Wainscoting?

[hazmat]

Well the original plan for the dining room was something like this Fuax Wainscoting

Talking to friends, we are now thinking about this Beadboard Wainscoting

Searching around the web I found this New England Classic Wood Panel Systems I Really like the last one.

Has anybody installed the New England classic panel system or a similar one?

I haven't inquied about price yet.

My bigger concern is that our window and door casings are too wimpy (9/16 to 5/8" thick by a little more than 3" wide). I'd feel the need to redo all the first floor doors & windows if I did them in the dining room.

Also we have two windows in the dining room that are huge. They are about 6' tall leaving only a foot or so of wall top & bottom. What do I do under the windows?

[hazmat]

Just called for a price. $21 per linear foot for 32" high raised panel. $18 per linear foot for Beadboard for paintable grade paneling. Is this a reasonable price? Doesn't sound too bad to me.

Still wondering what to do with the windows & doors. Although they have design software to download. Maybe I'll have to give that a shot.

[RobS]

Haz, have you considered beadboard plywood panels? I put them in our old house and did some in our new house as well. Stained in the old, but I didn't like that look too well (plywood) but it's painted in the new house and looks great. I got it in the new house before the trim went up so the edges were all covered (I put my own cap-rail on it). In the old house I removed the window casing, put the panels on then used wood strips the rest of the way around the windows to space the casing out the same. It was a pain but looked good in the end. You could cut the panels to fit tight to the casing but you'll have to be pretty precise to avoid a gap [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[RobS]

Sounds kind of high to me. I got 3/8 4X8 sheets of beadboard paneling at Menards for about $19. Each was cut so I got 8 linear feet out of each. Add another buck or two per foot for the cap rail and adhesives/fasteners. I was around $3 per foot for a half wall height [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[hazmat]

Rob,

Thanks for the reminder about the plywood version. I did a project with it in college (my frat house believe it or not). We stained it and I didn't like how it came out. Glad to know that better results are possible with paint. I've got to go to Home Depot tonight to pick up crown molding. I'll show the wife the plywood option.

I played around with the Design Software. Very cool [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img] It would have taken me hours to lay out a room on CAD. Versus this thing that does it in minutes. Gives a Bill of Materials and everything. Only problem is that below the windows is baseboard heat. I'll have to figure out a workaround for that (maybe artificially lower the windows).

[egon]

I have a bathroom in which to install wainscotting. Unfortunately the material is still in round form and piled to dry just awaiting my attention. Then " She who decides " will tell me what form it will take.

Egon

[Hank]

<font color="purple"> My bigger concern is that our window and door casings are too wimpy (9/16 to 5/8" thick by a little more than 3" wide). I'd feel the need to redo all the first floor doors &amp; windows if I did them in the dining room. </font color>

If you go with a traditional (panelled) look, this is always an issue, to have enough thickness at the door and window casings to receive the panelling.

On the first link you posted, you can see the traditional method of solving this problem, and that is a casing with backband. The backband is thick enough to receive whatever you need, and it rabbets up over the casing. This also eliminates having to run all of the casing extra thick. This method would typically use 5/4 or 6/4 x 2" backband around 1x6" casing

Casing and backband would not be cheap; they usually entail much wider casings to look right, and is probably not practical or economical for your situation.

I really like RobS's method of building out the existing casing. A bit of extra labor, but we are not counting labor in this project, right ? [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] You could use really cheap stock for this, since only the edge shows, and you can cut around any knots and just butt pieces end to end.

Don't pass over the faux panelling concept right away. There are different degrees from faux to real to dress it up. One way to give more depth would be instead of simply applying panel moldings on the wall, to run 3/4" stock stiles and rails, just wood nailed to the wall, then miter the moldings around the inside of the "panels". This gives a flat panel look, but with the panel molding it is much more bold than a working you would find on real, worked stiles and rails.

Under the big windows, there's really no room for anything except the baseboard and some "field" wood (whether the field is your drywall, or applied stiles/rails).

[hazmat]

A decision has been made. Beadboard it is.

Home depot has Tongue &amp; Grove beadboard that is about 5/16" thick (this is what is on the wall in the pic). They sell a "trim kit" to go with it that consists of a baseboard &amp; chair rail. Both pieces of trim have rabbets to hold the beadboard to the wall. Unfortunately the trim is too small for our tastes.

To Rabbet or not? I like the idea of the rabbett - not relying soley on adhesive to keep the beadboard on the wall, baseboard &amp; chair rail are nailed to studs &amp; capture the beadboard. However, if I build my own baseboard, I will need a router or good table saw to make the rabbet.

Searching around the web, I've seen alternative methods of construction: Beadboard flat on wall, baseboard added next: Leaves several colums for dust to collect &amp; "shims" baseboard out, might look wierd at the door casings. Baseboard installed first &amp; beadboard stacked on top. Cover interface with cap molding: Relying on cap molding ILO baseboard to hold beadboard in place.

Similar problems present themselves for the chair-rail.

I think I need to bite the bullet and buy the darn table saw! Comments?

[GaryM]

A table saw is a great tool, no doubt about it. But I think a good router with a piloted rabitting bit will work fine and cost less.

If you can, get a variable speed plunge router. I have a Bosch and it's a great tool. I'm getting ready to replace some interior doors and will be using the router to mortise for the hinges.

[Hank]

<font color="purple"> I think I need to bite the bullet and buy the darn table saw </font color>

A jointer is the first choice for rapid, heavy-duty rabbeting, esp if the inside of the rabbet shows (as in a rabbeted jamb).

For everything else, the table saw is the workhorse for rabbeting. Best to use spring hold-downs to push the work against the table and fence for the cleanest job. You can use dados, but I always preferred to make two cuts using the saw blade....less tearout, and this is a case where a regular "wood" blade works better (not a carbide), because you get a cleaner cut into the corner.

A router works too, but if you have a lot of work to do, securing each workpiece can get old. Besides, I thought we'd already "cleared" the table saw with the CFO, being just a question of which one [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]