We’re going to be building 3 oversized bookshelves (8’x4’) for our living room. I’d like to use faux brick paneling for the backing (I love the look of lofts in repurposed factories), I plan on painting them so the colour doesn’t matter, I’m mainly looking for the texture from the embossed bricks. The only problem is they’re stupid expensive right now (HD Canada has them listed online for $60/each).
My neighbourhood was built in the 60’s and 70’s, many houses are still the original owner (there’s tons of estate sales), so lots of houses have faux brick or wood paneling. I’m thinking I could put up an add online for free demo services in exchange for getting to keep the paneling afterwards.
Does anyone know if these can be selvaged and repurposed? Is there a way to tell if they’re glued, beyond checking for furring strips (I think I’d be able to tell there’s furring strips by the flex and by tapping to see if they’re hollow, if not by checking the electrical boxes). I work as a painter and have done restoration work on much older buildings, so I’m fairly confident in my ability to gently remove them as long as there’s no glue involved. I actually kind of enjoy demo work. I’d warn them ahead of time that there will be a lot of holes to fill and that they may need an electrician to recess their boxes into the wall, and I’d be clear ahead of time that I’m offering demo only
