to simply leave it in place and paint over it. Paneling is painted over all the time and it looks good when painted, so if the thought of tearing out , patching the drywall and finishing it doesn't appeal to you - there is nothing wrong with leaving it in place and painting it.

Surface preparation:

The universal rule of surface preparation is: "Clean - Dull - Dry".

Lead paint note:

Do not sand or scour (with a scouring pad), or in any way abrade or disturb the paneling varnish or clear coat finish if your house was built prior to 1978. Lead was banned (in America) for use in residential paints and varnishes in 1978. Do not proceed any further if your house was built prior to 1978 - it would be best to let a trained and qualified professional do the work instead. To learn more about the hazards of lead in paints and coatings see EPA's lead page: http://www.epa.gov/lead

Cleaning

Extremely important to the painting of paneling is the cleaning of it. There may be layers of "Pledge" and residues from various cleaning solutions, and perhaps a bit of "grime" and dirt from years of service.

A good cleaning solution for cleaning the paneling is called "Krud Kutter". As the name implies, it is designed for cutting and removing all sorts of "krud". I use the spray bottle version of this and spray it on and let it "dwell" on the surface for five minutes or so to give it a chance to work, then wipe it off with the "Shop Towel" type of heavy duty paper towels. I also use a scouring pad in conjunction with the Krud Kutter (on homes built after 1978 only). The procedure is as follows: Spray on the Krud Kutter, allow it to dwell five minutes or so, then scour the wet surface with the scouring pad, then wipe it off. I work in small 4' x 4' sections and work my way around the room this way. You will need to protect all electrical outlets and switches with duct tape to prevent them from the Krud Kutter ( You should also turn the electrical power off to the room while doing the cleaning to prevent accidental electrical shock ), Also cover up any light fixtures etc.. with plastic and duct tape to waterproof them.

Clean all the paneling as described above and when you are finished, go back and re-clean it a second time. Seriously, I always clean the paneling completely - twice, that way you know it is clean and you did not miss any spots. Cleaning is probably the most important step in preparing the paneling for painting.

Priming

After the cleaning is done, allow the paneling to dry out. Once dry, you may proceed to priming the paneling. Priming is important to ensure adhesion to the paneling and to block any staining that may occur. The best primer for paneling are the solvent types of universal stain blocking and bonding primers. You can either use shellac or oil (alkyd ) primer for this purpose - Zinsser's BIN or Coverstain work well for priming paneling.

Test the adhesion first before priming the whole room

The purpose of testing first before priming all the paneling is to ensure that the paneling was cleaned well enough and that there will be no adhesion problems down the road - before proceeding any further.

How to test adhesion

The way to test adhesion is to do a cross cut tape test. You will want to check a variety of spots throughout the room with the tape test.

Apply the primer to the paneling in small 4" square patches and allow them to dry and cure overnight. The next day you will come back and using a razor knife cut a "tick - tack - toe" cross hatch cut into the primer. After the primer is cross cut , apply a piece of masking tape (regular masking tape - not the easy release type) or duct tape over the cross cuts and rub it down. Then take the duct tape and pull it off sharply. If the paint pulls off - you will need to further clean and perhaps pole sand with fine (220 grit ) sandpaper to get the paneling ready for painting. Test all the spots the same way. If the adhesion passes ( I.e. the primer did not pull off with the tape ) then you are ready to proceed with total priming of the whole room.

Tinting the primer

You may tint the primer to approximate or match the finish paint color. Both BIN and Coverstain can be tinted with universal colorants ( up to 2 ounces per gallon) to come close or match the finish color. Tinting the primer acts as a first coat and makes finish painting easier to cover or hide the underlying paneling. Ask the paint store that you purchase the primer from about tinting it.

Painting

Once the paneling is cleaned and primed you may paint it in any latex (or oil if you wish) paint that you desire. The finish painting is the easy part. Use a ¾ inch roller nap to help with pushing the paint into the paneling grooves. The best way to do this is to roll the paint on and then with light pressure "lay it off" to smooth it out and minimize roller texture.

Dale Slater is a professional painter and faux finisher. To learn more about all aspects of painting and decorating visit http://www.paintinganddecoratingconcours...

Answer 3

I beg to differ w/ Alicia.  I had paneling in the kitchen, and when I went to remove it, it just about fell off on it's own.  There was drywall underneath that we did have to touch up, but had I known how easy it would be, I would've done it years ago.

There is the possibility that your paneling is installed better than mine was - try tugging at an edge to see how well secured it feels.  If it does come off easily, you'll have to learn about finishing drywall.  It's not all that difficult. but a novice will probably have to do a lot of sanding (at least the first time) to get it looking good.

Answer 4

Having painted my wood paneling and also replaced w/ drywall, i have to say that hands down it is much cheaper and faster to replace it. You have to sand the wood paneling down to give it a good tooth to hold onto any primer you put on (very messy). If you want it to look good, grab a canister of wood filler and put some into the cracks of the paneling then smooth it out to be even w/ the paneling. The you can prime it or texture it before painting. It is better to give it a texture as it still won't look 100% great but way better than just painting it. Then you can paint it. Mine looks just like textured drywall. This method is problematic as you have to be careful not to apply to much pressure to the sander or you risk cracking the drywall which is hard to repair properly.

I had several rooms with paneling rather than drywall and after doing it this very messy and expensive way, I opted to replace only a few panels at a time which was much more cost effective for my financial situation. Check your local paper too, sometimes, builder's sell left over supplies which can be a lot less expensive for you. I put wood flooring in my home for 1/2 of what it was going to cost me at the store.

Answer 5

Yes you can paint that.  Just "scuff" it up some, by using sandpaper with your had and rub it all over.  Only a couple of swipes per area is enough.   I would primer first before painting.  As for the hole, you need to fill it with wood putty.  (Don't use that cardboard idea, it will get wet and lumpy, it will not cover right.  Since the hole is so big, put putty in it, with a putty knife, scrape across it untill smooth, let dry,  this will take severl hours if not over night because it is so big.  You may have  to repeat this one more time as putty shrinks alittle when dried.  But the end result will be flawless.  You will never even be able to tell it was the there.  After it's dry, you need to rub it gently with a fine sand paper.)  So, fix the hole first, then scuff, then primer, then paint.

Answer 6

If it is real wood panelling and not a Veneer,it can be sanded slightly,cleaned off,and then primed,and then painted.If you use an Acrylic paint,you might not worry about a primer.An easy way to repair the hole is this way.Get a piece of stiff cardboard a little bigger than the hole.Knot a piece of string through center of card,and fold over the cardboard and pop into hole.It will unfold behind wall.Gently pull the string up,until you have a hole with a cardboard piece backed up inside wall.Now you can use something like Polyfiller to repair the hole.Make the filler larger than the hole,so you have plenty of cover.When dry,sand back filler to wall,then paint over.