Fill holes in wood panel

[RealRookie]

Hello
I have a living room on the upper floor where the walls are mostly covered with white-painted wooden paneling. Unfortunately, I inherited the house from stingy people, so the paneling is of the worst kind. There are holes from knots of various sizes. Not just a few, but quite a lot. Now I need tips on how to fill these holes when I repaint. Since in most places there are holes straight through the paneling, I won't get far with regular filler. I've tried filling with foam rubber + filler but the foam rubber "crept out" after a while. I hope someone has a good tip.
/Lena

 

[Tiger79]

I had used wood filler in several rounds...

 

[Nimajneb]

I had considered tearing down

 

[bigsnucke]

Plastic Padding

 

[Kurtivan]

Painter's caulk

 

[byggare henke]

painter's caulk?
plastic padding or wood filler.
wash everything first and then let it dry.

 

[Ola78]

I agree with Nimajneb, tearing it down saves time in the long run and then it will be much better. Had the same dilemma in our house in one place and first tried with plaster but thought it was difficult to get a satisfactory result so I tore it down instead. Didn't take long to do it properly.

 

[RealRookie]

Thanks for the responses. Tearing down is not an option. It's too expensive since I have to hire craftsmen. How does it work to apply plastic padding? Does it create a hard surface? I've tried using wood filler and it sinks over time and feels like a never-ending job. /Lena

 

[BiFuel]

We filled the holes in our wooden floor before sanding with some kind of linseed putty... it became rock hard and almost the same color as the wood.

Edit: It was Duri Linoljespackel.

 

[bigsnucke]

Thank you for the responses. Tearing down is not an option. It would be too expensive since I have to hire craftsmen. How does it work to apply plastic padding? Does it create a hard surface? I've tried using carpenter's filler and it sinks in over time and feels like a never-ending job. /Lena

It becomes rock hard... Make sure not to apply "too much" as it's not fun to sand off in large quantities. It may require an extra coat of paint as the repaired parts can sometimes show through.

 

[Nimajneb]

Thanks for the answers. Tearing down is not an option. It will be too expensive since I have to hire craftsmen. How does it work to use plastic padding? Does it create a hard surface? I have tried using wood filler and it sinks in over time and feels like an endless job.
/Lena

Why not try it yourself...
Installing interior paneling is like building with Lego, and a carpenter can probably do 2-3 meters of wall per hour.
Paneling costs from 100kr/m2 and up (quality and waste dependent)

Alternatively, you could wallpaper instead of paneling