Bead board/chair rail question....

[Terry Hatfield]

Howdy,

Is there a generally accepted height for bead board paneling with a chair rail cap??? We are redoing our main bath...again... and LOML wants bead board part way up the walls capped by chair rail.

Also, is there a generally accepted method of ending the beadboard/chair rail into the existing tile around the tub/shower??? I assume one would just make some sort of cap moulding??????

TIA,

Terry

[Bob Hovde]

Terry,

When we moved into our 1909 house the beadboard in the bath was a bit higher than you would use for a "chair" rail - although that was how it was capped. The beadboard went all the way around the room - taking the place of tile, I guess - since the tub is a clawfoot that stood away from the wall. Instead of going right up to the tile, you might try running the cap along that edge a couple of inches from the tile - sort of framing the beadboard.

Bob

[Frank Pellow]

I don't know about "generally accepted height", but I put bead board with a cap rail into our laundry room and adjacent loo last winter and the height is 32 inches. The proportions look good.

[Terry Hatfield]

Bob,

Thanks!!! I had not thought of stopping the beadboard before the tile. I like that "framing" idea.

t

[Todd Burch]

36" 36" 36" 36" 36" 36" 36" 36"

:)

[Terry Hatfield]

36" 36" 36" 36" 36" 36" 36" 36"

:)


Todd,


Hmmmm...it's a bit unclear to me but I think you mean 36"????:D

The sheetrock is really not good in this room. More patches that actual rodk. When we stripped off the wallpaper, we remembered why there was wall paper there in the first place. I'd like to cover as much of it as I can. 36" will be OK. That only leave me 5' of wall to fix.

t

[Wes Bischel]

Terry,
I think Todd meant 36". :D The dimension is derived partly by material utilization - 8' ply or boards divided into three plus the base and chair rail height. All of the DIY chair rail systems I designed for my former employer were 36" finished height. That said, as Bob mentioned, I have installed it higher (just shy of 48") for a more period look - victorian to be exact. It was used in bathrooms and kitchens as a functional surface to take water and abuse versus the plaster. The final installation was painted the same color as the walls (only in egg shell) so it became a texture versus a bold statement.

FWIW, Wes

[Frank Pellow]

36" 36" 36" 36" 36" 36" 36" 36"

:)

Well Todd seams slightly less tentative with his answer than I was with mine. So, he must he right.

But, I expect that there is no hard and fast rule. In our dinning room, I put a railing at 44" along with with 3.5" tongue and grove boards and a very wide baseboard at the bottom. I did all this in order to give the room the "older home" look.

[Dan Stuewe]

We did our girl's room last year with the pre-grooved sheets of "beadboard". The sheets are 4'x8' with the grooves runing the length of the sheet. So we cut them in half and butted 4x4 sheets together to form the "beadboard". We mounted the sheets a couple inches from the floor and capped with a "chair rail". So basically the whole she-bang is close to 50" tall.

(we didn't put too much thought into the height since we were going to use as much of the sheets as possible, so it was either 4', 2-2/3' (32"), 2',...)

[Chris Padilla]

Dan,

Looks very nice...I think the height "works!"

Terry,

As you can see, there really isn't a magical height number...I think your design will determine what a good height really is.

[Terry Hatfield]

We did our girl's room last year with the pre-grooved sheets of "beadboard". The sheets are 4'x8' with the grooves runing the length of the sheet. So we cut them in half and butted 4x4 sheets together to form the "beadboard". We mounted the sheets a couple inches from the floor and capped with a "chair rail". So basically the whole she-bang is close to 50" tall.

(we didn't put too much thought into the height since we were going to use as much of the sheets as possible, so it was either 4', 2-2/3' (32"), 2',...)

