Alternatives to drywall?

justsomeguy

I just bought a fixer upper which has paneling. I'd like to replace the paneling, or cover it. I've never done drywall work, and can't afford to pay the prices I was quoted at this point in time. Is there a cheap alternative to drywall, other than painting the paneling and trying to fill in the grooves? Possibly a type of blank paneling with no grooves that could be painted and look good when done?

Thx

Rehabber

Why Don't you drywall it yourself? That is what this site is for. A lot of members here have drywalled without any previous experience. A lot of good people here to help walk you through it

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justsomeguy

If I actually had the time, I'd love to learn to drywall. But as it stands, I spend 60 + hours a week at work. In fact, that's where I'm at now. So I'm looking for an alternative (if there is one) that's fairly cheap, material wise, and consumes as little time as possible.

Ron6519

Installing drywall is not a difficult job. Taping and compounding it requires practice and finesse. You could cut the cost down by just having the drywall you install taped by someone else.
I would remove the paneling and see what you have underneath. Burying potential problems is not a good idea.
Ron

DangerMouse

cheap and fast? i'd user PL and glue fresh sheets over it. done.

DM

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vsheetz

What's PL?

DangerMouse

PL construction adhesive

DM

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justsomeguy

Out of curiosity, I looked up PL. How many sheets should I be able to hang per tube?

DangerMouse

i get the large 28 oz tubes. one of those should do most all of what you need. for what you're doing, you don't need TOO much. there are other glues that will work as well. i just like the holding power of this stuff. it takes a while to set, so be prepared to clamp some pieces overnight. there are hundreds of options here, but you said fast and cheap.....
with a bit more effort, you could remove old panelling and replace it. that way all the outlets, trim, etc. will not need adjusting. personally, i'd do it this way.

DM

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Scuba_Dave

Cheap & easy would be to paint the paneling
I did that at one place until I could go back & do what I wanted
It came out pretty good so I actually left it for a while

DangerMouse

tried to paint panelling once... did NOT like the outcome! lol
glad it worked for SOMEone....

DM

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justsomeguy

How do you clamp it?

Nestor_Kelebay

Just Some Guy:

If you're saying you don't have time to drywall, then you should realize that you don't have time to create extra work for yourself either.

Gluing new paneling over old paneling is going to be almost as much work as hanging drywall (cuz you still have to measure and cut the panelling), but it won't provide the appearance that you or a potential future buyer would want to see.

If you don't have time to start drywalling, then my advice is to work at a slower rate. Replace your paneling with drywall, but do it at a slower rate that you can sustain given the constrains on your time and your wallet.

But, putting up new paneling over old paneling with the intention of eventually tearing it all down and putting up drywall is, quite frankly, stupidity on stilts. You'd be much better off slowly putting up new drywall and learning how to do it as you go.

It's not at all difficult.

Taping is a problem for most people, so use fiberglass mesh tape. I've never seen a newbie get a bubble in fiberglass mesh tape.

Butt joints are a problem for most people, so use a curved trowel. A curved trowel looks like an ordinary plastering trowel until you sight along it's edge or set it down on a flat surface and realize the trowel actually arches up about 1/8 of an inch in the middle. Since you hold the trowel at a comfortable angle to the wall when using it, a curved trowel will allow you to spread a perfectly smooth "mount" of joint compound over a butt joint that's only about 1/16 of an inch thick in the middle. That's plenty of mud thickness to bury fiberglass mesh tape in, but it's too shallow a mount to be perceptible, even if you have wall mounted light fixtures.

Don't use metal corner bead. Mix some white wood glue into your mud to make a sticky mud and "glue" vinyl corner bead onto your outside corners with that sticky mud. Use painter's masking tape to hold that corner bead in place until it dries, and you'll be better off than using metal corner bead.

If you just learn a few tips and tricks like this, the work will go faster and easier than you think.

If your short of money and time, what you should be doing is working toward your goal slower, not working toward a different goal with the intention of redoing it all in future.

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CyFree

on this one.
As I see it, the only cheap and quick solution, would be painting the panel. Maybe counting on the fact that the result will not be as smooth as expected, consider applying some texture or simple "faux-finish" technique to hide possible imperfections.

I would not apply anything on top of what is there for all the reasons Nestor listed.

justsomeguy

Thanks for all the advice.

What do you mean by faux finish technique?