Learn how to cut miter and scarf joints to install wainscoting, chair rails, baseboards, and quarter round molding.
In bygone days, a wain was a large open wagon. Today, the term "wainscoting" describes decorative wooden wall paneling that is suggestive of the wide boards that covered the sides of the wagon. Typically, wainscoting covers only the lower portion of the wall and may be capped with a chair rail or a picture rail in the case of high wainscoting. It takes its character from the type of wood and construction used--salvaged planks from a barn make a rustic look, ready-made paneling cut to height looks more functional, and individual milled boards can add refinement to your room. This dining room project uses 1/4-inch thick milled tongue and groove planks with decorative routing and then caps the wainscoting with chair rail.
Plan the style and height of your wainscoting and then purchase the required planking and chair rail materials. Assemble your tools and safety equipment, since you will be using power tools. We will install the wainscoting and chair rail on top of the existing wall, but will remove baseboards and electrical receptacle covers from the walls before we start. Taping kraft paper over the floors will help protect them during renovations. If you plan to paint or wall paper the visible wall above the wainscoting, doing that first will save time and the effort of protecting your new wainscoting from spatters and glue.
Position one of the chairs that will occupy the room against the wall. Wainscoting is often use in a dining room, so the chair is ordinarily a wooden chair rather than something like a, upholstered wing-backed chair or recliner, etc.
Hold a piece of the selected chair rail level behind the chair to determine the best elevation for its installation. Many people view chair rail only as a decoration, but its original function was to stop chairs from leaving scuffs and other marks on the wall when they were placed against the wall.
Measure and mark at both ends of the walls, the distance from the floor to the chair rail at the position that seems optimal to you. We measure 34 inches for this home and use a level to ensure a horizontal elevation. You will install the chair rail later as a final step to cap and brace the installed planks for the wainscoting.
Snap a chalk line between the two marks on each wall to indicate the top boundary for the ends of the paneling/planks.
Use an electronic stud finder to locate and mark all the wall studs on each wall where you will install wainscoting. Know the stud location will help when you drive nails to fasten the chair rail.
Make a pattern/template from one of the planks to use as a measure for the other planks you will cut. Mark the template with a piece of painter?s tape to clearly identify it, and then ensure that you always use it! If, instead, you use each successive plank to measure the next one, the tiny increments to the measurements will add up to noticeably different lengths. Using the template every time will insure consistency.
Lay the template on top of the milled stock and mark the end with a pencil for each repetitive cut.
Set up an assembly line, if possible, having one person mark the cuts and a second person cutting them to length.
Clamp a stop block to the end of your worktable to brace the end of the milled stock and the template while you measure. We will be cutting more than 100 boards, so little tricks like this will add up to saved time.
Make a strait cut with a compound power miter saw to cut each 34-inch length of milled stock/paneling. Other saws can make a straight cut, but we require the compound power miter saw later to produce a number of angled cuts for the project.
Hold a short piece of the chair rail so that the rabbet on the bottom rests squarely on the end of each cut plank of paneling stock. Use a pencil to mark the bottom edge against the plank. The 1/2 -inch "invisible" margin now marked at the top of each cut plank will be your target for placing the nails out of sight. Once you install the chair rail, the nails will be under the rabbet.
Use a pneumatic nail gun to secure the first plank to the wall within the 1/2-inch "invisible" margin, after butting the plank against the trim at one edge of the wall and aligning its top edge to the chalk line snapped at the 34-inch elevation
Drive nails into the lower end of the plank in the wooden base plate of the wall framing. You will have more leeway in positioning these nails, because the baseboard that will cover them is wider than the chair rail.
Butt the next plank against the first, meshing the tongue and groove edges and aligning the top with the 34-inch chalk line. Secure it by nailing in the "invisible" margin at the top and under the baseboard at the bottom. The thin-gauge nails pin the 1/4-inch planking in place without splitting the ends. Repeat this process until you reach the first electrical outlet.
Locate the circuit (at the breaker box) that controls the outlet and turn off the power as a safety measure.
Pull the receptacle away from the wall far enough to let you accurately measure the hole against the next length of planking that you will install.
Use a combination square to mark the outline where you will cut the plank to accommodate the outlet.
Use a jigsaw to make straight cuts along the rectilinear outline.
Notch semicircles at either end of the rectilinear cutout to make room for the mounting screws.
Position the plank over the outlet opening and secure it with nails. Continue adding planks until you reach the next wall obstacle. In this project, it is the corner of the room.
Stop at the last two boards before the corner--the final plank probably needs to be cut to fit. Start by adding double-faced tape (or a loop of tape turned sticky side outward) on the back of one board. Stick it on the wall in the next-to-the-last (and correct) position.
Butt another board into the corner against the wall, tracing its edge where it overlaps the board that is temporary taped to the wall. You will want to cut this plank so that the raw edge will butt against the corner. If any routing or design on your planks makes a left side versus a right side, you may need to turn the plank upside down (end-to-end) so that you mark the correct edge for cutting. You will flip it back when you attach it in the next step. Remove both planks.
Cut along the traced line to make the last board narrow enough to fit in the gap at the corner.
Secure the whole plank with the nail gun and then secure the cut plank with the raw edge in the corner. Finish the walls in this manner, accommodating electrical outlets, corners, and other obstacles as required.
Cut a partial bevel on one end of the first piece of baseboard to fit against the door casing in the correct orientation. Start by ensuring that the compound miter saw blade is at center position and then tilt the blade left or right, as required, at a 45-degree angle to cut the bevel. This partial bevel cut will go through the upper portion of the plank's face, leaving the bottom portion un-beveled at 90-degrees. Before you secure this baseboard (or any baseboard) to the wall, you need to cut the other end for the appropriate type of joint (as described in the next two steps). If the baseboard will reach the corner, cut it to length angled for a mitered corner joint. If the baseboard ends in the middle of the wall and another baseboard extends to the corner, cut the end for a flat scarf joint.
Cut opposing 45-degree miters on the ends of adjacent baseboards that will join at a mitered corner, after measuring carefully for required lengths. Remember that miters on outside corners require extra length. You will make each of these vertical cuts with the wood standing on its long edge after rotating the miter saw blade 45-degrees off center position--first left and then right of center, as required for the two different angles on the two pieces of baseboard.
Use scarf joints to join two baseboards into a single length when one baseboard is too short to reach the corner. You can cut them in the same way as miters, in terms of wood orientation to saw blade, but the two 45-degree angle cuts on the adjacent boards must slope at opposing angles--one undercut and one overcut--to overlap invisibly when they both lie flat.
Attach the baseboard with the partially beveled end now that you have prepared the other end for an appropriate joint. Start by butting the straight cut edge of the baseboard squarely against the doorway casing, while the beveled makes an attractive transition to the face of the baseboard. Secure the baseboard along its length with the nail gun.
Add quarter-round molding where the baseboard meets the floor, either mitering it or using scarf joints as appropriate--just as you did for the baseboard.
Cut lengths of chair rail using the same scarf or miter joint techniques anywhere you must join individual pieces of chair rail.
Position the chair rail along the top of the wainscoting planks, setting the edge of the rabbet along the cut edges. The chair rail will hide the nails in the wainscoting underneath and trap the planks in place for additional strength.
Use the nail gun to drive nails through the chair rail and into the wall studs marked earlier. Fill the nail holes and finish according to taste.
