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Repair, replacement and what to do when it is vinyl coated

In almost all cases, the opportunity and problems of drywall are the same for mobile homes as for site built houses. However, in a mobile home, the weight is a concern. If you are replacing wood paneling with sheetrock, you are adding a lot of weight for which the home was not designed. In that situation I would suggest you consider wainscotting or some other lighter weight wall treatment and limit the sheetrock to the top half or 2/3's of the wall.

I get many questions about how to paint or repair the vinyl covered sheetrock used in newer homes. The vinyl causes problems when trying to paint and repair is nearly impossible because you will not be able to find matching material. Because of this, be very cautious about putting holes in the wall. See the page on vinyl covered panels for more information. Patching is probably not an option, unless you are covering the entire wall.

The old answer for how to paint these walls involves washing with TSP, priming and painting. There are now newer treatments available to make this process much more effective. There is even the option of applying textures to vinyl covered drywall. It may be easier to just replace the drywall on the entire wall. An experienced drywall installer can pull down the old panels and replace them with new very quickly. If you are planning to pay someone to do the job, I would suggest talking to a drywall installer first. You may be able to get some very nice work for about the same cost.

I recently found a guy who has worked out a procedure to texture coat these vinyl covered panels. He even does bull nosed corners. I am working on pages and pictures to describe the process in detail.