How to Flip a Paneled Room for Less Than $50.00

Old Paneled Rooms Can Be Turned into Great Rooms!

We own a house that was built in 1972. Solid and sturdy, everything was built to stay in permanently.
When we decided to sell the house, we realized besides having a tight budget, we only had limited time to spend in town to work on it.
We decided to refurbish the Living Room instead of replacing the walls. Three of four walls were covered with heavy duty paneling in the standard 4X8 sheets. Nailed like there would never be any reason to remove them.

We first had to remove all of the many years of deep penetrated dirt and grime. We went to Home Depot and bought a heavy duty all purpose cleaner for $11.00. We sprayed the walls with hot water mixed with the cleaner. After several spray and wipe sessions, we left the walls to dry overnight.

Our second operation consisted of using wood putty($3.50)to fill in years of hanging pictures. When you pick out your wood putty, be sure to have something that is fairly close to your wall color and make sure you get stainable brands. Wood putty is an easy task.
If you get the concept of getting the wall even all the way across, it makes it easier to perform this job. You definitely don't want to leave a glob of wood putty sticking out above the holes. Wood putty dries to perform like "wood". It is next to impossible to get the surface right once you have let too much dry over a hole. Neatness counts.

Third is sanding the entire wall. A portable light buffer/sander works great for this particular job.(This may or may not raise the cost. We had our own auto sander.) Ideally, the grit of paper used should be a lightweight finishing($5.00) pad. You are only trying to take off a very light finish. Most paneling has a light protective coat. That is what you are concerned with. Deep, hard sanding with a heavy grit paper will defeat the purpose of refinishing.

You have to develop your own rhythm for sanding evenly. You want to cover the entire surface in a even and consistent pattern. Imperfections in the pattern may show if too heavy handed.
Taking the time to wipe down the surface after you have completed the sanding process, will insure a even and dust free coat of paint.