Questions re:painting existing or drywalling

[Rhonda]

Hi all. I have been lurking for a couple of days and this is a great site. We own a 1997 16x80 Skyline. We just recentley purchased new carpet (not installed yet). I wanted to drywall the living room and hall, but hubby says it would be a expense and work. I can not tell you what the walls are made of. It has a shiny already textured finish and I know that when we replaced one of the inside panels, it was not very thick...maybe 1/8 to 1/4". They have those UGLY strips on them and about 1/3 of the way up from the floor, we have a wood trim that I would also like to remove!! I have read numerous posts on buying the book and video for painting. My questions are...would it be more benficial to drywall for insulation purposes? As I read in another post, our air runs non stop on the days that it is 90+ and very humid (Wisocnsin weather). We have had our unit checked and all is fine they say! We also have NO shade! In the winter we keep our furnace at 65 and it still runs all the time it seems like! If I just paint over the existing walls, are they going to look like dry wall or am I going to be disappointed? Any insight/suggetions would be GREATLY appreciated!

[rmurray]

You have vinyl covered sheetrock..Renovating or changing are both big jobs. I laughed a little reading your post, that horizontal wood trim is called chair rail which is part of the optional wainescoat...Someone paid extra for this when the home was new..They must have liked it. The type of wall covering makes little or no effect on energy use..Energy savings involve many components of the home. Examples include, sealed ducts, doors and windows and their installation,insulation,efficiency of the furnace and a/c on and on. Most electric companies have a free service which evaluates the efficiency of your home and develops an energy savings plan for your home in particular.. Many electric companies have ways to help you pay for any recommended improvements..Call your electric company before you move on and have an energy audit done now before your spend lots of money and effort. Most recommendations they make will pay for themselves in short order. Dislike of the vertical seam trim is almost universal. Because of this the prime moderator of this forum Mark bower has a video instruction for the upgrade process. It is listed in the bookstore here at

Painting and Texturing Paneled Walls from Aberdeen Repair

Mark is probably the writer, director, producer and actor in this video. This is a job that he has probably done in his repair business many times..While there you should also consider his companion book on repair and upgrade of manufactured homes..It is an e-book with no shipping and handling to worry about. It has a section on this job as well..
Good Luck with your project..

[vgsmith73]

RE: Repainting - we bought our 94 Redman last October (06). The walls were kind of grundgy, a smoker had lived here, so We washed and rinsed the walls to get rid of whatever was on them.
The covering on all the walls is shinier than the plain paper on sheetrock, so I guess it is the same as yours?
I spent a couple of weeks mask taping everything inclding a wood strip at the ceiling/wall junctions and around the doors as well as all the kitchen and bathroom cabinets.
We layed plastic on the floor of a room as we spray painted each room. My son has a spray painter (you could buy one for less than $100) and had painted a couple walls in his house so we gave it a whirl. He started on the back wall of the den (it's an outside wall), and sprayed and sprayed and sprayed, but it wouldn't stick well, and started to sag and droop and run!!! We wiped it off, and I suggested that he give it a real light coat to barely cover it. He did, and it stuck. He then painted a couple other rooms walls with a real light coat, and returned to the den, and gave it another coat that stuck to the first one. He did the same in each room, we were able to paint all of the walls in one day and they all look great... We did the ceilings two weekends later using the same method, after I taped/papered the wall tops to prevent overspray.
So, in a nutshell, the walls can be spray painted. As a side not, I used a roller in our bedroom, and used a gallon of paint on two walls, because it wouldn't stick well!!
Hope this is helps

[David Oxhandler]

Some of the higher end builders used vinyl coated pre-wallpapered sheetrock. In its day it was a great stride forward from the use of wood paneling, towards better looking interiors and safer homes. The idea of the vinyl was to protect the wall from any stains sticking, Which is why it is very difficult to get paint to hang on the vinyl.

After a short time just aboout any amount of paint will chip off. You can remove the vinyl coat by lightly sanding the wall. Skim and smooth the surface with conventional drywall mud techniques, Before you put your final paint on the wall use a higth quality primer paint. From that pont forward you will be able to paint your walls in any conventional way you desire.

We always remove the bat trim between each panel and tape/mud the joints. This gives you a fully finished conventional drywall surface and looks great. We recently started to add texture to the walls using a rented spray gun. This additinnla step make the job a lot easier, as you dont have to skim the wall to a perfect smooth finish. It gives the walls the exact look of the newst homes b eing built today and ultimalty increases the eye appeal and resale value of just about any home

If your looking for a book that covers all facets of manufactured home repair, take a look at The Manual for Manufactured Home Repair & Upgrade

As you would expect from the title, The repair and upgrade techniques described in this manual are specific to manufactured homes. This book will answer almost every question on manufactured home repair that we have ever heard. Not only does this book show you how to repair and maintain your home, but also great methods for upgrading it.


Available in print version and now also in e-book version for instant download.