Remove wood cladding

Hello,

we are considering buying a bungalow built in 1968. Overall, we quite like the bungalow and especially the location is great. However, almost all ceilings are covered with wood. This results in a very low room height. Since the wood paneling no longer looks good and the rooms are very low because of it, we would like to remove it. According to the drawings and what we can see, the structure of the ceilings from bottom to top is: wood paneling - thin boards (plasterboard?) - beams with glass wool in between - wooden floor. When tapping lightly on the paneling from below or on the boards in the bathroom, it sounds hollow. We would like to remove the wood paneling and the boards above it and make the beams visible. We would then apply or have the actual thermal insulation applied on the wooden floor. However, I am not sure whether this is a good idea and what problems we might face. I would be very grateful for any answers.

Best regards! Anja

In our house, we had also covered all the ceilings with wooden planks and some walls as well. We thought it was ultra ugly, it had this nasty dark garden shed charm. Under the wooden planks on the ceiling are chipboards and above them 6x4 cm "beams" to which the boards are attached. Then directly on top of that is the mineral wool of the attic. My husband also wanted to tear down the chipboards, but I firmly opposed that. One would no longer get rid of the dust, dirt, mouse droppings, and mineral wool fibers. The floor below is inhabited, after all. The mess should all stay up there nicely. So in the end, we only tore off the planks and screwed on gypsum fiber boards instead. I have to admit, I’m a little worried that 2 layers of boards might be too heavy for the thin 6x4 beams, but maybe they can be somehow fastened to the roof beams floating 2 cm above them later. Unfortunately, you can't see much because the entire attic is crammed with piles of dismantled mineral wool.

Many thanks for the information. I had not thought about mouse droppings or the like before. Only the glass wool had concerned me. However, the attic looks quite tidy due to the wooden paneling on top of the beams. Besides, my claustrophobia is greater than the worry about the dirt that could come from above... and the floor needs to be replaced anyway. It is somewhat reassuring to me that it is obviously not an absolutely crazy idea.

Possibly there are no mice inside at all if the insulation is between two layers of panels. It's different for us, everything is open from above. But there will definitely be dust and dirt. I would definitely cover everything and ventilate properly during the work. And with old fiberglass wool always wear respiratory protection and sealed safety goggles. I wouldn't want the fibers to stick to my eyes either.