The Manufactured Housing Forums

can the interior walls of a mobile home that are like wood panelling
(not wood though) be painted over. I have no idea what these walls are called and not sure what material they are made out of.

thanks to anyone that can help

Here are the instructions I use and recommend. Mileage may vary depending on the material. Best to do a hidden section if possible to see the results. Prep before painting is essential to a good job that lasts. Clean is good. If this is a vinyl covering, sanding still should be done to etch the surface to promote adhesion. There may be other suggestions, but this is what I follow.

First clean the surfaces thoroughly. Use TSP or other good detergent will work. Often, even on this material, someone may have used polish or some other wax-based material making this cleaning necessary. If waxes exist, remove with ammoniated cleaners. Once dry, sand the surface to a smooth dull finish and remove all sanding dust. Once clean use either PrepRite Wall & Wood Primer or Prep Rite Bonding Primer to prime the surface(If not found, find a good substitute). The oil base primer will help prevent bleeding. Use the bonding primer if the surface is too slick for conventional primers. Lightly sanding the surface prior to priming will also help promote adhesion. Follow with a good quality latex paint. Naturally it would be good to test this system first on a small section prior to tackling the whole project.

thanks, I'll try what I can. I guess the walls must be some type of vinyl. - they are all through the living room and dining room....

It's fun, we just painted without all the prep. Primer was required,else the paint was easy to scratch off. It gave the walls a neat country look.

I tired it without the prep also. I learned the hard way, since it peeled off less than two years later. Remember the old oil commercial where the guy says pay me now or pay me later? I paid now and later and wasnt very happy doing it, lol. Tom

I forgot to mention, a friend of mine has a video available on texturing manufactured home walls. In fact the example he uses is dark panelling. Those who have used this process says it really makes the walls look great. And its not that hard to do. If your interested here is the link to the video: http://www.mobilehomerepair.com/wallsvideo.htm

Thank you. I hate living in a trailor and would like to really LIGHTEN it up. It's an old 1970's model, with a pop out side and I am thinking it's all the same type of wood-like stuff.

You might try going over to mobilehomerepair.com. There's quite a community over there of folks who've done amazing things to their places and have learned many tricks in the process. You might even come to LIKE living in a trailer!

well thanks for your help anyway. We are going to start work on it this weekend.