Remove interior siding or drywall over?

Annelso13

We just bought a house and it has wooden horizontal siding inside that i would like to get rid of. Should i remove it or can I just drywall over it?

Leah Frances

Weird. Is it 'lapped' ~ does each row overlap the one below it? Or is it flat? If it's flat you could drywall over it, but you'll have to add extensions for outlets. Do you know what's behind it? Demolition is an easy (but sweat intensive) process - why not tear it out?

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If I could only remember to THINK about what I was doing before I did it.

Scuba_Dave

I usually demo, good time to run new wires or add insulation

Serrano7503

Demo for sure, You never know what problems you may find hiding behind it.

Annelso13

ok thanks guys :-)


Its lapped so that is tongue in groove right? Its in an A-Frame house so the other question is should i just paint it or tear it out and redo drywall the ceilings are about...i would say 16ft high or so? maybe higher

WaldenL

One thought, are these exterior walls? The wood may be providing sheer protection. I'd pull the wood, but put up some metal X bracing under the drywall.

Cool Breeze

Ran into this exact same problem last fall during a gut of my entryway. At one point they turned an exterior porch into an interior room, and just drywalled right over 100+ year old clapboard siding. After a solid 45 minutes of internal debate, I decided there was no reason for me NOT to repeat what they did, and screwed the wallboard directly onto the clapboard (GREAT backer, btw). If there is a real reason to pull the siding, i.e., electrical, insulation, etc., than do it. If not, there's no harm in slapping the 'rock right on there. Sheer curiosity is reason enough for some, but you could potentially be creating a lot of extra work for yourself. Just a thought.

WaldenL

In our case we were extending a wall so some had it and some didn't. But yes, it will work to just drywall over it. Then again, I like a clean install, and you never know what you'll find... Then again sometimes I wish I hadn't looked. ;-)