Has anyone done a beadboard or frame and panel walls?

[Matt Meiser]

Redoing our laundry/utility room has suddenly moved up on the list due to a need to remove drywall to access some wiring to our flush-mounted electrical panel. We've never painted the room since moving in 8 years ago. There's also a crude repair behind the washer where someone cut out drywall to access plumbing for repairs. Its a very small room, less than 10' and wide enough for an aisle way and the washer and dryer. In the remaining wall space there are a total of 4 doorways--so there's really not that much wall area. An accent wall has cheesy wallpaper which I'm sure will leave some damage behind.

I'd like to do a beadboard treatment with a small shelf around the room about the height of the doors. I've seen this before but I have no idea what its called. This will cover both repair areas, and possibly allow me to design for removable panels for future access to both.

If we go with real wood, It'd pretty much have to be pine or maple as all the trim in our house is maple or birch with pine doors stained to match (sounds odd but the difference isn't noticeable and it even took me a while to realize.) If we paint, I'm thinking of going with MDF.

One issue I know this will be additional thickness on the walls that will cause an issue with door trim. I'm thinking I can cut a small rabbet in all of the casing to overlay the beadboard.

Anyone do a similar project and have pictures to show? We aren't hung up on beadboard either--a frame and panel look would work too, but not something dark and heavy due to the small room. In fact that might work even better due to being able to design panels for easy removal in those two locations.

[frank shic]

the biggest challenge with beadboard is mating up with the existing trim in a nice manner. i used the DIY'er trim/beadboard packs that they sell at home depot. I DO NOT recommend following my example because the panels are a royal pain to interlock especially if they've been dinged at all. the advantage is that the chair rail and the base molding are rabbeted so that they fit perfectly with the beadboard however it's still painfully slow. if i could do it over again, i would get the larger 4x8 sheets, cut them down with a circular saw as needed although i'd leave them at 4' high - they look great at this height - and re-do all the door and window trim with thicker molding to accept the regular molding unless you can find a source that makes pre-rabbeted molding to work with the 1/4" beadboard.

[Prashun Patel]

Matt-
Like Frank, I've used the MDF 'wainscoting' panels from Home Depot. I found them to interlock just fine. The detail isn't as sharp as wood paneling - as is the case with all MDF molding products, but it looks fine. I did it in my basement bathroom.

I didn't buy the cap rail or base molding. Instead I used a 6" piece with a double bead for the base and top moldings, and then made my own caps using coves and 1x stock (bullnosed). I butted my rails into the door casings, but returned them.

Sorry for these lousy photos (no laughing at my gem of a vanity).

[frank shic]

prashun, that looks way better than the molding that was included in the kit! love how you ran the edge of the trim over the door trim :)

[Larry Edgerton]

Matt

Can you carefully cut out the drywall to chair rail height?

This is the way I usually do it. If they [customers] want the MDF stuff they don't hire me. First I remove the trim. I cut out the drywall, install nailers at chair rail height, slipped up behind the drywall. Then I install one at the split on the line at the top of the baseboard, or if the base is short just go all the way down with the beadboard. I use wood, but you could use mdf I suppose.

Doing it this way the beadboard and the drywall are at approx. the same plane. The back of the door trim can be modified to work with what it ends up.

I routinely make hidden spaces in houses, sometimes without the owners knowing. I'll call them sometimes years later and tell them where it is at. Its fun, and they always get a kick out of it.

Making a hidden panel with beadboard is easy. I put a tounge on both sides of the opening by using a reversing spline, and do the reverse on the panel. Then you cut the back of the groove off and leave the front to cover the tongues. I make them so they slip behind something, by sliding up first and then back down into a shallower groove. I have at times held them in place with magnets. For an opener I will have a piece somewhere close to the middle with a knot that allows you to insert a tool or a screw where it can not be seen to use as a handle. Great fun!

You have that new shaper, so you need to be making your own chair railings. Helps justify the cost.......

Larry

[Matt Meiser]

Yes I definitely could cut drywall all around the room. I had assumed that would raise fire-safety concerns though? I found a source for 3/8" maple beadboard o so I could just shim that to the drywall height. And your technique would be awesome for accessing the wiring chase from the panel to the basement. There's some conduit but my assumption that it was all conduit was oh-so-wrong.

The more I think about it the more I think I'd probably also do maple stained to match all the trim. Painted would look odd against the stained trim. Painting the trim in that room would look odd against the stained trim in the hall.

[Mike Ruggeri]

I used the same MDF panels from HD in the kitchen in our old house. It came out nice, was easy to install and held up well. I don't remember exactly what I did, be I made the top cap (somewhat similar to Prashun's version) and then used floor/base molding that tied in with the moldings elsewhere in the house. Overall, it was a fast and easy project that got a bunch of compliments.

Mike

[Larry Edgerton]

I built a room in the house my last ex got, 10'x16' with a full wall height beadboard door that can not be seen. She got the house about the time I finished it and never knew that room was there. Lived there thirteen years, and looked at that wall every time she went to bed. It recently sold, and I was thinking about calling the new owners, but the heck with it. I lost enough on that place that its a sore spot still.

Larry

[frank shic]

cutting out the drywall seems like an easier option than replacing all the existing trim.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I'm just finishing up a bath and kitchen redo.
I used the borg MDF full sheets of 4x8 beadboard since it's going to be painted.

[I'm thinking I can cut a small rabbet in all of the casing to overlay the beadboard.
I just ripped some 1/8" x 3/4" x 8' stips to glue/pin onto the top of the chair rail cap molding instead of rabbeting it.

