Old house interior - Help with Gyprock and wooden wall boards

[prometheus888]

I've been looking at a few older houses to renovate recently and found a lot of them have these wooden boards instead of gyprock. Lets say I hated that look and wanted to replace them with actual gyprock, is it as easy as just ripping them off the wall and replacing it with seomthing else?

Another thing thats bugging me is the wooden strip on wall of these old houses. What function do they serve? Is it just to hold the two piece gyprock together or something far more important? If I wanted to, could I just rip off these wooden strips and plaster over it to give it a smooth surface?

One last thing - the old style fancy cornice (is that what it's called??) Are they easily removed and replaced with the more modern clean looking ones?

Thanks
James

 

[DaveM]

Wood panelling was a 70's and 80's fad, often you will find plaster behind.

What wooden strip do you mean? Theres a few types, some at half height on walls and ceilings are to hide joins in plaster sheeting (the old horse hair or fibre backed type most likely) due to no fancy tapes back then. Ones up high are typically picture rails.

As for removing ornate cornice... if it adds character why remove it?

 

[prometheus888]

the thin strip of wood that pretty much runs along the entire house about 3/4 way up the wall. I assumed it's just the way they join boards together back in the days.

 

[Darwinite]

These are picture rails, they are nice features in heritage homes. If you don't have to get rid of them I wouldn't. Also the timber dado boards look nice painted white and also protect the walls.

 

[DaveM]

the thin strip of wood that pretty much runs along the entire house about 3/4 way up the wall. I assumed it's just the way they join boards together back in the days.

Sounds like a picture rail to me

 

[wobbycarly]

What age is the house? Sounds like you might have some character features that you may be better off emphasising than removing.

 

[willair]

If I wanted to, could I just rip off these wooden strips and plaster over it to give it a smooth surface?

One last thing - the old style fancy cornice (is that what it's called??) Are they easily removed and replaced with the more modern clean looking ones?

Thanks
James

Very easy to take those off,most of those are silky-oak or cedar,but you may destroy the whole style of the house,the other very important item is with the old style cornice it adds the period class too the building,plus you will find asbestos in the mix somewhere,so that can bump up the refit costs in several ways..imho..