Plank accent wall questions...Do i butt joint or tongue and groove?

[David Ruhland]

Hi folks!

I am new to SMC. Everytime I googled something this site would come up so have been a lurker for a couple of years. I finally decided to "contribute" and join.

I built a set of sliding doors for my shop, i think this is called "shiplap" style. Wasnt to difficult as i had boards that were 4 feet long. (see pic)

I want to do the same thing on the other end of the shop wall, except i need to make those 4 foot boards 20 foot boards somehow... (board stretcher not working that well! LOL) I am also thinking of running them through the router to give em a chamfer on each edge.

The question I have is do i simply make sure the ends are squared and simply butt then together tightly and nail , (staggered joints of course) or is there normally a tongue and groove cut in the end etc?

Thanks

375675

[Lee Schierer]

Welcome to the creek and thank you for becoming a contributor.

I don't think there is a preferred way to do your ship lap wall. You could either do the tongue and groove as you mentioned on the ends or lap joint which is what ship lap really is. The edges are also lap joints so you don't get gaps you can see through as the wood changes dimension.

[Sam Murdoch]

If you can land your butt joints on a stud it will be sufficient to simply butt square edges and pin them to the studs. Would be lovely - though perhaps overkill for a shop wall - to build up panels as you did with your doors and apply those to the walls.These could be random width too or designed to be equal widths across the wall.

[Jim Becker]

If the planks are T&G, butt joints almost don't matter as long as you are overlapping the boards and any noticeable seasonal expansion/contraction is across the board, not in length. I do agree with Sam that ideally, your joints will land on a stud as that will allow you to fasten them down and avoid any cupping.

[David Ruhland]

Thanks guys.... There you go Sam... making me want to make panels now.... not only for that wall... but for others too.... :-)

[Sam Murdoch]

Thanks guys.... There you go Sam... making me want to make panels now.... not only for that wall... but for others too.... :-)


You are very welcome :D

[lowell holmes]

I assume the frame is 1 1/2" thick. If that is the case. it looks fine to me.
I might have put a groove in the frame for the panels to go into.

[Hoang N Nguyen]

375841

My wife wanted me to do an accent wall between our living room and kitchen. This is what I ended up doing. All butt joints with mitered corners. The long edges of the boards have T&G and that's where I brad nailed into the wall. I've made no issues with butt joints pulling apart and you can hardly see them. I don't foresee any issues will come down the road as it's already been exposed to extreme changes in weather and humidity since it's been installed.

[David Ruhland]

375841

My wife wanted me to do an accent wall between our living room and kitchen. This is what I ended up doing. All butt joints with mitered corners. The long edges of the boards have T&G and that's where I brad nailed into the wall. I've made no issues with butt joints pulling apart and you can hardly see them. I don't foresee any issues will come down the road as it's already been exposed to extreme changes in weather and humidity since it's been installed.

Love it! What am i looking at...Walnut and Maple??

[Hoang N Nguyen]

Love it! What am i looking at...Walnut and Maple??

I want to say it's pine.... at least it smells like it when I was cutting it. I bought them from home depot pre-finsihed in those 2 colors. It was a quick and easy project on the never ending "honey build list". I just cut all the boards down in random lengths and more cutting at the corners. All the smaller drops were either used for the sides and some at the centers. If I recall correctly, I spent about $250 for this project and it covers roughly around 80 sq. ft. including the sides.

[Jeff Duncan]

If you buy "shiplap" lumber it comes ready to install. If your not familiar with it instead of tongue and groove one board overlaps the other. Using it in your application you would simply butt the ends together and the "overlapping" of the boards ends to keep everything happy. Just remember to leave some space between the boards and not butt them tightly, otherwise you'll have a not-so-attractive wall when the summer humidity hits;)

What's also nice is you usually, (at least around here), have 2 options with shiplap, one face is smooth and the other has the rustic texture to it.

good luck,
JeffD