How can I paint paneled walls covered in wallpaper?

Question

I bought a house built in the 1940s (midwest US) and it appears that most internal walls are plywood and not drywall. This explains why the previous owner put up wallpaper in almost every room instead of painting.

We are starting with one bedroom, and it looks like previous owner put lining paper and wallpaper over some old textured paint (photo below) and we can expect that in most rooms of the house.

We would ideally like to paint our walls and are trying to understand our options and the pros/cons.

1. Does that mean ripping out plywood and replacing with drywall throughout the house?
2. Can we put up a thin layer of drywall right over the existing plywood?
3. Strip plywood down to surface, add new lining paper and paint that?

Answer 1

If the wallpaper has good adhesion

• Tape the corners and apply a skim coat to the entire wall. The wallpaper will act as the taped seams over the plywood.
• It's a dusty, messy job.

If the wallpaper does not have good adhesion

1. Use 3/8" drywall and mount directly on the plywood. Tape the joints and sand.
   • You will have to modify the outlet boxes to allow for the increased depth. Box extensions are available.
2. Or remove the plywood, apply 1/2" drywall. Tape and sand.
   • It's a lot more work and you will be surprised at what you uncover.

Answer 2

I had a similar problem in my house and I fixed it in two different ways.

• If the wallpaper was lose and looked bad, I attached thin 1/4" renovation drywall on the existing walls. This drywall is specifically made for situations like this where you already have an preexisting wall.

• If the wallpaper looked good, I sanded down the wallpaper overlap and then painted it with a wallpaper sealant, before painting the finishing color. The result was surprisingly good and so much easier then putting up new drywalls.