Painting - painting over spider web cracking

We want to paint our dining room for the first time since we've lived here. The old owners painted everything with a white gloss paint and closed up the house - that resulted in spider web looking cracks in the paint on the walls. We have a lot of allergies and I would like to not have to sand the walls too much. Here are my questions -
1) I know I need to prime the walls but before I do I need to get the wall ready to accept the primer. I've been told that this is usually done by lightly sanding the wall. Is there another way to get the wall ready other than sanding?

2) Do I need to fill in the very small (in size) cracking that covers the walls or will the paint fill it in? If I have to fill it in, what would I use?

3) If I want to paint over paneling can I fill in the seams with spackle or what should I use?

Thank you.

Welcome to the forums!

#1 - sanding is always best but normally just a quick scuff sanding is all that's needed = little or no dust.

#2 - Paint will not fill the cracks. They need to be filled with spackling or joint compound. I'd use j/c, applied thin - just enough to fill the cracks. Any excess can be removed using a wet sponge once the j/c has dried = no sanding dust :cool:

#3 - paneling also should be lightly sanded first and a solvent based primer should be used to insure a good bond to the wood's finish..... or you could use a deglosser but the fumes may be worse than the small amount of sanding dust. Latex is fine for the top coats. IMO it is better to leave the grooves and seams as is. A poorly filled groove looks worse than a painted one. The seams every 4' a prone to crack if filled with j/c or spackling. I'd apply a thin bead of caulk to the seam after priming and before the 1st coat of paint.