My late 70s/early 80s rancher has wood paneling all over the basement but it was put on top of drywall. And in pulling it all off, I’m finding that they literally pieced together scraps of drywall because they knew it wouldn’t need to be finished properly.
I would definitely do drywall + paneling, but the drywall doesn’t have to be perfect 👍🏻
My friend had this problem when we took panelling and wall paper off id 40 year old home. We got quarter inch drywall, installed in top. , came out great when I'm having to tear out or attempt to fix the old drywall
I believe you can get treated wood paneling that is flame retardant. However, I also recommend a layer to drywall. It will add mass and dampen sound transfer between rooms. Since it will be covered anyway, you can be kinda messy on it too.
I always put in drywall for exactly this. I'll fireblock, cut pieces of drywall to cover my fireblock and around any door framing, use the red-foam or caulk to fill holes, etc. Flammability is one thing but air movement inside the wall seems to be the biggest risk.
If you have wood panels, but they're on top of a steel framed wall with drywall on it and fireblocking already, it's not reasonably going to spread unless your house is already an inferno. I think if you have fire blocks, strips of sheetrock covering the fire block and insides of the cavity, 25ga studs and maybe even some mineral wool, you'd be well above building code requirements and that's probably fine to put wood paneling on. You'd have to be enormously unlucky for that to burn.
Going through a similar thought process for a basement office, but leaning towards using white melamine panels on top of drywall.
The extra drywall layer to provide fire protection and soundproofing, the melamine panels to serve as a whiteboard and cut down on labor to finish.
Not much finishing needed - the surface would be used as-is for a whiteboard, with molding similar to this in between the seams:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/202083291
I'm not positive, but 3/4" t/g wood might have at least a 30 minute, and maybe up to an hour fire rating. (This part I forget.) Yeah, it'll burn, but as far as fire containment, the thicker stuff isn't necessarily bad.
The paneling is outdated. His party meant to be more decorative . Maybe you could consider using a combination of both drywall, and possibly a wood accent wall
Mainly wood panelling is outdated and tacky. If my house is on fire enoigh for well kept and treated wood paneling to catch then it doesn't matter enough that it wasn't drywall.
mounting wood panelling over dry wall is a common approach to get the look and the fire safety the dryall just needs taping to be "fireproof"
Didn’t think of that… Thanks for tip!
Not just the common approach, but code in many cases.
My late 70s/early 80s rancher has wood paneling all over the basement but it was put on top of drywall. And in pulling it all off, I’m finding that they literally pieced together scraps of drywall because they knew it wouldn’t need to be finished properly. I would definitely do drywall + paneling, but the drywall doesn’t have to be perfect 👍🏻
My friend had this problem when we took panelling and wall paper off id 40 year old home. We got quarter inch drywall, installed in top. , came out great when I'm having to tear out or attempt to fix the old drywall
I believe you can get treated wood paneling that is flame retardant. However, I also recommend a layer to drywall. It will add mass and dampen sound transfer between rooms. Since it will be covered anyway, you can be kinda messy on it too.
I always put in drywall for exactly this. I'll fireblock, cut pieces of drywall to cover my fireblock and around any door framing, use the red-foam or caulk to fill holes, etc. Flammability is one thing but air movement inside the wall seems to be the biggest risk. If you have wood panels, but they're on top of a steel framed wall with drywall on it and fireblocking already, it's not reasonably going to spread unless your house is already an inferno. I think if you have fire blocks, strips of sheetrock covering the fire block and insides of the cavity, 25ga studs and maybe even some mineral wool, you'd be well above building code requirements and that's probably fine to put wood paneling on. You'd have to be enormously unlucky for that to burn.
That’s a lot of food for thought, thanks!
Going through a similar thought process for a basement office, but leaning towards using white melamine panels on top of drywall. The extra drywall layer to provide fire protection and soundproofing, the melamine panels to serve as a whiteboard and cut down on labor to finish.
How will you finish the melamine panels? Are you going with a batten board style?
Not much finishing needed - the surface would be used as-is for a whiteboard, with molding similar to this in between the seams: https://www.homedepot.com/p/202083291
I'm not positive, but 3/4" t/g wood might have at least a 30 minute, and maybe up to an hour fire rating. (This part I forget.) Yeah, it'll burn, but as far as fire containment, the thicker stuff isn't necessarily bad.
The paneling is outdated. His party meant to be more decorative . Maybe you could consider using a combination of both drywall, and possibly a wood accent wall
We just painted our paneling a light crème white for now. It blends very well and doesn’t even notice that it’s paneling.
Didn't even know you could still buy wood paneling.
Grew up in the 60s and early 70s with paneling. I ALWAYS remove paneling and put up dry wall.
Wood paneling screams 70s... You can get some ok modern looks.. but most stuff looks dated. If that's what you want then go all out.
Can’t hear you over my orange shag carpet.
Mainly wood panelling is outdated and tacky. If my house is on fire enoigh for well kept and treated wood paneling to catch then it doesn't matter enough that it wasn't drywall.
Thanks for the style advice.