Mission style wainscoting question

We have wainscoting on most of the downstairs walls in our 100+ year old
house. Sounds like it is similar to what you are doing except ours are
varnished and we don't have the plate rail. Anyway, it appears that if
you want to do it like the old-timers did you should nail directly into
the wall. Now our walls ARE lath and horsehair plaster so there is
almost always something to nail to... but I would think you could glue
them to the wall just as well. Of course if you ever decide to take them
down you will tear the heck out of the dry wall.

Expansion doesn't seem to be any problem. Our wainscoting has ~1" wide
stat with a ~1/8" bead in between them. The bead allows them to be
installed individually without being joined and the normal slight gap you
get by just butting them together seems to be enough to allow for any
expansion.

Oh and it looks like the original wainscoting was made from pine or some
other soft wood. I bought some at menards to fill in where we took out a
door and they were definately pine. I'm not sure if this is the style
your looking for, but if it is the purchased boards would be a LOT easier
than making them all individually.

Jim

[email protected] (mj) wrote in news:459c5542.0401182116.69de7a1
@posting.google.com:

> Hi - I would like to install mission style wainscoting on our walls.
> I'd like to do a 60" high plate shelf, plate rail, sub rail about 9"
> below the plate rail, a base board rail and vertical stiles between
> the three rails. I plan to paint the wall behind, paint the rails and
> stiles and install straight over the drywall, touching up with paint
> at the end.
>
> However, I'm not sure how to ensure that I don't get expansion and
> contraction and therefore cracking of the paint at the joints. I
> don't have a biscuit joiner or anything else to properly join the
> stiles to the rails. I was hoping to find some MDF planks to use
> instead, but haven't managed to do so yet. Do you think that if I
> used wood, prepping it properly (keeping in room for several days,
> priming and painting on all six sides) would mean that I could use
> wood? Any other ideas to keep this looking good for several years?
> In terms of atmosphere, if it helps, we live in Washington DC.
>
> Ta
>
> mj
>

[email protected] (mj) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Hi - I would like to install mission style wainscoting on our walls.
> I'd like to do a 60" high plate shelf, plate rail, sub rail about 9"
> below the plate rail, a base board rail and vertical stiles between
> the three rails. I plan to paint the wall behind, paint the rails and
> stiles and install straight over the drywall, touching up with paint
> at the end.
>
> However, I'm not sure how to ensure that I don't get expansion and
> contraction and therefore cracking of the paint at the joints. I
> don't have a biscuit joiner or anything else to properly join the
> stiles to the rails. I was hoping to find some MDF planks to use
> instead, but haven't managed to do so yet. Do you think that if I
> used wood, prepping it properly (keeping in room for several days,
> priming and painting on all six sides) would mean that I could use
> wood? Any other ideas to keep this looking good for several years?
> In terms of atmosphere, if it helps, we live in Washington DC.
>
> Ta
>
> mj


Go with MDF. Get sheets from HD or Lowes and rip them down. If you
don't have the tools to do that, pay them to rip them for you.

MDF barely moves so it that won't be a problem. You can use solid
wood for the moldings as it is small enough that movement isn't a
factor. Caulk all the joints prior to painting and you shouldn't have
any problems.