Removing wood veneer paneling and acoustic tiles

[chocolatepot]

Sorry this one didn't work out, but keep looking.

For future reference, on a room like the one pictured, if you start early in the morning, you could have the paneling and tiles down by lunchtime. What lies underneath may take a little longer to fix, though! Start with one room, get it "liveable", then move onto the next. Don't try to tear it all out at once.

Very good to know! Thanks for the advice.

[Kashka-Kat]

OK actually I can answer the question - I did take down a couple dropped ceilings on the first floor. The second floor for whatever reason had ceiling plaster in really pretty good condition, unlike the first floor

The kitchen ceiling was the worst - under furring strips there was nothing salveageable, plaster too far disintegrated.. Worse case scenario like that is you have to hire someone to demo/drywall the ceiling (ceiling only - walls generally are in better condition cos the gravity isnt pulling down the plaster so much.) Use corner tape between ceiling and walls, and then do a nice skim coat over ceiling so it looks more like real plaster instead of drywall.

I cant remember what I paid for it but it went pretty fast - he rented a lift device and the drywall was up in no time. Just get some estimates for however many ceilings you want to take down - so if you HAVE to hire someone, you are prepared for the possibility. I guess having grown up in an old house Im not quite sympathizing with this apprehension that something might be askew or in need of repair in an old house. It kinda comes with the territory. You just need to work it into your budget, along with mortgage payment and utilities and etc.

Re the panelling, you could just paint it a nicer, lighter, brighter color - using proper primer it should adhere pretty well and it can give you a cottagey plank wall kind of look. Then.... after youve been in the house for a while, start to experiment with removing some panels and just see what you find - we wont tell anyone

[Manalto]

My downstairs (1950s) bathroom was the first room I made useable. The ceiling had acoustical tiles stapled to V-groove boards. I removed the tile, pulled the staples, filled all the tiny little staple holes, sanded, primed, and painted with a gloss white oil-based paint. It now looks gorgeous. There was nothing wrong with the ceiling other than it wasn't, apparently, what the previous owners wanted to look at for some inexplicable reason - and it needed a coat of paint. I cleaned up the original 1950s ceiling fixture (combination heater and exhaust fan) and reinstalled it. It looks brand new and works perfectly.

The large upstairs bedroom had wood veneer paneling which I was able to simply pull off with my hands (as 1918 said, in just a few hours) after removing the crown molding. The original plaster behind it is perfectly fine; it will require minimal patching of the holes left by the finishing nails from the paneling, primer and a coat of paint. The drop ceiling in this room was, however, a different story. The original ceiling was badly cracked and someone had fastened doubled up 1X3 strips a foot apart to staple acoustical tile to. Rather than remove all that wood at the risk of crumbling the original plaster, I will simply attach a sheetrock ceiling to the strips.

The small office (part of the 1950s addition to a 1920 house) off my living room has some remarkably ugly veneer paneling. I was able to lift it enough to see that there is nothing behind it. It's a tiny room so I'll be able to install insulation and put up any kind of wall covering I like at minimal expense.

On the exterior, there is asbestos siding which was presumably put up at the same time as the 1950s addition, since on the new part of the house there is only tar paper behind the siding. I haven't removed this siding yet but in the course of making repairs can see that the original clapboards on the old part of the house look pretty good from what I can tell. I won't take on this project until I'm prepared for the surprise and expense of having to replace any bad siding I might encounter.

So there you have it. Anecdotal evidence that cover-ups aren't necessarily hiding terrible problems but, if they are, those can be repaired too. "Expect the worst and hope for the best" is a good policy here.

[phil]

I remember looking at one old house where thye had dropped the entire ceiling throughout the home from 9' to 8 feet.. maybe it was to run heat duckts? they also added a picture window. The home was nice but what a mess to fix.
in mine they dropped the kitchen ceiling. I took it out and regained the height. Im not sure why people do these things.

when I re-drywalled my living room ceiling I had 4x8 1/2 drywall ready to go. a buddy with lots of experience had a drywall lifter gizmo and offered to help. he convinced me to buy longer sheets to reduce the taping and filling. It was a good call and we did it together in a day. I skim coated it after until it was near perfect. I aimed for flat and smooth and that Im happy with. I removed the added non original crown molding. the rest of the house I got it up there myself with just a couple of T shaped sticks basically. lift up one end then the other then trap the sticks under there and get the first screws in. the lifting thing makes it a little easier but I wouldn't own one myself.

[Manalto]

I remember looking at one old house where thye had dropped the entire ceiling throughout the home from 9' to 8 feet... Im not sure why people do these things.

Because high ceilings are good in hot weather and low ceilings are good in cold weather, maybe they do it because heat got expensive and air conditioning became the norm?

[phil]

old houses had a heater in the basement and a grill in the floor and the heat came up the middle of the house. forced air required ducts and air returns that were nto part of the origional design. so maybe some put the ducts in that space. Perhaps int he 50's the 20 - 30 year old 1930's homes were looked upon as outdated and maybe some wanted them to look more modern, but they werent' yet loked upon as heritage at that point.

most older homes near me have steep roofs. Perhaps it was a carry over from other areas. on a steep roof the snow will slide but here, the climate was never really such that the snow load became a structural issue. part of that might be the way the cities regulate the heights, and builders strive for maximum square footage of usable living space which is regulated by building codes.
when mine was advertised I saw the listing and went to check it. the agent said they got into trouble because they boasted that it had all these bedrooms but to be a legal bedroom there are regulations on height and window size which it didn't meet. So I think they got into a a bit of trouble and had to re-write the listing. Its not that little but I think technically it is a two bedroom house. Maybe if I listed it I'd have to say it is "non conforming" or something?

most of the houses near me now use trusses, the trusses allow a big span, open concept, but they are still a waste of space because you can't use the room they occupy for any practical purpose.

what always baffled me was the fact they didnt insulate. of course they knew about insulation but it wasn't used much. Mine had none at all. I think they might have thought of that attic space as a sort of buffer zone. I'm not clear if it was accessible. i did notice that the lath and plaster ran between the staircase to the attic and the wall. the staircase is steep. I think it was fitted but it looks well made , it's fir and professionally done.
I took that to mean the stairs to the attic were added later because how else would the plaster get there? the attic has two bedroom windows on one end and a little window on the other end. maybe the window was resized up there. The sills and casings seemed 1930's so I figured that during the depression or after making babies the owners did some renos to make the attic usable.
nowadays you wont find these attics unused in the city. I think every one was inhabited and the builders of the 40's or 50's were probably often opening them up for the owners. my basement is short by code but it could conceivably have 4 bedrooms for kids and the attic could be two bedrooms although one is a weird U shape and hardly practical, the other is quite large. If I want a basement rental suite they city would not like it and lifting or digging is expensive. I'm leaving it as is. the next owner can worry about maximizing it's full potential, hopefully not by knocking it down.