Paneling Plaster Walls

-Not long ago, I renovated a house that was built in 1938 and had plaster walls with plenty of layers of wallpaper glued over. I considered paneling these plaster walls as a quick way to deal with their unattractive appearance. After paneling the walls, I was going to paint the wood paneling and be done with it.

-It turns out that paneling plaster walls can be done, but there are several drawbacks to consider. Most importantly is the appearance of painted paneling over plaster walls. Often, this does not end up looking great and can look like you were trying to cover up something. Yes, plaster walls can be difficult to deal with, but paneling may look even worse.

-Another thing to consider regarding paneling plaster walls is that your overall room dimensions will be smaller. I know this may not be a big deal in a large space, but for smaller rooms, I would think about it.

-In the end, rather than paneling my walls, I had a demolition company tear out the plaster walls down to the studs. I then had drywall installed and it looked great. Yes, this was very messy and expensive, but the end result was worth it, and I knew that the problem was solved. Paneling over plaster walls would have diminished the value of the house, in my opinion, more than the cost of doing drywall.

-I used to live in a bungalow where the previous owners had put paneling over plaster walls in only one of the rooms, and it really stood out. If you're not going to apply paneling on all of the plaster walls, the paneling you do use may stick out like a sore thumb.