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No you can not paint paneling. Well you can but that dont make it right. People paint glass, plastic, asphalt roofs and even the grass on their front lawn but that dont make it right.
You have far worse issues then painting paneling though. You have no drywall under the paneling? I would also take a stab at guessing there is no insulation in there either. It must be an old summer home converted to year round living?
With no drywall that home is unmortgageable with any lender and FHA and VA actually follow federal lending guidelines forbidding mortgaging a home without drywall among other things. You have to tear out the paneling and have it drywalled. Do it right. Hire professional drywallers and then paint it. It will look far nicer anyway and more attractive to a buyer. And it will be mortgageable. Your other alternative is to just sell it for all cash as a handyman special and be done with it and any hassles that go with it.
That is TOTALLY untrue. Many homes in the 50s were built with pine paneling with no drywall underneath. Ours was bought with an FHA mortgage last year and, save for the kitchen and bath, the entire house has 1/2" tongue & groove pine panels. Hell, if all houses with paneling and no drywall were un-mortgageable no one would be buying or selling any houses in my town.
The others have given you good advice here about painting, and if I were in your shoes that's what I would do. We removed some of it and drywalled over some of it, not easy but definitely doable. However, depending on the thickness of the paneling replacing/covering with drywall is tricky since if you cover it your walls will be thicker, if you remove it they may be thinner (meaning, plan on tearing out all trim around doors/windows and finding a way to make it all level out). If it weren't a house we were going to be living in for a while, we would've painted it white and gone for a cute cottage look instead.
Like others have said, if it is a real wood slick surface you will need to prime it appropriately to make the paint stick. I'm thinking that foam rollers (as opposed to normal rollers with pile) may help you not end up with weird roller marks. Not sure on this, but on wood cabinets the foam rollers can give a smoother appearance, I'm guessing the same is true for paneling.
That is TOTALLY untrue. Many homes in the 50s were built with pine paneling with no drywall underneath. Ours was bought with an FHA mortgage last year and, save for the kitchen and bath, the entire house has 1/2" tongue & groove pine panels. Hell, if all houses with paneling and no drywall were un-mortgageable no one would be buying or selling any houses in my town.
The others have given you good advice here about painting, and if I were in your shoes that's what I would do. We removed some of it and drywalled over some of it, not easy but definitely doable. However, depending on the thickness of the paneling replacing/covering with drywall is tricky since if you cover it your walls will be thicker, if you remove it they may be thinner (meaning, plan on tearing out all trim around doors/windows and finding a way to make it all level out). If it weren't a house we were going to be living in for a while, we would've painted it white and gone for a cute cottage look instead.
Like others have said, if it is a real wood slick surface you will need to prime it appropriately to make the paint stick. I'm thinking that foam rollers (as opposed to normal rollers with pile) may help you not end up with weird roller marks. Not sure on this, but on wood cabinets the foam rollers can give a smoother appearance, I'm guessing the same is true for paneling.
It is true. If it was not then I would not have said it. Many of you have called me out on this. I was thinking the thin paneling with the grooves. I will still stand by my word, probably because I am right. Some of you are talking about that 3/4" T&G pine. Yes you can paint that with proper prep so I give you that.
What you can not paint is that thin paneling with grooves. But I know people do anyway. People do all kinds of crazy things. That does not and never will make it right.
As for no sheetrock making a home unmortagable with FHA and VA I have to stand by my word there until I can locate the FHA and VA code book which is probably in storage cause I dont use it anymore. On that same note, if you buy a new home FHA or VA and you want to do your own flooring and ask the builder to sell you the house with bare floors they will not do it. FHA and VA require floor covering. I again came across this situation 2 weeks ago. I still believe this to be true and have to find that stupid code book. If anyone is even following it anymore.
Thanks, but I'd like a link to back up your word on this....you've been wrong before. No, it doesn't count if you read it to us from your little book. You should be able to find the info on-line if it's true (I haven't been able to yet).
It is true. If it was not then I would not have said it. Many of you have called me out on this. I was thinking the thin paneling with the grooves. I will still stand by my word, probably because I am right. Some of you are talking about that 3/4" T&G pine. Yes you can paint that with proper prep so I give you that.
