Two things:
1. Blown-in insulation is done usually from the outside, so you don't need to remove the board for that--if it has settled, they just blow in more.
2. With proper finishing, there is no reason you can't use the beadboard on the wall behind the tub--I have it on all four walls of my bath, and have had no problems after about ten years.
Pictures of the set up would be nice.

centermatch or beadboard?

Well, you can feast your eyes on my attic; I'm thinking you might be facing something similar. I stared at these boards, which were/are painted dirty white, for nearly 20 years before I figured out what to do. Or rather, how to decide what to do.

I have two rooms upstairs. One is done in narrow boards with tons of end-to-end joints hanging in the middle of nowhere, and it's bumpy and uneven and ugly as sin. There was nothing for it but to cover it up, which I've done with panelling on one wall, and in another part of the room with wallpaper. I've also started panelling the ceiling with 1/8" maple plywood but don't have a photo of that yet. My husband is not a fan of the wallpapered part, but it works for me. I plastered (oh yes I did) all the cracks, smoothed the wall as much as I could, and papered over it. Half the room so far. For the rest, I've discovered an underpaper that may spare me the plastering. First two photos here of the original look and the panelling. Pardon the mess; after 20 years there are no empty rooms, and the house is so messy I have trouble getting presentable photos!

The other room, shown in the third photo, had wider boards, not so many joints, and was installed better, flatter. That, I decided I could paint. It is shown here partly done (and with only one coat on one wall); again, pardon the stuff. Yes, this is how I work my way around the room. I am nearly done the room now, and really liking it painted, much better than I expected. I REALLY hated it when it was white with the dark floor. Am also doing a hallway, in a creamsicle orange colour, and that is looking pretty good too.

So one question is, is the installation of your boards nice enough to paint? I have to admit I don't recommend the papering (sounds like that's been tried!). I used a satin finish paint; the old paint was flat, and yuck. If the boards are just bad, then consider removal or covering with panelling. Or with gyproc.

An unexpected pain in these rooms is the corners. How do the walls meet? Mine have huge uneven gaps and need corner moulding. It used to have a quarter round, which I hated and have replaced with a square 1x1.

I also had holes that were cut in - to get into to the attic shoulder walls - and have had to devise covers for these.

Another question you might want to consider is fire safety. It should be noted that gyproc will give you a bit more time than wood, I think. Ours is a small simple house and egress is comparatively straightforward. If yours is more complicated, and if grandkids are involved, you might want a better fire-rated wall material, and that would argue for removal and gyproc.

I am not a fan of multiple layers on walls - had trouble even doing the 1/8 inch ply. Maybe we just have so little space I hate to lose even an inch, plus there is spacing out the moulding, and it's messy to get through. So if you are going to do drywall, I would tend toward removal of the beadboard. You could preserve it and use it instead as wainscot, perhaps. Or as fencing. Or as moulding. Or give it away. But wow, unpainted old beadboard? I bet it's nice wood if you refinish it, but I'm not sure I'd feel obligated to keep it on the walls as it is, holes and all.

Wood can actually be used around a tub; it's more resilient with water than you'd think.

Karin L

Sorry for the late replies! I thought I would get an email if anyone replied but I didn't!

I will take pictures and post them tomorrow. First, of course I meant splashing not slashing!

It wasn't painted, stained or varnished. It would appear that they wallpapered over it, shortly after installing it. I read that beadboard was so cheap back then, that they put it on, then covered it right up, just like we would with drywall/sheetrock. I think it is pine.

Also we would replace the blown in insulation with batt insulation. They had drilled holes in the old siding to blow in the insulation but then put steel siding on the house and I'm not about to pull it down (even though I'd love to have just the old lap siding, not ready for that can of worms).

Thank you for the pictures! I read that in the south, they often put it on horizonally. I'm not sure how the corners join, I'd bet just like yours, but the boards do appear to be long and not meet in the middle of nowhere. We haven't tore out the rest of the walls in the bathroom, I got sick right after I posted this so haven't done a thing since then. I wondered what kind of trim would look good or "natural" in the corners and along the floor.

It is regular old beadboard, about 4 inches wide, tongue and groove, with a "bead" on the top and middle of each board. A little more decorative than the boards shown above. Some appear to be in bad shape where they had cut out sections, as described above but I have enough salvaged to cover it, I think.

I did clean and paint the small section we uncovered behind the sink. While I like it, it scares me to think of the whole bathroom like that but at the same time, I want do it!!! I guess the worse thing that could happen, would be that I want to cover it back up and put new sheetrock up, after I've torn the existing sheetrock off. That isn't expensive, just seems a waste.

I'll post pics as soon as I tear more of the tiles and sheetrock down.

Here's the trick with reusing old materials. Wherever you aren't keeping it, remove it carefully and use it to patch damaged places where you want to keep it.

If you have to blend old and new materials, the most important thing is the width of the boards. People will pick up on that if they don't match real fast. And put the new stuff in the out of the way places like hallways.

The classic corner is just butt jointed. One wall goes in, both ends snug to the wall, then the next one butted up against it.

When we bought this 1700 s farmhouse alot of things were bad but we liked them,so we hired 2 guys that do restoring,they can match anything,flooring even hinges etc.

We did this, but our beadboard was covered with lathe and plaster--talk about a mess! Ugh... We ended up having to replace some of our unusable original materials with new and once it was all painted out, it really wasn't THAT noticeable. Width IS the most important thing. Here's a picture of ours all cleaned up and painted...

The only thing that we used at the floor was 1" quarter-round and in the corners we did use some cove molding because they had separated a bit, and crown for the same reason.

When we bought this house there was alot of beadboard,we had to replace some that was damaged,We found 2 guys just does restoring great work,they made new to match,matches great.

If you go to a real lumberyard rather than a huge box store, you will be able to find genuine t&g beadboard--I bought some for a project, and although not aged with the patina of that in my basement, it is the same stuff.

By the way, Vivian, that's gorgeous. The surface looks great and I love the colours.

Karin L

I guess it depends what you want we wanted it all to match,so we had it made to match.

Here is a blog about a couple who have done some nice restoration of their original walls. I'm not sure if you'd call it beadboard or just horizontal flat boards, but I think it looks very nice. It's funny, some of their walls have imperfections a la KarinL's "bad" room (Hi Karin, love the pictures, and I agree, those butt joints are pretty crazy, especially for a talented woodworker like you. If I knew what you do, I'd be outraged by a job like that. Guess they put the new guy on that room :-)). Anyway, in the lettered cottage dining room, like Karin, they hit their limit and covered the original ceiling with a new T&G interpretation. Not necessarily recommending, but in that room, you can see how the new ceiling looks with the old walls.

Even the background on the blog's home page is the horizontal-style boarded walls, so I thought this blog would be perfect for you. I think they have a lovely house, and maybe seeing the before and afters will help you persevere.

Here is a link that might be useful: The lettered cottage before and after