Drywalling over vinyl wallboard??

[trulyLisa]

Has anyone here ever drywalled right over the vinyl wallboard. I had a professional come in and they said it would be a lot easier and cheaper to drywall over the vinyl wallboard and make adjustments for door jams, windows, trim, instead of tearing down the wallboard and re-drywalling.

Has anyone ever done this? Is this professional just trying to take a shortcut that is going to look bad? I just can't stand those wall and batten strips any longer.

Thanks for any help.

[Greg]

Lisa, Hi & welcome. yes it is a shortcut, you will have two problems before you say go. First, every molding is going to have to be recut since the wall will now be 1/2" thicker. It may not sound like much, but all of the crown molding will be too long. Plus your door frames will be thicker, what will he use to cover them. Next and most importantly is the weight issue. Mobile homes are very sensitive to weight, dut to their construction it is possible to bow the floors if too much weight is added on outside walls and/or roof.

A much easier solution is to remove the strips and fill with joint compound. If nessary you can skim coat the whole wall with joint compound to smooth the wall if the vinyl has any texture to it.

You can do a search in the decorating section, many othere here have done this and other things. Greg

[trulyLisa]

Thank you Greg. My home is on a foundation (basement) and I was told it could easily hold the extra weight. Do you really think that by mudding the vinyl wallboard would be the best way? Maybe I will try one of my small rooms and see how it turns out. I'm just so tired of looking at these ugly walls and strips.

Do you have any suggestions what type of primer and paint works best?

[Greg]

If you are on a full basement, then as you say weight should not be much of an issue.

You can fill the strips & skim coat fairly fast, the only problem is that it is messy with the dust. Put skim coat on as thin and evenly as possible to minimize sanding (and dust), but you can get the walls smooth as glass with some work. Greg

[blbrade1]

Hi,Lisa I think that if you do decide to rock over the origanal wall board you should use 1/4 or 3/8 inch dry-wall that way you wont have to extend your jams too much. Personally I would use the 3/8 it would be harder to run the screw all the way through it than the1/4 inch would.

[Greg]

Any thickness change in the wall WILL throw the crown molding and door frames off. Greg

[trulyLisa]

Thank you so much Greg and Bibrade! I'm really loving this forum and so glad I found it. I am doing a major remodel here and all this info is invaluable.

Here is what I decided and I'm crossing my fingers it comes out. Since I am too lazy (hee) to mud, tape and sand myself, I have decided to get the living/dining room and family room re-drywalled with 3/8". To avoid having to take down all the cabinets in the kitchen we are going to try Greg's way. I pray it works because if it does I will have the other rooms done that way. The contractor is charging me $2,000.00 to do all these walls (including the kitchen Gregs's way Does that sound reasonable? I do have vaulted ceilings and we are talking about 1000 sq. ft. of floor space (I have no idea how much wall space hee).

Next come the hardwood floors! I pray you all can help me with them too.

[Yanita]

Hi,

I am just going to add my thoughts to this...first I do not see how old your home is. I personally would not sheetrock over anything. If you were to have windows leak or roof leaks that end up going into the exterior walls your chances of noticing it are alot slimmer than if you only have one layer of interior wall covering.

Secondly, since I am still in the process of remodeling my home I chose to remove original wall coverings and check out the insulation, added alot and check out studs and window/door casings as we proceeded. The added insulation alone was the best thing we did in all our renovations.

About every faucet of hanging new over old is wrong, should window replacement come about in the future including doors, cabinets etc...you will have a real PITA to deal with.

JMO,

Yanita

[Harry]

Hi

I agree with Yanita.

Remove the old stuff and inspect and upgrade.

I would also take the opportunity to upgrade electrical wall sockets and switches.

JMHO

Harry

[Don]

Hi Lisa,

Installing drywall has the added advantage of extra fire protection. In the event of a fire, it may not make a difference (ie total loss is still possible) but it will buy you time!

Personally, if I was going to that extreme, I would take out the old paneling, inspect the framing and insulation underneath and then install 1/2"drywall throughout the entire unit, including the ceilings. This would result in a consistent and professional finish to the entire unit, and would offer better fire resistance!

But it also depends on how old the unit is and what your longer term plans are for it? Also, you may want to research using 3/8" drywall, as I believe it's very marginal.

I'm currently in the process of gutting my MH, installing new insulation throughout, 5/8 plywood floor, extra wall thickness for walls and ceiling to allow for R20 insulation, and 1/2" drywall throughout.

Don

[JD]

I would also remove the original wall panels. The vinyl covering on the wall panels would work like a vapor barrier. If there was ever a leak into the walls from the siding, roof or floor, this could cause a mold/mildew problem. And as Yanita and Harry said, it is a good opportunity to inspect, upgrade insulation if needed, etc..

JD

[trulyLisa]

Yanita, Harry, Don and JD! You guys are awesome. You know my original plan was to remove the vinyl wall panels. I was thinking that the contractors (Yes 3 or them all said to go over it) were trying to make it easier. I didn't want that. I wanted all new walls.

Now let me explain my home. First off I don't think it is a mobile home but my husband does call it a doublewide (it is 28' x 64' I think). I purchased it and the land for $65,000.00 in 1993 when it was 3 years old. I was told it was a modular home and it sits on a full basement plus 2 car garage. I have vaulted ceilings, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, living room/dining, kitchen, family room and laundry room. But the construction (kitchen cabinets and bathroom fixtures, etc) are definitely CHEAP. I have popcorn ceiling throughout (which I HATE) and the ugly vinyl wallpaper and battens. I plan on living here for the rest of my life (I think). My home is on a huge double lot and sits right on the edge of the Ohio River (nice view).

I have inherited some money and plan on doing some renovations (new hardwood everywhere but baths), ceramic in baths and kitchen, new fixtures in kitchen and baths and of course the UGLY walls. I wasn't going to do anything to the popcorn ceilings except paint (even though I hate them). So there you have it. I'll probably be popping in alot to get advice.

[trulyLisa]

Here's a couple pictures of the rooms I want drywalled:





Ignore the bucket I was washing down ugly walls.

[Yanita]

Hi Lisa,

Looks like a doublewide to me. Where is the title to this home filed? If you do not have it it is with the DMV.

To know what you have look under the home and see if there are 4 I beams (long lengths of steel) running the length of your home. All modulars that I have seen come with sheetrock walls, none had battens, although I guess they could. Anyways, yours looks like mobile home.

Yanita

[trulyLisa]

I definitely have the deed Yanita. I know under the house there are I beams but I don't think 4 the length of the house. I will check.

Here's the link to the builder:

http://www.commodorehomes.com/commodore ... /index.php

It does show it comes in vinyl walls or drywall. I guess the guy who bought this one chose vinyl.