Thanks for the pics Dan!!! I think I'm going to do what you did. I'll just cut the sheets in half and let 'er rip. I really need to cover as much wall as possible.

t

[Terry Hatfield]

Terry,

As you can see, there really isn't a magical height number...I think your design will determine what a good height really is.

c,

Hmmm....design???? I'm supposed to have a design?????? :D

t

[Dan Stuewe]

Thanks for the pics Dan!!! I think I'm going to do what you did. I'll just cut the sheets in half and let 'er rip. I really need to cover as much wall as possible.

t

Terry, I did say the room was for my two daughters. While the designer (SWMBO) may pick the beadboard, I must recomend putting your foot down when it comes to the purple paint and carpet in your bathroom ;)

[Hal Flynt]

When I did LOML bath, I also hung a pedestal sink and a short half wall to separate the "Water Closet". I chose a height that made a nice transition between the sink and medicine cabinet. On the opposite wall, I decided where I wanted the towel bars and made a mid rail (about 2 1/2 to 3") with rabbets on each edge, for the bead board, to go at that height (I fastened the towel bars to this solid piece) and made a cap rail (About 2 1/2 to 3" wide)for the top (topped with a 1 1/2" cap) and a bottom base board with homemade back band for the edges which fit next to the tile and the casings at the doors. Now as I recall the area below the towel rail was about 48" and then I added about 1 foot above that to the cap which ended up just at her eye level. I looked at a lot of picture of turn of the century homes with bead board and they were all taller that your wainscot height, some up to 5-6' and the ceilings were 9-10' then too. I think I chose 4' because I could cut the 8' tongue and grove bead board in half.

The back bands were milled to 5/8th thick by about 3/4 wide with a 3/8 rabbet for the tongue and groove bead board. And routed an 1/8" radius cove to break the inside edge.

Don't have a digital camera and don't have CAD to sketch.

Put some tape on the walls (or use large pieces of cardboard ) to outline the area you're thinking of and see how it looks. If it looks pleasing then it's probably right for the room.

[Dennis Peacock]

Why don't you put your beadboard up to about 8 feet and then hang the chair-rail at the top and call it crown moulding!!! :rolleyes: :p

[Jim Becker]

In our house, Kitchen...35". Powder room....48". I will likely do the MBR at 35", too, as we like the appearance.

[Fred Voorhees]

We did our girl's room last year with the pre-grooved sheets of "beadboard". The sheets are 4'x8' with the grooves runing the length of the sheet. So we cut them in half and butted 4x4 sheets together to form the "beadboard". We mounted the sheets a couple inches from the floor and capped with a "chair rail". So basically the whole she-bang is close to 50" tall.

(we didn't put too much thought into the height since we were going to use as much of the sheets as possible, so it was either 4', 2-2/3' (32"), 2',...)
Dan you thought exactly along the lines that I am thinking right now as to using as much beadboard and wasting as little as possible. Personally, I like the beadboard much higher and I will also be cutting the 4X8 panels in half and running up the walls in my garage conversion project four feet plus the cap. Between three walls, the body of the bar that I will be building, the 24" valance that will hang over the bar, the window seats and the soffits around three quarters of the room, I will be ordering twenty sheets of 1/4" oak beadboard shortly.

[Rob Russell]

This is the bathroom in our addition. The shelf height running around the sink is just under 43". I didn't use beadboard, but beaded fir ceiling board because it's got a deeper profile.

One thing I did that made the beadboard installation easier was to put a layer of 1/2" plywood on the base of the wall instead of sheetrock. That gave something solid to nail the beadboard to.

[Tim Sproul]

....up to about 8 feet and then hang the chair-rail ...


I do believe that's rightly called picture rail, rather than chair rule. Assuming you've 10 foot ceiling :D .

[Ralph Steffey]

You can tell Todd ain't buying the material :D I use either 32 or 48 to get max use out of that expensive b board.

[Terry Hatfield]

Why don't you put your beadboard up to about 8 feet and then hang the chair-rail at the top and call it crown moulding!!! :rolleyes: :p

d,

Now that's a gen-u-ine ider there!!!! :D

Cheryl is voting for 48" so 48" it is. :D I ain't been happily married for nearly 20 years by not doing as I'm told. ;)

t

[Nathan Hoffman]

We also went with 48" to maximize use of the stuff, and I like the way it looks "old". Todd, is that 36" measurement based on an 8' ceiling, and if so, would it change for 9' and so on? I know there are some proportion rules invented by the Greeks that dictate this sort of thing, but I've never actually seen the rule book.

[Rob Russell]

FYI, the ceiling in the bathroom I posted pix of is 9'. The thing that dictated the height for us was the window. We wanted it set so the shelf (narrow on the window side) would function as the window sill.

[Jamey Amrine]

I just finished installing the same thing in our bathroom, and I went for "higher than the pedestal sink and lower then the light switch plates." Came out to about 42", and looks just right.

-Jamey