Wood paneling over studs

[tweetz1020]

HELP!!

My boyfriend and I purchased our first house a few months ago and there are SO many projects we need to start!! One project I'm starting is in the livingroom. For some reason, only 1 wall (exterior wall) has wood paneling and when I knock on it it sounds hollow. I cut a hole in an inconspicuous area so I could see what's going on. There are studs behind it and it is 4 inches out from the black particle board looking wall that's behind it. I'm not sure what that wall is and I don't want to rip down the wood paneling until I know what's going on with the wall (because my boyfriend would KILL me!! Haha) we have a brick house so I'm wondering if there might be exposed brick on the other side of that particle board stuff, which would be awesome!

My other issue is that the heating runs along the floor in front of the wood paneling so I don't know how to rip down the paneling while dealing with that.

This will be the first of MANY posts I'm sure, since I have a whole lot of work to do on this house!!! Thanks in advance!!!

[chandler]

Welcome to the forums! Paneled walls are very thin. But you should be seeing insulation behind the paneling. If not, it would pay to remove it all and insulate, then recover with sheetrock or other substantial wall covering. Paneling is so.......70'ish. What age is the home? You are possibly seeing an insulation board installed prior to the brick veneer on the outside. You won't have brick showing on the inside, so don't get excited.
What type heat is it, electric, hot water, etc? Most likely you will de-energize it (if it is electric) and remove the screws holding it to the wall, then remove the paneling.
Let us know more about the house so we can help further.

[marksr]

"we have a brick house so I'm wondering if there might be exposed brick on the other side of that particle board stuff, which would be awesome!"

Even if you were to expose the brick, you wouldn't like what you see - the brick isn't finished on that side, you'll mostly see a lot of sloppy mortar..... and you will want the insulation that can [should] be installed in the stud wall.

[tweetz1020]

The house was built around 1962. I believe we have gas heat that was converted from oil. We have never had to do Sheetrock before so this could get interesting!! Should I take down the black insulation board and put in regular foam insulation before we start the sheetrocking project? We also have a fireplace to work around. I'm surprised they could even use the thin paneling over the studs as the wall!! I have a feeling we are going to be in for lots of surprises with this house!!

[chandler]

Leave everything on the outside of the studs in place. Install Kraft faced R13 insulation, stapling it in place in the stud bays and install your sheetrock. All that is outside your studs is there for a purpose, so don't try an defeat it.