Weekend Remodel: How to Install Wainscoting

By: Jennifer Stimpson, This Old House magazine

Shopping List

Supplies You Will Need

Painter's tape

¼inch plywood.
Get enough to cover the entire area of your wainscoting with the grain running vertically.

1x4 for the stiles

1x5 for the corner stiles

1x6 for the bottom rail.

1x8 for the top rail and baseboard.
Get enough to cover each wall twice.

Stool for the chair-rail cap.
Choose a profile deep enough to extend beyond the layered depth of the plywood, rail, and apron.

Casing for the apron

Panel molding to trim the panels

Base-cap molding

Shoe molding

Panel adhesive

2½-inch finishing nails to install the stiles, rails, baseboard, apron, and chair rail

1½-inch finishing nails to install the panel, base cap, and shoe moldings

Wood glue

Wood filler

Adhesive latex caulk.
Choose primed boards and molding to save time.

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Tools List
Tools You Will Need
- utility knife
- pry bar
- chalk line or straightedge to mark cuts on the plywood
- 4-foot level
- circular saw
- caulk gun
- stud finder
- nail gun
- miter saw
- flush-cut saw to back-cut existing moldings
- Speed Square
- chisel
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Photo: Ryan Benyi

Introduction
Overview
Steps:
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15 hours
About $175 for a 10-foot wall

Difficulty: Hard Installing the pieces is easy enough, but creating molding returns demands precision.

We're the first to say all you need is a can of paint. But for a room revamp that brings dimension and lasting value to plain walls, nothing beats a traditional wainscot of richly layered wood panels. How they're put together may seem inscrutable to the average DIYer, but once you peel back the layers of this architectural onion, you'll find that each step is plenty doable, if a bit tricky at times. See for yourself on the pages that follow, as This Old House senior technical editor Mark Powers assembles this paneled wainscot piece by piece—moving a pro-worthy project onto a can-do list for you.

Panel molding: WOBB002 Greek Revival Band Mold.
Primed lumber: WindsorONE and Protection Pre-Primed Trim Boards.
All from Windsor Mill.