I just bought a house, it was built in 1954. They didn’t use sheetrock & plaster, but instead used masonite.
All the trim has been painted over a million times, and I want to put in all new trim.
However, all internal & external corner seams use trim to hide the seams in the masonite.
I’d like to only install trim on the floors & ceilings, and tape & mud all the vertical corner seams.
Can I use drywall mud & tape on masonite, or will that just bubble & ruin the hardboard?
Pulling out all the masonite and putting up drywall is not an option.
Replies
You want to do it right? Or do it over in a few years?
The 'quick and easy" approach is to use a belt sander to scuff the sheen off the masonite, seal it with shellac / kilz (have LOTS of ventilation and NO smoking!), than civer it all, including seams, with a skim coat of mud. Corners get the usual drywall bead, covered with mud. Plan on texturing the wall, as it's nearly impossible to get a satisfactory 'smooth' surface.
This contrasts to the 'right' way of removing the masonite alltogether, or building a new wall from scratch, atop the old wall. If you choose the latter, have fun relocating the electrical.
It looks like it has already been painted many times...
Will the Kilz lift off that paint?
In the corners just mud, or do I use corner tape?
Where you need the kilz is where you use the belt sander to get down to the raw.Otherwise, finish just like sheetrock.
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The purpose of the shellac, or kilz, is to keep water from the paint soaking into the masonite and making it swell. If the panelling already has plenty of paint on it, you can skip this step.
I'd use tape on the inside corners, to keep the plaster / joint compound from cracking.
"This contrasts to the 'right' way of removing the masonite alltogether, or building a new wall from scratch, atop the old wall. If you choose the latter, have fun relocating the electrical."
Why do you feel that he have to build a new wall from scratch? 3/8' or 1/2" drywall over the masonite would make the electrical relatively easy using the simple box extensions you can get. I would think the masonite would make a good base for the drywall as long as it is still relatively flat.
To the origonal poster: If it were me, I would just drywall over it. As someone said (Piffin?), it will be difficult to get a good finish without skim coating the entire wall.
I was actually thinking more in terms of a "Mooney" wall. There's the question of insulation, and the difficulty of finding studs behind the panelling when you're hanging the drywall. I am not impressed by the ability of masonite, especially older masonite, to hold screws.
Hmm, I get the feeling maybe I don't have masonite?When I pull a piece of trim off, the original surface is brown. The material is 1/2in thick, and it's quite fibrous. There is no sheen or photo finish to the original material. It's a thick piece of fiber/hardboard. And holes where nails are for hanging wall items look like that of holes in cardboard, you get that vulcano effect of paper fibers sticking up out around the perimeter of the hole.The home inspector called it masonite, so that's what I was assuming it is. The more I hear ppl responding to my issue, the more I'm thinking you guys are talking about something else?
Oh, and the current walls are very flat, no major defects really.
It does not sound like Masonite at all. Perhaps some form of fiber board or sound board, I really can't say - I've never seen anything like that used indoors.
well i'm going to take the easy way out ,if your inside corners have less than 1/4 gap,grap some acrylic caulk,not silicone. caulk your corners and paint.outside ,tape them with metal corners.
if you want to do it right and work hard ,it's time to sheetrock.
the older i get ,
the more people tick me off
Edited 11/11/2009 8:22 pm by alwaysoverbudget
Maybe I have Homasote and not Masonite?
That's probably what it is. I'd just try using some joint compound in the corner, and see how it works.
if you have homasote? and you want to put up new trim ,it's time to go get a load of 3/8 sheetrock. nail it right over it and finish. alot of work but the increase in selling someday will be worth it.
be sure to use elec . box extenders on all your boxes.the older i get ,
the more people tick me off
A lot depends on the type of hardboard you have there. If it's tempered (and most sold under the Masonite brand was, I believe) then it's fairly impervious to water. If it's not tempered (or only lightly tempered) then water will soak in fairly easily and may cause it to bubble and swell. OTOH, if it's tempered it may be hard to get DW mud to stick to it.