The company (Citibank) that we got the mortgage for the farm on and the companies (a couple) that have held the mortgage since, and with whom we have refinanced, evidently never heard about this rule, because our house, built in the early 1900's, has that kind of paneling and no drywall in most of the rooms (one room has been drywalled). No problem at all with getting the mortgages.
How about a cite to where you're getting your information? That would prove your point, since everyone else seems to disagree with you.
We have all kinds of homes in our area with paneling. And everyone of them has a FHA morgage on them. And alot of them have been painted successfully in the manner stated above.
No you can not paint paneling. Well you can but that dont make it right. People paint glass, plastic, asphalt roofs and even the grass on their front lawn but that dont make it right.
You have far worse issues then painting paneling though. You have no drywall under the paneling? I would also take a stab at guessing there is no insulation in there either. It must be an old summer home converted to year round living?
With no drywall that home is unmortgageable with any lender and FHA and VA actually follow federal lending guidelines forbidding mortgaging a home without drywall among other things. You have to tear out the paneling and have it drywalled. Do it right. Hire professional drywallers and then paint it. It will look far nicer anyway and more attractive to a buyer. And it will be mortgageable. Your other alternative is to just sell it for all cash as a handyman special and be done with it and any hassles that go with it.
What are you talking about!? It's on the market right now. There is insulation. The house was built very well. We have had to offers already as well. The home is perfectly mortgagable.
What kind of paneling is this? If you have real wood, tongue and groove paneling then it is completely paintable and can look very nice because you are starting with a quality material. If you have veneered plywood covering the walls, you can probably paint it for a decent result (it will still look like painted plywood) as long as it is in immaculate condition but old veneered plywood paneling is very seldom in immaculate condition.
Thanks. The paneling is hard to describe because I know nothing about the variations. Ours is not real dark, and it feels "real" it's porous not smooth and shiny.
Thanks to everyone for all your help!
It is true. If it was not then I would not have said it. Many of you have called me out on this. I was thinking the thin paneling with the grooves. I will still stand by my word, probably because I am right. Some of you are talking about that 3/4" T&G pine. Yes you can paint that with proper prep so I give you that.
What you can not paint is that thin paneling with grooves. But I know people do anyway. People do all kinds of crazy things. That does not and never will make it right.
As for no sheetrock making a home unmortagable with FHA and VA I have to stand by my word there until I can locate the FHA and VA code book which is probably in storage cause I dont use it anymore. On that same note, if you buy a new home FHA or VA and you want to do your own flooring and ask the builder to sell you the house with bare floors they will not do it. FHA and VA require floor covering. I again came across this situation 2 weeks ago. I still believe this to be true and have to find that stupid code book. If anyone is even following it anymore.
Well, it may just be that you are talking about a different kind of paneling. I think the type you are talking about (not real wood, or maybe some type of composite) is usually 1/8"-3/16" thick, has different width verticle grooves in it, and is usually installed on TOP of drywall. If it were just anchored to studs with no drywall you'd have really flexible walls, I can see how that wouldn't be to code. However, most solid wood (usually 1/2"-3/4" pine) t&g is directly anchored to studs and is thick enough to not need drywall under it. As far as insulation, in my area I suspect it was typically installed without any. You could probably retroactively blow it in if you were drywalling on top of the paneling, however at least in our case the insulation (or lack of) had no impact on lending when we purchased the home.
I suspect that for a home to be financable it must need some type of durable, acceptable wall covering. I do not think that this covering MUST be sheet rock. MANY homes have only thick wood paneling, many homes have brick walls, some have old-fashioned plaster, some have adobe clay walls.
I have seen the cheapo fake-wood paneling look nice when painted, if done right. May not be everyone's style, but I have at least seen it well executed. Durability is another question, I have a feeling it could peel easily and you definately wouldn't want too many coats or it would start to look really caked-on and horrible.
Well, at least we know now why mine looks great and yours apparently doesn't!
I guess? I think its also because someone tried a DIY paint job, and didn't know what they were doing. Also, IMO, unless you are going with a beachy color, it ends up looking very 70s... even the taupe we have really was a horrible choice of color, I wish they chose white, or heck even robin's egg blue instead.
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No, it doesn't count if you read it to us from your little book. You should be able to find the info on-line if it's true (I haven't been able to yet).
