Home and Garden | Installing Wainscoting and a Chair Rail - Inside Wall

Wall and base trim is relatively common, but wall trim is less so. This makes it all the more effective when thoughtfully designed and installed properly. Each installation has its own peculiarities.

PROJECT BASICS

Project: Moderate
Estimated Project Time: 4 hours
Start Tips: Determine how high you want the wainscoting and/or chair rail to be on the wall.
Safety Tips: Use work gloves, safety goggles and a dust mask when sawing wood.
Recommendation: Do-it-Yourself

TOOLS & MATERIALS

Miter box	Chair rail
Measuring tape	Cap molding
Pencil	Base trim
Spirit level	Wainscoting or paneling
Circular saw	Work gloves
Nails	Safety goggles
Hammer

Fig. 1

INSTRUCTIONS

A chair rail
As with ceiling and base trim, lay out the chair rail with the outside corners mitered and the inside corners butted and coped (Fig. 1).

Apart from its functional value in protecting the walls, a chair rail is ideal for dividing the wall into sections that can be given separate decorative treatments. For example, you can wallpaper the lower portion of a wall, then cover the exposed top edges of the paper with a chair rail. If you also plan to add base trim after the papering, you won't have to be too precise about the bottom edges of the paper.

Fig. 2

Wainscotting
Wainscoting is generally a decorative or protective wood facing applied to the lower portion of an interior wall, though other treatments such as tile, wallpaper, or even paint can be used. Wainscoting can be as complicated as you wish to make it. There is no standard height, though the top of wainscoting is usually the same height as the chair rail, which generally is 32 to 36 inches from the floor.

A simple way to apply wainscoting is to use tongue-and-groove boards capped with molding (Fig. 2). They are available in a variety of woods, depending on regional preferences, but most often are some type of softwood. The interlocking nature of the boards makes spacing them fairly easy. An alternative to installing wainscoting of individual boards is installing plywood paneling.

Fig. 3

1) Mark the layout lines
Mark a level reference line on the wall for the top of the wainscot (Fig. 3). Measure the width of the area to determine how many pieces you'll need. You may have to rip the first and last panels to width.

Fig. 4

2) Cut the boards
Cut the wainscot boards slightly less than the distance from the floor to the reference line. This will accommodate any variations in the floor. (Fig. 4)

Fig. 6

4) Nail the boards
Nail the boards in place one by one, holding each against the layout line (Fig. 6). Periodically check the edges of the boards with a level, and straighten any that are getting out of plumb.

Installing Wainscoting and/or a Chair Rail