Asked on Dec 28, 2016

I'm looking for paint advice for the wall board in my bathroom.

Amy
by Amy
Hello. In my bathroom I was told that a wall was covered in Wall Board...Is there really such a thing? It is hideous. A coat of white paint over it would work wonders in there! Can I paint over it? What is the best paint?
  27 answers
  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Dec 28, 2016

    First you need to clean any grime,allow to dry,prime with a good primer with a moisture barrier,allow to dry and use a paint for bathrooms.

  • William William on Dec 28, 2016

    Exactly! Like Janet says! Wash, prime, and paint. Wall Board is another name for Drywall. But it is a misnomer. It can be applied to any hard wall covering. Just depend s what part of the country you live in.

  • Debi53 Debi53 on Dec 28, 2016

    Some "wall board" has a very slick finish. If this is the case with yours, follow Janet & William's advice, but also use a liquid sandpaper before priming. This helps to make the surface tacky so that the primer has something to grab onto.

  • Liz Liz on Dec 28, 2016

    Google in "Best Primers & Paints for Bathrooms", & read the reviews. Then, wash, prime and paint like the others suggested. You're right, white paint would brighten things up! Good luck!

  • Leah M Leah M on Dec 29, 2016

    Cute cat, looks like our Booboo.

  • Kelli Kelli on Dec 29, 2016

    My wallboard also has seams which are tricky to completely hide when painting. I've seen several of my neighbors attempts to paint, and the seam always shows unless its textured first.

  • Adi7967427 Adi7967427 on Dec 29, 2016

    Is that wallpaper you want to paint over? If it is wallpaper, save yourself some headaches later on and remove the wallpaper before you prime and paint.

  • Cheryl A Cheryl A on Dec 29, 2016

    TSP is sold at Home Depot and Lowes it is great for cleaning walls before painting, etc. then apply Kilz for the primer and then paint. have seen this done even in a mobile home where it was that plastic fake walls and it looked great.

  • Pallet Man Pallet Man on Dec 30, 2016

    Some times, wallboard is a melamine coated hardboard. This may be glued to the sheet rock / dry wall. The picture looks like it may be wallpaper over a melamine board based on the type of edge trim used. Think of it as a splash guard around the toilet. It it is carefully pealed away from the sheet rock, the glue damage can be scraped off and patched with spackle then primed and painted.

  • Merri Peplinski Merri Peplinski on Dec 30, 2016

    I agree with Cheryl. I did the same to a friend's mobile home. Prime with Kilz or Binz and painted right over. Can't tell at all. Did all the rooms that way.

  • Chris Chris on Dec 30, 2016

    Repaper the wall with something like Martha Stewart's Beadboard paintable wall covering. Make sure you use drywall compound to fill the seams in the wallboard first for a smooth finish. Paint the wallpaper with bathroom suitable paint. Add a simple crown on the ceiling to finish off the look If you want. You could really use any wallpaper for this, so check out the options at your local big box stores or online.

  • Melissa Parish Melissa Parish on Dec 30, 2016

    Yes, prime it and paint it. That's what I did and it turned out fabulous.

  • Gina Bellini Mccrudden Gina Bellini Mccrudden on Dec 30, 2016

    Yes, you can paint anything these day!!! Bin Zinsser (not sure I spelled it correctly) is the best primer on the market. You may need two coats but once that is dry you can paint it any color you like. If you get really good quality paint you can do an eggshell finish even though it is a bathroom. The duller the finish the more "sins" of the wall will be masked. The shinier the sheen the more you will see any flaws or imperfections on the wall. Hope it works for you and good luck :)

  • Shawna Truman Shawna Truman on Dec 30, 2016

    Yes prime the wall with a good wall primer like zinser. Do not use oil base primer. Then paint the whole bathroom a light color to make the room feel bigger and more uniform. Wall board is a cheap way to cover the wall. It comes in lots of patterns like bead board paneling which is a great look for bathrooms. Another option would be to replace it with that kind of wall board you can find in any Lowes or Menards already primed white so you could just leave it and paint the rest of the bathroom to match that white. Sweet kitty cat there too!  Good luck!

