drywall

[ed's40]

I am looking at a place that has a very nice shop to restore my tractors, the house is a manufactured or "double wide", the place is in great shape, but I don"t like paneling. Could the paneling be replaced with drywall?

 

[FBH44]

Be aware sometimes the studs are thin, locaate the wiring and plumbing in studs before you screw the drywall. For a shop, might go to 5/8" Fire-Rock.

 

[mick il]

Yes it can, you'll just have to use a little trim at ceiling. You can also buy a wall paper that looks like textured drywall you can paint.

 

[Texasmark1]

Some mobile homes around here have drywall. Would guess it's 3/8 to be light weight. We use 1/2 for normal construction of a residence. Heavier as indicated for a work place.

Since the house is inplace you shouldn't have a problem with cracking like you would if it had to be transported.

Some mobiles have 2x6 studs, others could have 2x3. It's a weight thing....have to be able to transport the house so weight is a consideration in the construction. If you are in a Northern climate going to bet you have the thicker studs but as indicated, a check would be in order first.

Other thing is that you may have metal plates where plumbing and electrical goes through studs to protect such from the resultant drying in. As soon as you pull your first panel off you should know.

Mark

 

[Glenn F.]

Couldn't you just put 1/4" drywall right over the paneling?

Glenn F.

 

[john in la]

Boy you sure must like challenges.

In a MH (at least mine) the wall sheet rock is not floated. The seams are covered with strips. The roof is the only area floated.
The seams on the walls will crack when you pull it down the road as the home rocks and sways.
Since you are in place you could float the walls.

Here's some problems you will encounter.

The electrical boxes are mounted to the paneling not the studs and the wire is just laid in back of box and crimped. The wire is not cut so it has 1 long wire from plug to plug. You have to be careful if removing wires from crimping. My advise is to replace all electrical boxes and plugs cause its a bear to get the old boxes off then back on correctly.

The panel is stapled and GLUED to the studs with liquid nails. Have fun getting all that mess off the studs. BTDT.

Newer homes will have 2x3 exterior and 1x3 interior studs unless it is a upgraded home. The 2x exterior is a selling point to say the home is built better. The wires are usually run threw the wall in a notch on the outside of the stud. All the wires will be protected with metal straps.

You might want to consider just removing the strips from the paneling; remove the electrical boxes; and installing the dry wall right over the paneling. It will save you mega time.

 

[Russ from MN]

Some double-wide's are very well built, some are just 2 trailers bolted together. My parents bought a new Dynamic Home when they retired, it was very well built, and I don't remember any paneling in it. Find out who manufactured it and what year, do some research on it.

 

[Gchase24]

While every idea mentioned is correct imo. Another idea is to sand the paneling to take the gloss off,drywall mud the grooves,texture,then paint. My Daughter was on a limited budget so this is what we did on her mobile home.Looks good and wasn't to diffilcult.

 

[GordoSD]

There is some sort of muslin like cloth that you apply with heavy paste. Then wallpaper over that. My Mother got rid of all that dark brown fake wood paneling that way. She had it done professionally.

 

[Nebraska Cowman]

I'm not sure you need to do anything. My building in town has lots of paneling that has been painted over. Some that has been wallpapered.

 

[RandyB(MI)]

Must be way old to have "paneling" as in the wood grain type. If that's the case , screw/glue drywall (gypsum board) over it. What I think you have is factory vinyl textured 3/8 drywall 4x8 panels with color keyed strips to cover the joints as apposed to mudded joints. In that case what I've done is remove strips and grind seams down low and mud/tape/mud the seams back up level just like regular drywall. Worked excellent on our home. Use good (eggshell) paint. Dry-walling is a mess no matter how you do it.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I recently saw a woman painter use spackling compound. She fill the groves in the panelling. Sand it, paint it and you couldn't tell it from drywall. She did this on an early 70 double wide in Florida. I was impressed.

If I were you I wouldn't put a lot of money in a double wide/manufactured place.

I know a man in Terre Haute who wanted to sell his 10 year old place. Nice country home, in ground pool, nice pole barn, 10 acres. The bank approved a buyers loan for $189,000. Then the bank's inspector found out it was a manufactored home. The bank pulled the loan. Perhaps a finance company charging more interest will loan on double wides, but many banks where I live won't.

County Area planning won't let you move them if they are pre 1985.

My advice is try fill in the groves and just paint it. I too am not a fan of panelling, but this lady's work was fantastic.

 

[Stephen Newell]

Most of the time there is drywall under paneling. Have you checked to see? Still if it was glued on you would be better off applying sheetrock over it than trying to clean the wall enough to paint. Another thing you might keep in mind is some folks panel over a wall to cover cracks in the wall from foundation problems. I wouldn't attempt to spackle the paneling and paint it. Wood expands and contracts and eventually every bit of spackle will fall out or at least show a mark where it is.

 

[Texasmark1]

I just had a brainpfart. Why not just get a can of flat white paint paint the paneling!

 

[W_B]

(quoted from post at 21:08:47 12/21/14) I recently saw a woman painter use spackling compound. She fill the groves in the panelling. Sand it, paint it and you couldn't tell it from drywall. She did this on an early 70 double wide in Florida. I was impressed. My advice is try fill in the groves and just paint it. I too am not a fan of panelling, but this lady's work was fantastic.

One problem with just filling the joints with mud is that they will crack eventually. That's why they use tape on drywall joints, you get a little flex with the tape (either paper or the plastic mesh type) and little if any cracking. If you want a long lasting job, mud and tape it as if it was drywall. Wash down your walls with TSP before you do the joints to get the grease and dirt off, your paint will stick much better.

 

[NoNewParts]

(quoted from post at 12:13:44 12/21/14) I am looking at a place that has a very nice shop to restore my tractors, the house is a manufactured or "double wide", the place is in great shape, but I don"t like paneling. Could the paneling be replaced with drywall?

I'd paint the paneling myself.
But if you do drywall it and live where there are temperature extremes, use corner and ceiling molding as you would with paneling.

One hunting camp I owned like that, had a previous drywall remodel. looked real nice.
At the ceiling and corners, cracks would open up and then go back closed depending on the season.
I put moldings up so I didn't have to see it, and didn't worry about it