Better to replace or repair drywall

[steppinthrax]

In my house I have this ugly wood paneling in the living room. I have a small house and the paneling covers one side of my exterior wall and off to another wall between the dinning room and living room. I began this x-mas to start removing this shit. As I removed all of it on one wall side I kind of noticed why it was there. The previous owners put adhesive tiles or something like it on the wall and you can see the previous footprints and adhesive of these tiles. The wall has small quarter sized patches of paper missing as well as patches here and there of glue, all scattered about the wall. I took the good part of yesturday evening using a heat gut and scrapper to remove the adhesive. I then started patching the areas with no paper or nailholes. I believe with two coats of primer (kilz) it should look good again. But I'm just curious what would pros do in this situation. I really don't want to replace the entire drywall.

 

[ATLien247]

Whatever looks the best with the least effort...

 

[Gibson486]

I remember when I helped my mom put up drywall in her apt. That was a pain. Just remember that you also have to buy wood to cover the bottom and the top as well as buying some spackle or plaster or joint compound for covering damage made from screws and transportation.

In short....repair.

 

[Fritzo]

Yeah, repair. If it looks bumpy afterwards, paint it with texture paint.

 

[BigJ]

I'm not a pro but I'd just rip the crap out. I've done enough drywall installations and have enough friends around that it wouldn't take long at all to screw it up (the drywall, not the project ) and mud.

If you haven't really drywalled before, it may come out looking like crap when you go mudding/taping.

 

[mugs]

The pros would tell the homeowner they could fix it, but it wouldn't look as good. Or they could replace it, and it would look better but cost more. Homeowner decides.

 

[0roo0roo]

yea wood paneling is hideous.

i ripped some down a while back, luckily only nail holes and a few rips had to be patched.
i guess kilz is thick primer? easier than playing with drywall finishing compound i guess. go for it!

 

[Sphexi]

Depends on the time it takes to repair it. If they're paying one of their guys, and it's gonna take a day or two for him to go through and peel paper and adhesive and repair holes, it's far cheaper to re-drywall. Drywall is relatively cheap, and a room can be done in an hour or two tops. Also you're guaranteed that the backside is clean, unlike the stuff you have now who knows what kind of crap is growing back there.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Sphexi
Depends on the time it takes to repair it. If they're paying one of their guys, and it's gonna take a day or two for him to go through and peel paper and adhesive and repair holes, it's far cheaper to re-drywall. Drywall is relatively cheap, and a room can be done in an hour or two tops. Also you're guaranteed that the backside is clean, unlike the stuff you have now who knows what kind of crap is growing back there.

That's one of the reasons I usually like to replace drywall when I do work around my parent's house. You can see what whoever built it did and what happened in the mean time. Whether it's lack of insulation, faulty electrical, mold, or whatever else.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

replace it. That way you can put network drops in while your at it.

 

[indamixx99]

I would replace it, but it depends on how comfortable you are with it. Taping and mudding can be quite challenging, especially to get it all even. Also, I'm assuming the rest of the walls in your living room are textured, so you'd have to get a hopper/texture gun and spray it on the new drywall. Or, you could buy those aerosol cans of texture, but you'll need quite a few of them and they can get quite costly.

 

[Auric]

Ruh roh... this could take a nasty turn as is typical of renovations where one thing leads to another. Sure, ideally, it would be nice to see behind that existing drywall but the same could be said for the whole house. But, you may not like what you find. Then you'll be like Capt. Taylor from Planet of the Apes on his knees in despair at the sight of the horror revealed: "You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God...damn you all to hell!

 

[DrPizza]

Me? I gutted my dining room; rewired it while I was at it. I left one section against the exterior wall untouched. I probably spent as much time repairing and smoothing that section so it'd look right as I did re-wallboarding the other three walls put together. When I was done, I realized what a blunder it was to not have just replaced that wallboard as well. Why didn't I? Simple: Just because I didn't want to remove the molding around the window. Oddly, I didn't have a problem with removing the molding around 4 doorways.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: Auric
Ruh roh... this could take a nasty turn as is typical of renovations where one thing leads to another. Sure, ideally, it would be nice to see behind that existing drywall but the same could be said for the whole house. But, you may not like what you find.

haha, so true.

If they put the wood paneling there to hide the marks from the tile, what did they put the tile in to hide?

I would have voted to repair unless enough of the wall was in bad enough shape to justify tearing it all out and if you don't mind a couple of minor bumps from repair spots.

 

[badkarma1399]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
replace it. That way you can put network drops in while your at it.

winnar!

 

[steppinthrax]

Just got the whole project finished looks wonderful

Thanks guys.