Ripping down paneling?

Has anyone ever ripped down paneling and redone walls? The house we are thinking of making an offer on has a bit of paneling, it is nailed up. Also, some of the walls look "ridgy" in places, like they need to be sanded down. We'd like to be able to do this ourselves but have no idea how much it would be or what it would entail. Has anyone ever done this?
Thank you in advance!

Re: Ripping down paneling?

My husband is redoing our entire house, because it has all panelling, everywhere you look. He just did the livingroom and he literally had to bring it down to the studs because it was easier to replace the sheetrock then to start sanding, etc. It can be costly if you dont have the tools, or need to hire someone. My only little bit of advise is when you make an offer, start a little lower and go from there, because of all the work you want to do.

Re: Ripping down paneling?

WE were lucky in that when we took down the paneling, the sheetrock underneath was in great condition (the paneling was nailed, not glued). WE did some spackle in the nail holes and were able to paint it and it looks great. Very minimal work.

On the other hand, the paneling in our lower level was half glued, half nailed so we are taking down the sheetrock too and redoing it all. But we wanted to do that anyway because we need to reinsulate.

Re: Ripping down paneling?

You have to see whats underneath it. When my mom took down the paneling in her house, there was layers of this funky retro 70's wallpaper. It was kinda cool, but she wouldn't keep it. Luckily it came right off and they were able to just sand it dow. and paint.

Re: Ripping down paneling?

We just dealt with this. We ripped down paneling that was glued.. easier to just rip it down to the studs and redo it instaead of repairing the sheetrock... and while you are doing that you should just reinsulate and then upgrade the electric if necessary, because if its in a paneling house, it probably has old electric.

It's a lot of work, I'm not going to lie.. but doing it yourself will save lots of money.

Re: Ripping down paneling?

I'm in the same boat with the paneling but I have plaster walls anyone else?

Re: Ripping down paneling?

When we took off our paneling, we went right down to the studs since we were redoing all the walls that had stucco as well. It was just easier. We paid someone to do it because we needed it done right away. Hanging sheetrock and plastering isn't all that expensive. It should run between $15 - $20 a board depending on the job.

Re: Ripping down paneling?

We didn't rip any down- we ended up painting over it because we were afraid of the condition of the walls underneath (we had one unpleasant surprise when we took down wallpaper to find a huge crack). But we're doing everything on a shoesting- some day we'll get someone to come in and really re-do everything.

Re: Ripping down paneling?

Thank you everyone for the replies! :)