When I redid all the trim around our windows last year the replacement windows we had installed sat 1/4" below the wall surface.
I just ripped some poplar strips 1/8" thick and glued them to the trim. Once the glue dried and it was sanded the line is invisible.

Some things I recommend if you decide to go the MDF beadboard route in any area where there's even a hint of moisture.
Back prime the panels with a good heavy even coat of B*I*N. Apply a good heavy coat of B*I*N to all the edges and around any cut outs.
Pretty much seal any and everything with B*I*N.
Don't take the panels all the way to the floor. Strike a level line around the room at the height you want the beadboard to be, then measure and cut from that line down to the floor leaving about 1/2" at the bottom.
When you put the baseboards in, run a bead of silicone or premium silicone latex caulk in that 1/2" gap.
I also go so far as the run a bead of premium silicone latex across the top and bed the cap molding into it.
I also run a bead of the same caulk down each seam where the sections come together and work it real well by moving the bead board up and down and sliding it into place.

I used the MDF borg beadboard only because it's a rental & this is like the third time in 10 years we've had to redo that bath. If I get 5 years or more out of it. I'll be satisfied.
I've had a lot of luck with MDF in damp areas by sealing it all up with B*I*N, caulking any edges and keeping it up off any surface where moisture can accumulate.

I can post some pictures later on in the week.
They aren't anything special though.

[Matt Meiser]

Larry, where do you get the material you use? Or do you make it?

[HANK METZ]

Like some of the other guys have done, I installed the PVC kit components from a local home center in a guest bathroom remodel:
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Really easy to do and all I did was knock off the old tile and skim coated & painted what the panels didn't cover.

- Beachside Hank

[Matt Meiser]

Well I showed my wife some pictures of different styles and what she really liked was the kind with rails, stiles, and flat panels. Seems like I could remove the drywall, install 1/2" maple ply, and apply all the rails and stiles. What do you think?

[Rich Engelhardt]

what she really liked was the kind with rails, stiles, and flat panels.
I think the voice of authority has spoken ;).

P.S. My wife likes the MDF beadboard - which is the primary reason I'm willing to try anything I can to make it work....

Had time allowed, I would have taken the walls of the bathroom down to the studs and hung new mold proof drywall.

[Larry Edgerton]

Matt, when I am down in your area I buy at Fingerlee in Ann Arbor or Chelsea Lumber in Chelsea. Both stock the kind of things I use. Up here I use Preston Feather.

Raised panels are good. You have a shaper so there you go. If you do this for her it will make your next tool purchase easier.;)And it will be good practice, not quite as critical as doors.

I do my raised panel walls the same way, cutting out the drywall. I do them like they are great big cabinet doors in sections up to 16 feet long and apply finished, trim and base.

Design is very important to the success of a raised panel wall project. I would suggest that you use the Golden Rule to figure out your layout. I use it religiously. It not only saves me a lot of wondering, but makes stuff come out well every time.

Larry

[Bob Lloyd]

Matt

It sounds like you are now going with the panel idea. I usually butt the beaded boards to the casings depending on the board and casing thicknesses. I prefer the look of the deeper cap with the scotia underneath that this allows . Regarding the flat panel idea, I have seen it done with strips applied directly to the sheetrock to give the flat panel look, everything is painted of course. The second picture is of the end of a cabinet where I applied 1/2" stock and 1/4 round to a flat panel to match the details of the flat panels of the doors, similar to what you are contemplating. It will give the look of flat panels without having to go through the process of fabricating them. I think your idea will work great in your situation.

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[frank shic]

bob, how do you put that curved detail on the bottom of the vanity? did you run the cabinet stile all the way to the floor and attach a separate piece? if so, how did you fasten it? glue and screws?

[Bob Lloyd]

Frank

I had to go check! I knew it was a separate piece but was not quite sure how I attached it. I did run the stile all the way to the floor. I cut the curve and the small returns out of a larger piece of stock and then cut that piece off on the miter saw. I glued it to the rail and extended stile, used a single pocket screw in the meat of the small piece and I believe that I also used brads towards the ends of the curves.

Bob

[frank shic]

it looks great, bob. thanks!

[Bob Lloyd]

Frank, thanks but if I were to do it again, I would probably cut the lower rail out of one piece.

[Matt Meiser]

Larry, I'm interested in how you did the removable panels. I'd like to make the one over the wiring chase removable as well as possibly the one over the washer plumbing.

Bob, that does look great.

I've got marching orders from LOML to get going on this, considering there's still an hole in the wall with wiring inside. As always there's some evolution to the plan. We are doing a frame and flat panel look in maple and going up about 4'--exact height to be determined by the electrical panel which will get a new door made to match. I also need to build a few new cabinets for in there which will get a matching flat panel look on the doors, very much like the kitchen I did for my parents but in maple. And I need to reface a vanity in the adjacent 1/2 bath to match--too much trouble to remove it.

While everything is open I hope I can relocate a receptacle I found behind the existing cabinets to above the counter top so that its legal and usable. And the washing machine connection box is a mess and needs replacing so I redo that in PEX down to the basement as I've done as we redid bathrooms. And we need to put in new or linoleum or tile. Its small enough tile wouldn't be a bad job. But I don't want the washing machine (or a possible future front-loader which I hear vibrates more) cracking anything. And...

[Matt Meiser]

I am about to get going on the wainscot part of this project as soon as I finish sanding and spraying all the doors. My final plan is to make up frames and rabbet the 1/4" ply into those. Reasoning is that I can easily make the frames to fit then pull them off to finish them since I don't want to spray everything in the house. Also, the walls are really wavy. I can bridge low spots this way then hide the gaps by scribing the top molding to the wall. That will probably please the countertop people too.