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I just got a house and wanted to demo some wood paneling in the basement. Behind one of the small panels against the wall perpendicular to the ceiling there was this board.

The house was built in the 1950s and I believe there's a vent running behind it, but I'm not 100% sure. I've been wearing a respirator because I just assume everything normally out of sight can kill me.

My question is what exactly is this? The closest I've come to for a match had been insulation board.

Also what's the best way to get rid of painted-over wood paneling? This bit was easy enough to get a pry bar under and brute force it but I feel like a cave man rending the pan from the nails and screws like that.

(The streaking is from the light. It is a solid grey color in reality.)

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    It reminds me of Homosote, used as a flooring backer, but I have never seen used in a wall. It look like it is much newer than 1950, with that phillips head screw in the picture. It appears to be part of a later renovation. But then again asbestos was banned in 1978 and was still being sold in areas until the early 80's until the stock was depleted.
    – Jack
    Commented Aug 6 at 6:32
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    If you dig at a small area with a utility knife, do you get through a thin skin to white stuff? If so, it’s denshield or similar.
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Aug 6 at 11:30

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I've taken down some more paneling and Homasote seems like the answer. The house is next to a busy road so noise absorbancy seemed to be a priority. I've looked a little more into it and it seems to have been used for walls as well where insulation was needed.

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