how to paint paneling?

Question

my home was built in the 70's, and while i love the rustic wood accented vaulted ceilings, the wood paneling has started driving me nuts after a year and a half of lookin at them! Every main floor wall is wood paneling...and feels like an old mobile home. the back bedrooms were painted over when we moved in. (def still paneling under there by the way nails go in the wall...lol) One room has the lines in the paneling filled somehow, and painted and looks great. We were able to re-paint it baby colors when we were expecting without any problems at all. any ideas how they were able to do it and get it as smooth as drywall? I love the smooth look, and would like to do my living and dining area similarly. How?

Answer 1

doug nailed it
i just wanted to add-if you don't want to use the joint compound to fill in lines, you can order a product called wall liner. most paint stores should stock/order it for you. it is basically a thick layer of wallpaper that you glue on just like wallpaper. instead of having a decorative layer, it is just a paintable surface. if you have ever hung wallpaper, it would be a lot easier that joint compound and sanding the whole room. might be worth checking on

Good luck

Answer 2

First of all, make sure the paneling that you are to paint does not have a plastic or vinyl surface laminate (if it does, do not attempt to paint it). If you have true wood paneling, paint should do quite well. What I did to get the lines and nails covered is as follows:
1) Make sure that the paneling is nailed down firmly - any loose areas will give you trouble if not properly done. 2) Make sure the paneling is clean (I suggest a degreaser). 3) Trowel joint compound into the lines areas and allow to dry. If you have corner molds, you can remove these and apply joint compound with paper tape to finishe the corners. Once the compound is dry, sand smooth. 4) You can blow on a light texture at this point if desired (it covers some of the irregularities). 5) Paint on a primer then apply paint in the normal fashion.
If the paneling has been installed over drywall, it might be easier to take the paneling down and finish the drywall.
I have done several room of painted paneling, and they held up really nice as long as I spent enough time on the preparation that I described. Good luck with your project.

Answer 3

my family recently bought a huge 9 bedroom 3 story victorian stone house that was built in the 1800's and almost every room in the house had paneling of some kind or another. in a few rooms we painted right over the paneling with a cream/ivory color which looks fantastic. even though the lines are still there, they give the walls sort of a cottage look. it looks amazing. 100 times better than before. but then in other rooms we used drywall mud to fill the seams and that worked out just fine. it may or may not work out for you depending on the paneling in the house. if all else fails removing panel is time consuming but not a difficult task.

Answer 4

A lot of home improvement store have something like a wallpaper that you can put over paneling and other rough surfaces, and the result will be a smooth wall. After it dries, you will be able to paint over it.

The other alternative is to remove the paneling altogether!

Answer 5

Be sure to prime before you paint the paneling

Answer 6

You could fill in the lines with joint compound and then sand it lightly until smooth. That's going to take a long time though - especially since you're looking to do two big rooms. I'd just prime/paint over it.