Flossie and Jim

This probably will get the prize for the most boring thread this evening, but I'm looking for some tips on what to do with our drywall.

We have a humble 1970's abode that is covered in wood panelling on most of the main floor. Its not fancy - its just plain wood with no panels or relief or anything and its very dark. I've been wanting to get shot of it for ages and replace it with lovely painted walls.

Anyway, we finally plucked up the courage to pull it off one of the walls and behind we do have drywall but it is covered in old glue, which I doubt would be possible to remove, plus there are a few tears in it.

Any suggestions on what the easiest/cheapest thing to do would be?
1. try and remove the glue with something (not sure what) and patch up the tears.
2. just add more drywall on top.
3. remove the old drywall completely and replace with new drywall.

Cheers!
Flossie

Siouxie

I found this website post that is identical to the problem you are facing. Thought it might be of use to you!

Repair, replace, or cover existing drywall? - DoItYourself.com Community Forums

Then there's this one, which offers a different solution - leaving the panelling in situ and using a compound to smooth them. http://diy.stackexchange.com/questio...g-with-drywall

macadian

Been there done that. Time and material used to repair the old drywall and the fact it's probably a little warped with joint taping/mud cracking, remove the old drywall and replace. Once old stuff removed, will give you the opportunity to do any remedial stud work,electrical or plumbing, not to mention any alteration to the the wall layout. You will have the new boards taped and mudded in as much, if not less time than messing around with repairs and have square and blemish free walls to paint etc. Enjoy

Aviator

Remove and replace. When faced with the same conundrum, this is what we did and after the fact decided it was the right choice,

caretaker

Gutting it and replacing drywall gives you the opportunity to augment or replace insulation and vapour barrier. In the 70's building codes may have only called for r-12 or r-14 in walls and r-20 in ceilings so this will give you the opportunity to make it more energy efficient. Not all tradesmen back then knew or bothered to do the accoustic sealant at overlaps and around plugs and fixtures correctly. The time it takes to re-coup the expense is less because you already have the wall apart.

ann m

You only need to ask yourself "what would Mike Holmes do?"

Tinpusher63

Replacing the insulation in one room is not going to help a whole lot. Unless you are going to re-insulate all the outside walls for the whole house it is debatable as to whether it is worth doing for one or room.

But if you are going to replace the insulation in order to increase the r-value then something other than fibreglass will have to be considered. A 2x4 stud wall will only hold so much fibreglass and there is no point compressing an r-20 bat to fit an r-14 space as that only reduces the r-value. An r-20 bat of insulation requires a 2x6 stud wall.

In the 1970's nobody sealed around electrical outlets or fixtures they just cut around them. Replacing the drywall will at least give you the opportunity to replace the vapour barrier and seal it properly.

Shirtback

s.

BTDTGTTS.

(Could be) Nasty, messy, pain-in-the-butt work, but worth it in the end.

Novocastrian

Couldn't you just nail 2x2s onto the exposed 2x4 studs?

Tinpusher63

You could but that's just adding more expense and to minor extent reducing the room size. May as well go to Styrofoam SM.

But I still maintain if you're only going to do one room it's sort of pointless.

In addition you would have to relocate all the electrical outlets and switches out the new 2x2s and that would not be easy, not a lot of flexibility in 40 year old wiring that's already stapled in place. There's also a possibility that it is aluminum wiring and you best leave that alone or add even more expense and replace it.

These little jobs can really snowball once you get into them.

ladylord

Worth testing for asbestos in drywall. This would need to be removed professionally, unless you're willing to take the risk both my breathing in particles and at the dump site. We're renovating and keeping as much of the original drywall in tact as possible so as not to incur additional costs.

caretaker

Styrofoam is the way to go, she said it was most of the main floor.

Pulaski

Lots of good advice already - I would lean strongly towards "remove and replace", and trying to preserve some of the drywall to save costs is likely to leave you with strange inconsistencies and not save you much money. Rip it all out and start over, and seriously consider at least a partial rewire while you're at it, as well as check over any plumbing in the walls.

Hypothetically, if you are utterly strapped for cash and just want to refresh the surface, you can get 1/4" (6mm) drywall designed for installing over wooden paneling or other undesirable surfaces where the greater strength of 1/2" drywall isn't needed.

If you want to go the whole hog, 5/8" (15mm) is a more rigid than 1/2" and gives a nicer finish.

We tore out the apparently original plywood paneling in a bedroom (the only room in the house not drywalled) in a house belonging to my inlaws, and found a fully functional wired-in socket that had apparently been there, unused behind the paneling, since the house was built, 36 years earlier!

Exactly! ..... We pulled the plasterboard off a stud wall in the kitchen of our home in London, ..... and found the studs were 4 FEET apart! Oh, and the only thing holding the wall to the ceiling joists was the crown molding on the other side. This was a wall we wanted to hang wall cabinets on!

People might laugh at what Mike Holmes finds, and the building trades don't much like him pointing out the common flaws in construction, but I find his TV shows to be fairly representative of what I have found. Every house I have ever owned has had shoddy botched work, much of it dangerous.

JonboyE

Remove and replace too. I really isn't that difficult.

Tinpusher63

It doesn't appear the Styrofoam SM is manufactured in sizes appropriate for use in the way we are discussing, i.e. between 16" on center studs.

Besides if it was, again it's debatable as to whether it would be worth the cost involved. I was surprised to learn that it is only rated at r-5 per inch. Even if it was available to fit between studs you could only use 3" thick pieces (stud are only 3.5" deep) that would only give you r-15, a minimal inprovement. In my mind not worth the cost.

http://www.dow.com/webapps/lit/litor.../178-00123.pdf