My wife inherited her Great Uncles house. Built late 60s. Paint flaking/peeling, some water damage (read as hole in living room ceiling) nictine stains coving walls and ceiling in all rooms. Stains from objects/pictures that have been there forever. I want to install ceiling fans in all bedrooms, living room and dining room. A friend made a suggestion or covering existing sheetrock with 3/8" sheetrock to cover and avoid endless scrubbing. I was all for the idea, today it dawned on me I don't know what kind of insulation if any is in the walls. If I am going to resheetrock anyway, why not pull down existing sheetrock run wires for ceiling fans and reinsulate? I don't have a problem sheetrocking but am NOT the best finisher in the world. Am I biting off more than I need too? Should I just rock over top?

 

I wouldn't re-rock at all, I'd use a sealing primer and just paint the walls

However, I you do hang new rock, I would go with your ideas about the insulation and wiring, keeping in mind this will be a much more expensive option, at least initially

 

Ya, cleaning up the walls and using an oil base primer would be a lot less work than hanging new drywall. If you laminate over the existing walls, besides finishing the drywall, you'd need to remove any woodwork and then modify it before it could be reinstalled.

I would inspect the exterior walls to see if they are insulated since there might not be a better time to insulate if it doesn't have any. It would aslo pay to update the electrical [if needed] at that time.

 

Also, you'd probably have to add extensions to all electrical boxes if you re-rocked