How to Prepare Paneling for Paint or Wallpaper

This technique gives paneling a new look.

More from Smart Solutions
Filed under: Makeover, How To

Wood wizard and finishing expert Brian Santos shares a technique for giving dated wood paneling a new look. It eliminates the need to tear down the old paneling and replace it with drywall and is appropriate for all types of paneling, including real wood, laminate or bead board.

Steps:

Rough up the surface of the paneling with a pole sander that has been fitted with a sanding screen (rather than paper).
Apply an oil-based undercoat primer. It is important not to use a latex base because it would allow moisture to get underneath the paint, causing the paneling to swell and mildew to grow.

Figure A

To locate pits and bumps, place a flashlight flat on the wall and shine the light up. Any shadows are holes that need filling, and any bump must be sanded down. The light will also make it easy to see nails. After you have filled in any holes, check them again with the light to see if the spackle is lifting away from the surface and needs sanding.

Use green tape instead of blue to tape off areas you don?t want painted such as along the baseboard. The green tape is lacquer tape and will prevent any oil-based paint from seeping underneath the edges.

Figure B

Wear disposable gloves to protect your hands when working with oil-based products, and seal the ends with blue painting tape.

Since white spackle will be difficult to see when you need to sand it, create colored vinyl spackle by adding two drops of red food coloring to 1/2 cup vinyl spackle. Mix well. Keep a spray bottle of water handy to moisten the spackle if it dries as you work. Also, use it to spritz the wall area before spackling.

Spackle in all the paneling grooves with the colored spackle. Apply the first coat, removing as much spackle as possible. For the second coat, make the line a little wider so the edges feather into the paneling and give you something to sand. Let the spackle dry about two hours before sanding.

To cut down the dust from sanding, try wet sanding. Using a damp scrubby sponge, and simply wipe over the spackle, rubbing away all the excess until the paneling is smooth as glass.

Finish the wall with another coat of oil-based sealer.

Now the surface can be treated like drywall. Paint with high-gloss paint, hand wallpaper, faux paint or add a knockdown texture.