I've heard of people using bondo to fill the "cracks" in the paneling and then painting, but to me this seems very labor intensive and time consuming. I would cover it with 1/4" drywall, finish, sand, and paint.

 

We paint a lot of old wood panneling. You don't have to bondo it's natural texture out. You can take a good latex caulk or bondo and just fill the larger holes (we do this after we Prime so we can see the big holes easier). Painting it is pretty labor intensive because you have to brush in every seperation, but the results are usually very nice.

Just prime and put up two coats of paint, with a 1/2" or 3/4" nap roller, and it turns a 70's era nightmare into a pretty good looking wall.

We have paintied two homes with wood pannelling this year and both of them looked 100% better when they were finished.

 

I have a home that has wood panelling throughout. I need to make repairs to an area. Is there any way to cover panelling with either a texture that I can paint or perhaps cover it with wallpaper? I won't be able to match the panelling.

Hi Peggy;

I have that type of paneling in my family room (house built in 1970) and I covered it with a thick wallpaper. I opted to paper it because I didn't want to see the seams or "texture" of the paneling at all. The worst part was filling the nail holes and priming, but the actual papering job wasn't too bad. The thick paper covered the paneling well even after it dried and did not shrink into the cracks. It looks good right now but I know if I continue with my remodeling plans in the future I will just pull it all out and dry wall it.

There are numerous types of thick or even textured papers out there (I found mine at Home Depot) -- they can be pricey but to me it was worth getting rid of that dark, ugly paneling.

It can be done - I did it - even if I did it the hard way. LOL

Carol.

 

paneling

I just got through painting the paneling in my utility room and kitchen. I painted with a 3/4 in. nap roller and I did not have to paint the grooves with a brush. Once I got the hang of it, it went fast. For the grooves, I painted across the paneling working the roller back and forth into the grooves. At first my wife didnot want to paint the paneling, she wanted to put sheetrock over the paneling, finish it, than paint. Ofcourse, she wasn't doing any of the work, she would just supervise. After I painted the paneling, she liked it. I had wallpaper over that paneling but over the years, the paper was looking bad. Under the wallpaper, I had a thick backing ( didnot fill in the grooves), so taking the wall paper off was a breeze. Taking the glue off the paneling was a little bit harder but not a problem.

feb

 

My mom had her 70's era paneling painted and her den looks completely different from when I was a kid, and holds up to the abuse of *my* kids. Looks fantastic, too.

Come to think of it, all of her neighbors had theirs painted before she did...

 

Yes, there is something that you can buy to cover paneling. I think it's called wall sizing. It's sold on rolls like wallpaper, but it's a lot thicker than wallpaper. It works best if you hang it horizontally rather than vertically. After you put it up all you have to do is paint.