What is involved when replacing wood paneling with drywall?

Question

In a forty-something year old home, I would like to freshen up a couple of rooms that still have wood paneling (and get rid of that "this room used to look fashionable in the 1970s" look). I would like to replace the wood panels with drywalls.

They are painted, as you see below. I'm guessing that someone at some point decided they didn't like the look of the wood panels either, but just painted over them rather than replace them.

To remove the wood panels, I'll hunt down the location of the nails, take them out, and then hopefully the panels will be easy to pull out. I am wondering:

1. What are the chances that there is already some kind of drywall behind the panels? This would make the task considerably simpler!
2. If the panels are just a couple of millimeters thick, might it be an option to just leave them where they are and fix the drywall in front of them? It would be trickier to mark the locations of the studs behind, but all-in-all it'd be a lot simpler job... and, last, but not least:
3. Can the "look" of the wood panels be transformed to a drywall-pretend-to-be without actually taking the panels out? Could I for instance sand the panels, fill out the ridges (with what?), and apply primer/paint? Sanding furniture to change the paint color is a lousy and intense task. Would I be looking at a similarly troubling task to make replacing the panels with drywall look like an easy task by comparison?

Update:

I thought of adding a couple of pointers to those tackling a similar project.

• In stores, you are more likely to find drywall mud called joint compound.

• Solution 2 above (adding a drywall in front of the wood panels) is illustrated in this video.

• Solution 3 (skim-coating) is illustrated in this video. I suspect that the only difference with skim coating a wood panel is that one must apply more compound to make sure that the grooves disappear.

Yes, it's been already six months since I asked the question. Well, winter came and now I'm not sure it's reasonable to tackle such a project while the windows remain closed (or wait till Spring).

Answer 1

Option 3 is the sanest IMHO. You can get a bucket of drywall mud for $15 and do a "skim coat" over the panels to create a flat surface. No need to sand first; this stuff will stick to anything! Once the mud is dry, you can sand it to get a smooth look, or texture it. Texturing can be done with cans of spray-on texture you get at big box stores, or using a texture sprayer gun. A pro will be able to do the texture part much better than a novice, so if you want a textured wall, I recommend hiring that part out for $100 or so. With the right equipment and an operator of moderate skill, it's a 30 minute job. If you've already got an air compressor, you can have a go yourself with a sprayer attachment that has a hopper.

But whatever you do, match the texture or lack thereof to any drywall that abuts the paneled wall. Nothing screams "I used to be wood paneling!!!!!" like strange, awkward texture on a few walls that, upon further investigation, have more give to them when pushed on.

This is the approach I took on my wood paneled walls and today you'd never know the difference.

Answer 2

• Point 1 Usually paneling is put up over cracked plaster as a expedient fix. Lookup skimcoating plaster as a fix for bad plaster. It works well on walls. Anchoring is needed for ceilings if the plaster is broken off the lath.
• Point 2 Overlaying drywall is a definite fix. 3/8 thick panels is frequently used for this. Some problems can be: the need for electrical box (for outlets and switches) extensions. Trim would also need to be removed and reinstalled.
• Point 3 I've filled in the paneling with patching spackle to fix damage. Skimcoating with joint compound and sanding smooth would work, if the underlying layer is well adhered and wouldn't release with the 'wet' layer of compound.