Raised panel wainscoting not only adds a decorative touch to a dining room, but it serves a purpose as well. Dining room wainscoting with a chair rail protects the surface of the wall from the scrapes and scratches that happen from everyday use. If you make the chair rails a bit wider and router a notch along their length, you can use them as plate rails to display serving pieces and dinner plates. The wood molding comes in a variety of profiles, which allows you to create exactly the effect you want with the raised panels.
Instructions
1. Remove the shoe molding from the perimeter of the room. Pry it off the wall carefully with a pry bar so you can reuse it.
2. Measure and mark the height for your dining room wainscoting with a chalk line. Use a carpenter's level to ensure the chalk line is level.
3. Determine how many raised panels you want on each wall based on your measurements. If necessary, make the outer panels narrower than the rest of the panels to keep a balanced appearance. Allow 3 inches for each upright, or stile, you plan to install on each wall.
4. Cut a piece of 1-by-4-inch lumber the length of the wall with a circular saw. Cut a piece of 1-by-3-inch lumber the same length. Cut 1-by-3-inch stiles to the length necessary to make the wainscoting frame the height you determined in Step 2.
5. Lay out the wainscot frame on the floor, taking careful measurements to get the panels the same width you determined in Step 3. Ensure each piece meets at a right angle using a carpenter's square. Hold the pieces in place with wood clamps. Attach the stiles to the 1-by-4-inch base piece with the assistance of a pocket hole jig, which connects two pieces of wood with a screw set at an angle. For best results, pre-drill the holes before inserting the screws.
6. Connect the stiles to the long piece of 1-by-3-inch lumber to complete the frame. Check that each stile meets the top piece at a right angle with the carpenter's square. Pre-drill holes through the pocket hole jig, then attach the frame top to the stiles with screws.
7. Set the frame against the wall, using the chalk line as your guide. Ask someone to help with this step as you secure the frame with wood screws secured to the wall studs.
8. Measure the inside opening for each panel. Subtract 2 3/4 inches from each measurement. Cut 3/4-inch medium density fiberboard, or MDF, to those measurements with a circular saw. Router the outer edges of each panel using a bit that gives you the profile you want for the raised panels.
9. Center a panel in the opening between the top and bottom rails and between each rail. You should have a 1 3/8-inch gap all the way around the MDF panel. Attach the panel to the wall with a brad nailer. Repeat this process for each of the panels.
10. Measure and cut wood molding to cover the area between the stiles and the MDF panels. Use a miter saw to cut the corner angles correctly. Attach the molding to the wooden frame using a 23-gauge headless pinner to avoid splitting the molding.
11. Cut the wood you selected to use for the chair rail the length of the wall with a circular saw. Attach it to the wall with screws. Cut wood molding the length of the wall. Attach it underneath the chair rail with a brad nailer.
12. Reattach the shoe molding with the brad nailer.
Tags: wall with, brad nailer, chair rail, chalk line, , raised panels