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Hello! We are in the process of buying a manufactured home. Being we own another home we haven't sold yet, we are cutting corners and getting something that is well built and adequate, yet not our "dream home". But it is great for the price for the "short term". We were able to find a home we really liked as far as floor plan, upgrades, etc. and are getting a great deal because it is on the dealer lot rather than us ordering it. The only thing we don't like is that it doesn't have taped/textured walls. We can live with that, and most of the walls are tastefully done. However, the kitchen and master math are really ugly! The dealer showed us in their office where they had painted over the paneling stuff and it looked really good. It does have a bit of "texture" to it. I just wanted to find out if anyone has done this....painted over these panels. If so, did you prime first with something like Kilz? As far as the little strips that go over the seams, did you caulk them or put drywall mud over them & sand before painting? We want to change the color, but want it to look good. We hate buying a brand new home and it not looking BRAND NEW! I realize this is kind of a trivial problem when everything else in the house is awesome, but any help is appreciated. We are just very grateful that we are able to buy a home and still own our other one, and have our payment be quite a bit lower than rent is here! Thanks in advance to you all.
Georgia
My Mom painted over hers in her hallway because she had some panels replaced (roof leaked inside of wall). I'm not sure what kind of paint she used but it seems to be sticking well. She did mud over the joints where the strips were but if you stand back and really look you can still see it a little. If you have any skill at hanging wallpaper you could get the textured paintable kind, that would hide the joints better. The only thing about wallpaper is you might need to use a vinyl to vinyl paste, since the wall panels most likely have a vinyl coating on them. You'll need to take the strips off around the windows too, but it's a good opportunity to switch to bigger real wood housetype mouldings, just save that for last after the walls are done.
Those panels you speak of in moble homes are not even drywall. There is no drywall in moble homes, too much weight. They are about 3/16" thick lauan wood 4X8 panels with a melamine vinyl covering. It's quite like the ends or interior of inexpensive kitchen cabinets. Since you can not spackle/mud/tape seams on wood or vinyl they use that mullion or batten molding (depending on where you live it's called different things) to cover the seams where the panels meet. This molding is also vinyl covered to match.
If you want to paint over that I will laugh and say refer to the current thread going on wanting to paint wallpaper with several dozen replies probably telling how to do it. All ignoring the fact that you can not. But people do crazy things to save money, that dont make them bad.
I would like you to ask the moble home dealer where you can buy those 4 X 8 prefinished vinyl covered panels. They sell options. If your handy you can just replace them. I know for a fact Home Depot sells 2 maybe 3 style/color vinyl coated panels used in moble homes. Go take a look at that.
If you just need to get off easy and cheap I highly advise you to remove all the mullion strips and wall paper the rooms you hate. Now comes the tricky part. You will have to wrap that 1" mullion molding allowing the both loose ends to die behind it. Now you have to pin nail or staple these strips back on. Geez I bet if you do a good enough job with the wall paper it will cover right over those panel seems and you wont need the mullion strips. You probably will need to replace them at the ceiling if you have them already.
Those panels you speak of in moble homes are not even drywall. There is no drywall in moble homes, too much weight. They are about 3/16" thick lauan wood 4X8 panels with a melamine vinyl covering.
My Mom's has vinyl covered sheetrock panels. It's not as thick as house sheetrock, but it's still sheetrock nontheless. I don't think they use the lauan stuff anymore.
Hello! We are in the process of buying a manufactured home. Being we own another home we haven't sold yet, we are cutting corners and getting something that is well built and adequate, yet not our "dream home". But it is great for the price for the "short term". We were able to find a home we really liked as far as floor plan, upgrades, etc. and are getting a great deal because it is on the dealer lot rather than us ordering it. The only thing we don't like is that it doesn't have taped/textured walls. We can live with that, and most of the walls are tastefully done. However, the kitchen and master math are really ugly! The dealer showed us in their office where they had painted over the paneling stuff and it looked really good. It does have a bit of "texture" to it. I just wanted to find out if anyone has done this....painted over these panels. If so, did you prime first with something like Kilz? As far as the little strips that go over the seams, did you caulk them or put drywall mud over them & sand before painting? We want to change the color, but want it to look good. We hate buying a brand new home and it not looking BRAND NEW! I realize this is kind of a trivial problem when everything else in the house is awesome, but any help is appreciated. We are just very grateful that we are able to buy a home and still own our other one, and have our payment be quite a bit lower than rent is here! Thanks in advance to you all.
Georgia
I recently painted over the wallpaper in my manufactured home. Truth be told, I LOVE the wallpaper in the bathrooms -- it's a very stylish print -- but one of my kitchen walls had a wallpaper pattern I didn't care for much. Heh, and after two years of looking at it, I decided I hated it. As you said, just disliking one wall out of a whole home isn't bad at all!
There IS a way of removing those batten strips, filling them in, sanding, and then doing the paint prep. I decided I didn't want to do that. Not only was it a lot of work but I figured that those batten strips are there for a reason and removing them myself might create a problem. Experts would know how to do it properly but I'd probably goof it up!
Anyhoo, we lightly sanded the wallpaper to take off the finish, applied Kilz and let it dry well, and then painted. It looks really good!!! The guy at Home Depot told me to make sure that I let the Kilz dry really well because it's water-based and going over wallpaper. You don't want to trap moisture in there under the paint!