    • Amy Amy on Jan 10, 2017

      THanks! Her name is Willie Mae and she is a MESS!

  • Susan Susan on Dec 30, 2016

    I would remove trim put up a new piece of dry wall covering whole wall ready for prime and paint. Or you can use bead board for whole wall or just bottom half and prime and paint. There are very good all in one prime and paints. I've done both of these tricks not as hard as it sounds easier then repairing drywall from removing glued on stuff including painted wall paper(and you don't want to know what I was saying)

  • Mary Mary on Dec 30, 2016
    Is your wall board, a vinyl covering over some sort of press board? Your picture looks similar to what I had in my kitchen, and it was a thin vinyl covering with the design printed on it. I did paint mine...painted it white and it took several coats to cover it. It made a world of difference painting it! If it is a vinyl covered material, go ahead and paint it. This type of vinyl covering over press board usually comes in sheets 4 ft wide by 8 ft high. If you can see that more than 1 piece was used, then caulk the seams, let it dry, then paint over it. Good luck!
  • Cathy Cathy on Dec 31, 2016

    I used Valspar paint and primer in one---had wall board in my living room---you can still see the pattern but it looks so nice in a color---mine was white with a pattern on it and it was stained and nothing would clean it---I painted mine a peachy taupe and really like how it looks---and I only needed one coat.

  • Angie Marquis Angie Marquis on Dec 31, 2016

    Years ago we bought a home with one wall in the living room done in the mentioned wall board, yuck, so ugly. Since I couldn't make it worse..........I bought a big bucket of spackling compound (used for finishing sheetrock), and applied it with a trowel and a small metal cake decoration spatula. I do remember we roughted the surface of the wallboard with rough sand paper and then just had a ball slaping the mud on. I went for the rough texture, after it dried a few days. We came back and painted it two coats of wall paint. It really turned out beautiful.

    Give it a try.

  • Linda Linda on Jan 01, 2017

    This looks like it's in a manufactured home. I live in one too and hated some of my walls. I had wallpaper onto of the wall board so that meant two layers. In my experience I found out you can't remove wallpaper off the wallboard and have it look go. First thing clead you wallpaper

    • Amy Amy on Jan 10, 2017

      It is in a very old house - I've been hating that board since we moved in!!

  • Grace Grace on Jan 01, 2017

    I have much the same problem in my bathroom. I am planning on priming and painting - because it is butt ugly!

  • Darla Darla on Jan 01, 2017

    Why paint....do what everyone else is doing.....shiplap. Whitewash some old pallet blanks and nail away.

  • Charlette Vroman-Smith Charlette Vroman-Smith on Jan 02, 2017

    I think mirror tiles would look nice and make the room look larger, plus they are so much easier to clean then painted walls

  • Rosie Nechie Rosie Nechie on Jan 03, 2017

    just be very careful to ensure it is not asbestos containing material. In Australia we used a product called Tilux, it was used around baths, showered and splash backs, it was a fabulous product used in place of tiles. However as you may be aware asbestos fibres can be deadly, its the fibres you can't see. So please be careful and check before sanding cutting, removing etc.

    • Senior Chief Senior Chief on Jan 05, 2017

      Excellent advice for any product you're not sure about, including old paint!


  • Audrie Sumner Audrie Sumner on Jan 03, 2017

    I have a double wide paneled in plastic coated wallboard. I hated it.I removed the strips covering the joints and spackled them,sanded them. Then I painted with high quality Behr paint from Home Depot. The one with its own primer IN the paint. It stuck well to the walls and coverage was excellent.Now the walls look like regular sheet-rocked walls. That's the best paint I've ever seen! Lasted 7 years so far.


  • Lori Lori on Jan 04, 2017

    I would put bead board over it .it's a small space it would a cheap fix...measure and I'm sure they would cut it for you at the store

  • Rosie Nechie Rosie Nechie on Jan 07, 2017

    Asbestos was used in over 2thousand products, from brake pads to fake snow, to building products, the Chinese have been putting asbestos in crayons and probably still are

  • Libbie B Libbie B on Jun 30, 2021

    Clean with TSP and then use a quality primer and paint.