Warm up a room with easy-to-install tongue-and-groove wainscoting topped by chair-rail molding. Beverly DeJulio, host of HGTV's Homewise, gives tips for installing snap-together tongue-and-groove panels that give the wall an almost seamless appearance. Leave the paneling natural, or paint or stain it to fit your decor. Materials:
Wainscoting planks
Circular saw
Construction adhesive
Level
Hammer
Nails
Jigsaw
Sandpaper
Chair-rail molding
Stain or paint
- Use a circular saw to cut the planks to the desired height for the wainscoting. Tongue-and-groove planks come in 8' lengths. For greater economy, Beverly designed her wainscoting to be 32" high so she could get three planks from each 8' length. Make the wainscoting any height you like. It covers the lower half to third of a wall.
- After cutting the boards, store them for several hours or overnight in the room where they'll be installed so they can adjust to the environment.
- Remove the baseboard molding.
- Apply construction adhesive to the back of two or three planks at a time (figure A), and set them in place with the tongue on the left and the groove on the right. Shove the tongue of the second plank into the groove of the first, starting at the top (figure B), and walk it down, then press into place. Install two or three planks at a time, then use a level to make sure they're plumb (figure C).
- Nail every fourth or fifth board in place to secure them while they dry. The nails will be covered by the chair rail molding along the top edge and the baseboard molding along the bottom.
- If an entire plank doesn't fit at the end of the wall, measure the space (figure D), and use a jigsaw to cut a narrow plank. Sand lightly before installing.
- When the paneling is in place, replace the baseboard molding, and add chair-rail molding along the top edge of the wainscoting.
- Stain or paint the wainscoting as desired.
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