Floating Painting Wood Paneling

[AuburnTexas]

We have a 30 year old house with wood paneling in the living room. Has anyone ever had any success floating, texturing, and painting over wood paneling? We have a painter that is suggesting that this is the thing to do, but I have my doubts as to how well the float will adhere to the wood over time. We don't want to just paint the paneling. Thanks.

 

[rgvfirm]

I would think you would first need to sand and/or de-gloss the surface of the paneling.

I would then consider floating tape along all of the grooves in the paneling. That will be a ton of work, but I would be concerned about the drywall compound shrinking if it was placed directly in the grooves.

I've painted paneling with great success, but I would take the approach above if I wanted to texture the paneling. I definitely think it could be done, with the right amount of prep work.

 

[Homebrew]

What's behind the paneling? If it's finished (or near finished) sheetrock, pull down the paneling and paint the sheetrock. I suspect there's a high probability the drywall compound will crack and/or fall off the paneling at some point.

 

[AuburnTexas]

There is sheetrock behind the paneling. So we have considered doing that. The problem is that all of the electrical plugs and switches, along with many other transitions, would have to be re-worked. I'm trying to do this on the cheap but still want to do it right.

I've been to a couple of DIY websites that say I can mud and texture the paneling as long as it is sanded and primed first. I was hoping someone here has done it with some success.

Thank you for the input so far.

 

[washparkhorn]

I did it on one wall in an older house and it is tough. The biggest problem is filling in the grooves. Regular spackle shrinks a lot and you have to do it over and over again.

I finally got a smooth look by using "lightweight" spackle. It has less water and, therefore, less shrinkage.

It was a pain in the *** job for someone like me and my limited skills. I would have pulled the panels down, but the plaster and lathe was chewed all to hell in another place where I did take it down - and I ended up doing a massive tearout and drywall job on that wall.

Looking at it in hindsight, it would have been a lot easier if I had known about the lightweight spackle for the grooves up front. I wasted a lot of time trying to fill them in with regular spackle. I filled in what felt like miles of grooves, so I probably wouldn't do it again.

You might as well try to float it. If you don't get good results, you can always rip it down and go the other route.

Good luck.

 

[_e.]

Another way is to hang more drywall over the paneling; the electical boxes can then be pulled flush with box extenders.

 

[AuburnTexas]

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