Faux or real? We did this for a clean simple upgrade...

This was about 40" from the floor...

 

Faux or real? We did this for a clean simple upgrade...

This was about 40" from the floor...

I did that before.
I hated having to paint it

 

Real. Don't want raised panel. I think I prefer recessed. No bead board either.....I think. :laughing:

 

This is a 38" wainscoting height . 1x4 tops and rails with 1x10 bases . Plywood in between with base caps around frame .

 

More like a 3/4 flat panel with the trim around the inside to make the wall appear set back from the panel? I like that look!

 

 

Yeah like skillman's picture! Nice!

 

Wainscoting is usually at chair rail height which can vary. 4' is also common. I am not aware of any ratios to establish height.

Judges Paneling is usually at door height to ceiling height.

Raised/recessed was/is usually a period or personal preference.

Since you are not replicating an original do what ever style & height suits your particular taste for that room.

 

Built the frames with pocket screws . Then apply it to wall .

 

I like these.....

I just don't want it to look like it doesn't belong.

 

Make a small mock up of what you like and bring it in to your space . Helps a lot seeing it in 3-d for wife or clients . Use your mind and have at It you can't go wrong wainscoting its a canvass for your mind .

 

Tack some 1x1 strips to the wall at various dimensions to give you a good visual of what will be....

 

Your ceiling height should play a part in your decision.

 

I'll put a couple things together here. How high does depend on ceiling height and whether there is crown for best visual effect. You can get a preliminary height by dividing floor to bottom of crown height by 2.6, then use Griz' suggestion of using strips to work out exact height and panel dimensions. Square panels almost never look good. If you don't want to use up a bunch of material, you can use painter's tape, or drywall rips. In fact, you can do almost the whole thing using drywall rips if it gets painted - not that I'm suggesting you do that in your house. Even better, if you have even a basic cad or drawing program, you can just play around on that and see what you get.

Especially in hallways, there's a big visual impact just from the difference in color between the wall above the wainscoting and the wainscoting. When you think you have the right height, I'd suggest you just paint that lower part of the wall to check and see if it's going to close in visually. Sometimes it turns it into a dark hole with dark stained wood.

Edit: If you have builder paper lying around, you can throw some of that up to see what it's like with a medium brown. Don't underestimate the impact your stile / rail widths will have on the final look. They usually shouldn't be the same width. In common dimensions, something like 4" top, 6" bottom, 3" side may be a good starting point, but it's really up to your space and your taste.

FWIW, I like the inset panel look posted earlier.

 

I would read the article "Misunderstood chairrail" on Thisiscarpentry.com first.

Shoot for golden rectangles on your panels sizes.

 

Really, this is all classical based - that's one (not all that common) style, and he may want a different style in his house. Most likely classical will feel completely wrong, JMHO. Even in many old houses, following the classical rules would look out of place. To me, the biggest decision about the panels is whether to emphasize horizontals or verticals - just avoid square panels and 2square panels unless you're going modern geometric (which I don't like).

 

Capt,

Sounds like you're leaning towards a craftsman style. Is that right?

In that style a taller paneling was common. Maybe around 5'or a little more. And yes more than one panel high. Sometimes a plate rail supported by corbels. Probably way too much for your simple home.

You can do a shaker style set at chair rail height (whatever that is). For that keep the panels taller than they are wide. For that style leaning towards the golden ratio is good advice.


Are you wanting traditional? Is that what east coast means? Like colonial?

If so, everything I've seen above is too tall as far as I'm concerned.

Paint or stain?

Give me more info and ill try to help.

Bob

 

My father is a big fan of arts and crafts homes and being a frugal Scot.
He took an old paneled door, turned it sideways, capped it with a piece of 1x4 with a profile beaded into the front edge. Add a piece of cove under that and you're done.

Not suggesting you do that, but in case you wish to have a paneled wall and not spend more than like 20 dollars, that's your method. hah

 

The white panels are MDF and wood trim applied to the wall, then painted. 10' ceilings, they're about 58" tall. The oak one is solid oak raised panels built to match the cabinet doors. 8' ceilings, about 42" tall.

Tom

 

For those that don't know I am a wanna be east coast carpenter trapped here in Arizona. I would like to start adding cool trim features to my P.O.S. home while we are finishing our addition (going on for almost 4 years).

I would like to add some wainscoting down the hallway and dinning room. So I have some questions for you guys.