Here's a link for a FAB manufactured home site. Do a search there and you'll find lots of threads on painting, decorating ideas, you name it! It's a great group of folks who love their homes and do lots of projects and upgrades. I think you'll find valuable info there! (And you won't have to deal with people who like to belittle manufactured homes. )
I recently painted over the wallpaper in my manufactured home. Truth be told, I LOVE the wallpaper in the bathrooms -- it's a very stylish print -- but one of my kitchen walls had a wallpaper pattern I didn't care for much. Heh, and after two years of looking at it, I decided I hated it. As you said, just disliking one wall out of a whole home isn't bad at all!
There IS a way of removing those batten strips, filling them in, sanding, and then doing the paint prep. I decided I didn't want to do that. Not only was it a lot of work but I figured that those batten strips are there for a reason and removing them myself might create a problem. Experts would know how to do it properly but I'd probably goof it up!
Anyhoo, we lightly sanded the wallpaper to take off the finish, applied Kilz and let it dry well, and then painted. It looks really good!!! The guy at Home Depot told me to make sure that I let the Kilz dry really well because it's water-based and going over wallpaper. You don't want to trap moisture in there under the paint!
Here's a link for a FAB manufactured home site. Do a search there and you'll find lots of threads on painting, decorating ideas, you name it! It's a great group of folks who love their homes and do lots of projects and upgrades. I think you'll find valuable info there! (And you won't have to deal with people who like to belittle manufactured homes. )
Thanks so much for the link. Of course I would have loved to buy a home that was taped & textured, but when you are on a tight budget as we are while our other home still hasn't sold we had to sacrifice somewhere and we felt that if we could live with the walls then who cares what other people think! It's just that the kitchen & master bath print (although not a bad print) are very dark and make the rooms look much smaller and darker. They are a rust and cream colored print, and besides being dark rust just doesn't fit into my decor! The rest of the house looks nice, actually kind of like a sponge paint type of deal. I'm excited to delve further into the link you gave me!
My Mom painted over hers in her hallway because she had some panels replaced (roof leaked inside of wall). I'm not sure what kind of paint she used but it seems to be sticking well. She did mud over the joints where the strips were but if you stand back and really look you can still see it a little. If you have any skill at hanging wallpaper you could get the textured paintable kind, that would hide the joints better. The only thing about wallpaper is you might need to use a vinyl to vinyl paste, since the wall panels most likely have a vinyl coating on them. You'll need to take the strips off around the windows too, but it's a good opportunity to switch to bigger real wood housetype mouldings, just save that for last after the walls are done.
Thanks so much for the link. I have hung wallpaper before, but don't want to do it again! I think we'll give the paint a try in the bathroom first. Then if it doesn't work we can just replace the panels, which wouldn't be a large financial loss just on a small bathroom!
Those panels you speak of in moble homes are not even drywall. There is no drywall in moble homes, too much weight. They are about 3/16" thick lauan wood 4X8 panels with a melamine vinyl covering. It's quite like the ends or interior of inexpensive kitchen cabinets. Since you can not spackle/mud/tape seams on wood or vinyl they use that mullion or batten molding (depending on where you live it's called different things) to cover the seams where the panels meet. This molding is also vinyl covered to match.
If you want to paint over that I will laugh and say refer to the current thread going on wanting to paint wallpaper with several dozen replies probably telling how to do it. All ignoring the fact that you can not. But people do crazy things to save money, that dont make them bad.
I would like you to ask the moble home dealer where you can buy those 4 X 8 prefinished vinyl covered panels. They sell options. If your handy you can just replace them. I know for a fact Home Depot sells 2 maybe 3 style/color vinyl coated panels used in moble homes. Go take a look at that.
If you just need to get off easy and cheap I highly advise you to remove all the mullion strips and wall paper the rooms you hate. Now comes the tricky part. You will have to wrap that 1" mullion molding allowing the both loose ends to die behind it. Now you have to pin nail or staple these strips back on. Geez I bet if you do a good enough job with the wall paper it will cover right over those panel seems and you wont need the mullion strips. You probably will need to replace them at the ceiling if you have them already.
Hope that helps..
Your idea about buying new panels at Home Depot might be the ticket. Like I said before, I think we'll give the paint a try as it seems that quite a few people have had success with it. If it doesn't work in the small bathroom we'll go the new panels route then decide what to do with the kitchen. Any other ideas from anyone else out there, I welcome all!!!! Thanks!
Newer homes have sheetrock while mine is very old and has the hollow panel walls.
Whatever you do- don't wallpaper! That's just advice because when that wallpaper has to come down it's gonna be a nightmare.
I've used Kilz and then painted over the paneling. Looks beautiful!
The master bedroom had alot of water damage from a leaky roof- but I used that..... there has been no water/moister for years...just old, damaged paneling- crack/peel, etc.
I kilzed and painted over the paneling w/ a pear green- looks awesome! Crown molding, baseboards, and wrought iron look accessories and I have a country cottage. I'm doing a headboard out of lattace or something- haven't decided yet.
My hallway was kilzed and I'm using tin panels for the ceiling, and wall molding for the chairrail line down and beautiful tiles for flooring..... this idea came from Biltmore Estate.
My daughter's bedroom was kilzed and she has new crown molding, baseboards, window casing, etc.
Paint works beautifully over paneling. They do have this covering for walls or ceilings that is basically white that has molded texture/design that you can paint over.
Mobile homes are a great way to live w/ alot of beauty but without the cost.
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