Painting Vinyl Wall Panels

By

ufercalling

I too live in a home with the vinyl wall panels as well. A couple weeks ago I painted my daughter's room. It's very small, maybe a 10 x 10. I wanted to warn you, the panels are so porous I had to use 2 coats and probably should have put on the 3rd. I used a whole gallon of EXPENSIVE paint. If I could turn back time, I would have used the Kilz primer first!
Our den, my husband put up a paintable stucco wall paper. The edges where the paper met, I used a tiny container of Red Devil joint compound. I applied it thin as possible using a plastic picnic knife. The teeth scratched the compound and when it dried it blended completely with the "stucco" hodge podge pattern. After painting, it's beautiful!

By .Lisa (Guest Post)

Polly,
I did this 2 years ago. Pulled the strips off. Putty, sand, putty, sand.Then prime and paint. It took days and was a nightmare. I don't think you could make it look as smooth as dry wall. But, your idea about the tissue paper is great. It would cover the uneven spots and you could forget about that back breaking labor. Good luck. I am getting ready to do the rest of my house and would love to hear how this worked out for you. Lisa

By

gonecrazyhunting

Polly,

I was in the very same situation last year. I finally decided to try one room first by just painting the entire wall, including the strips. It worked out just fine & didn't look bad at all. I did proceed by painting 5 other rooms the same way. I'm glad I did because I don't think I was up to all the extra effort the removal of the strips, filling, sanding, etc. would have required. Good luck in your project whatever you decide to do!

Leah

By

Ariela

Thats what our mobile home has. The whole house has been painted using semi gloss paint but the strips are still there. You could probably remove them and use drywall putty then sand and repaint. That is if you have the skill. My husband doesn't have that skill. Plus over time the home settles and cracks may show where the strips were making the project all for nothing. When we paint we will leave the strips.