Is there a rule on how tall to go? I have seen in photos some 4' some 6' some to the top of door trim and some go to the ceiling. Are there some deciding factors for this?

Plywood, MDF, or 1x stock?? I want it painted so I am thinking poplar or birch if no MDF?

Are there deciding factors for how many panels to divide it into? In half? 80% bottom 20% top?

My house is a boring rectangle ranch with the exception of the addition out the back. Slowly I would like to turn it into something more eastern.

Thanks CT folks!

Make sure your elec outlets are centered or placed somewhere they will look ok. Or maybe even moved to the base board.

 

Thanks for all the tips guys.

I do think craftsman is the look I might be going for. All painted. Being that it is a plain Jane ranch now, I feel that very involved trim will be too much. Flat surfaces with square edges with not much fluting will look best.

This is all in due time so I do have a little while to think about all this. Not to mention convincing the wife. :laughing:

 

Remove drywall to desired height. Replace with 1/2" MDF. Use applied 3/4" stiles and rails. Done.

I would also move the outlets to the lower rail/baseboard. As far as layout...pretty much what they said above.

 

This is the easiest and most time fastest, while the wall is open outlets can be moved sideways away from stiles or into stiles. Rarely enough wire slack to move down to baseboard. HVAC registers are another problem for location.

Door and window casings are another issue, adding 3/4" to the walls will make the casings set back. Most of the time a deeper casing is used or a backband in added to existing.

Some people don't like the 3/4" set back on the panel, they believe 1/2" looks better. Then plane stiles and rails or glue 1/4" mdf to the existing drywall for the panels and rabbet the stiles and rails.

90% of wainscot I have seen is painted white or off white, even gray, the rest is cherry or mahogany, never oak except in cheap mcmansions.

Use the free version of sketchup to draw the layout, as someone said before odd is better than even.

 

You have to be careful about moving the outlets. The ADA says the outlets MUST be no less than 15" above finished floor. Your state rules may be stricter, I got dinged on outlet heights because the state rule was 18" minimum.

Section 308;

http://www.ada.gov/regs2010/2010ADAStandards/2010ADAstandards.htm

Tom

 

Measure all your walls an divde them up so the panels are close in width. Odd numbers of panels usually look better than even.
Mark it out with blue tape, so you don't have a bunch of pencil lines on the walls.

 

I think others have suggested similar methods to what I used in my house.

This is a basic 3/4" face frame applied over the drywall. The molding for the panel edges is a small wainscot cap with a 1/2" step down. The flat panel is 1/4" MDF. The cap at the top is a large wainscot cap for the full 3/4" step down to drywall.

In my next life, when I remodel again I will go with a taller base and put the outlets in the base. I have time to work out those details though.

You can't beat the power of a mock up. Pop something together and bring it in the room to look at it. Make few adjustments and look at again. Very helpful for things you have a hard time pulling the trigger on.

 

If you are looking for standard, forgetaboutit. There is no standard. When someone says wainscoting to me I think of 32"-36" tall with some kind of panel structure. Of course there is beadboard if you are into that look. It's inexpensive to do and usually not that labor intensive.

You can go with what I call cheater wainscot. You take a chair rail and put it on the wall and then you make boxes by mitering some molding and put it up as panels.

Then you can go with a recessed wainscot. This is another easy way to go. You just take some 1x stock and use a larger rail at the floor than at the chair rail height. Then use more 1x stock to divide it up into panels. Put some kind of a cap on the top rail and usually a small molding under the cap rail.

Then you start getting into real wainscot. This is frame and panel. You need some machinery to produce these. Simplest is recessed panel. You make it similar to the recessed wainscot except there is a real panel instead of using the wall as a panel. You need to make it tongue and groove (cope and stick) for the stiles and rails and then the panel fits inside the groove. You make these as wall units and install them as whole pcs.

Then if you want to get fancier...if you have cope and stick router bits or shaper cutters you can make the styles and rails with a thumbnail bead. You can use a multitude of panel configurations. Panels can be beveled, coved. beveled with a bead, or an ogee style bevel, the sky is the limit if you have or can get the panel cutters.

If the wainscot goes taller than 40" it is usually designed with two panels. A larger on the bottom and a smaller on the top. But it's not set in stone.

 

If the wainscot goes taller than 40" it is usually designed with two panels. A larger on the bottom and a smaller on the top. But it's not set in stone.

I really like this but would want a taller base detail.

 

I'd skip the pink paint too.