DIY: Wainscoting
Country Fox has been quiet the last couple weeks. That’s because we have been busy doing DIY: Wainscoting. What is wainscoting? It is a type of paneling that originated during the 17th and 18th centuries.
The word wainscot is derived from the Middle Low German wagenschot as well as the Dutch wageschot meaning ‘wall-board’. It refers to the inner wooden covering of a wall. To wainscot means to line the walls with boards.
Before
There was one long wall that stretched from the kitchen to the master bedroom. There were two small walls: one on the other side of the master bedroom and one across the room.
Prepping the Planks
We bought a stack of oak planks from a local individual. Since he was looking to downsize and needed to sell the wood quickly, we were able to get a good deal.
The wood was a little rough when we first received it. In order to use the planks as wainscoting, we needed to create even sides and plane down the rough faces. Thankfully, Bruce Bolinger had all the equipment we needed!
Once we had clean edges. The planks were now ready for the planer.
This process took us many hours over several weekends. Once the planks were ready, we hauled them up to house.
Wall Prep
The baseboard trim was removed from the walls and tossed. This trim was a cheap cardboard type and wasn’t worth keeping. We needed to create a way to affix the planks to the wall, so we cut some holes in the drywall.
We had to cut a bunch of holes in the wall. We cut a strip all along the wall.
Once the holes were cut, we could place plywood strips. The plywood strips would allow us to be able to nail the oak planks to the wall. Once the outlet covers were removed and the outlet boxes were shifted, the wall was ready for its planks.
Planks Go Up
A compound miter saw was set up on the deck and we were ready to go. A height had been decided upon previously, so it was now a matter of cutting the planks to fit.
Several boards were taken outside. A hand held router was used to create a 45 degree edge on each board. Boards were then measured and cut to length. To create some variety in appearance, some boards were cut more than once.
A nail gun was used to secure the planks to the walls along the dry wall strips and into wall studs.
After a couple of days the walls were covered with their new lovely oak planks. Our work is far from done.
Trim
The doorway to the master bed room and the floor trim had all been removed and needed to be replaced. We bought trim from Krumenacker’s Building Supply. We stained each piece and then applied a coat of water based Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish. Each piece was measured, cut and nailed into place.
Planks cut to fit were used as trim along the wainscoting walls. Above and below quarter round was placed to hide any gaps. We used wood glue and nails. Each piece was temporarily secured with pieces of wood and duct tape until the glue dried. Along the long wall we used some clamps.
A Clear Finish
Once all the trim was in place and the wood glue was dry it was time to protect our new walls. Using the water based Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish, we very patiently coated every nook and cranny of our new planks. It took about two hours to accomplish this. We gave the first coat a day to dry and then brushed on a second coat.
DIY Wainscoting: In Conclusion
We have been planning on doing this project for a while, but we were waiting for a good deal on the wood. Once we able to find a good deal we jumped on the project.
Our expenses were the wood planks, trim, the poly finish, wood glue and nails for the nail gun. We still have a bunch of the oak planks left and have some more DIY plans that we will be able to do over the winter and spring seasons.
Some of our pictures show a rather rickety cat stand. Have no fears, that is our next DIY project. We have all the wood and carpet, we just need to assemble it. It may be a future post!
Interested in our previous DIY project? Check out my blog here. If you are interested in finding some great pieces for DIY projects check out Founders Crossing or Sun-Kissed Country. If your interested in all that Minwax has to offer, visit their page. We use their products often.
