Paneling Be Gone!
We're on a roll now with the Man Cave! Of course, nothing is easy about this reno, though. Our first hurdle with the room is the wood paneling that is trying to peek out from under the walls. We didn't notice until we were living in the house a while, but what we thought were solid walls are actually wood paneling covered by some kind of thin layer. It's not wallpaper. It's definitely not Sheetrock. We think it's some kind of skim coat that was done. Someone suggested to us that it might also be a type of paper panel that is used specifically to cover paneling.
Whatever it is, it is peeling in places, revealing the paneling underneath. Also, we removed the wide, brown, plastic baseboard trim, shown here:
Under the trim is the bare paneling, as you can see here:
In the picture above you can even see the faint outlines of the paneling through the skim coat/overlay. So, we have sort-of solid walls with some paneling that needs to be covered.
The previous owners had installed a wall hook and fluorescent light to one of the walls. When we took the hooks down we were not entirely surprised to discover that there was paneling directly beneath.
My brother, M, who helped us with the floor in the office, suggested that we use joint compound to smooth the seams. I decided to try it out on the wall where the hooks had been. This area is kind of hidden from immediate view - it's behind you as you walk into the room, so it was a good area to try first.
I smoothed it on with a wide blade, then immediately went over it with a barely damp sponge. I had done a little research online first, and learned that a few thin coats were better than a really thick coat.
Once I had filled in the ridges I decided to do a little smoothing of the paneling that I could see coming through the skim coat/overlay.
That was so much fun that I decided to do the area near the floor! It didn't come out as "pretty" mostly because the glue left behind by the plastic baseboard left raised areas.
Still, I think the joint compound may actually help smooth out the bumps left behind by the adhesive. You can see in the picture above that the compound went into the paneling ridges themselves rather nicely.
The instructions for the joint compound say to wait 24 hours between coats, so I will check again tomorrow to see how it dried and will tackle my next coat.
Keep your fingers crossed that it works!
Whatever it is, it is peeling in places, revealing the paneling underneath. Also, we removed the wide, brown, plastic baseboard trim, shown here:
Under the trim is the bare paneling, as you can see here:
In the picture above you can even see the faint outlines of the paneling through the skim coat/overlay. So, we have sort-of solid walls with some paneling that needs to be covered.
The previous owners had installed a wall hook and fluorescent light to one of the walls. When we took the hooks down we were not entirely surprised to discover that there was paneling directly beneath.
 |
My brother, M, who helped us with the floor in the office, suggested that we use joint compound to smooth the seams. I decided to try it out on the wall where the hooks had been. This area is kind of hidden from immediate view - it's behind you as you walk into the room, so it was a good area to try first.
I smoothed it on with a wide blade, then immediately went over it with a barely damp sponge. I had done a little research online first, and learned that a few thin coats were better than a really thick coat.
Once I had filled in the ridges I decided to do a little smoothing of the paneling that I could see coming through the skim coat/overlay.
That was so much fun that I decided to do the area near the floor! It didn't come out as "pretty" mostly because the glue left behind by the plastic baseboard left raised areas.
Still, I think the joint compound may actually help smooth out the bumps left behind by the adhesive. You can see in the picture above that the compound went into the paneling ridges themselves rather nicely.
The instructions for the joint compound say to wait 24 hours between coats, so I will check again tomorrow to see how it dried and will tackle my next coat.
Keep your fingers crossed that it works!
Comments
Post a Comment