Wainscotting - one for Jacob, perhaps?

[Steve Maskery]

When I was a kid, mum and dad bought a house, dated 1901, that had wainscotting. It was painted in some sort of sticky brown stuff and was generally unattractive for the day , the day being 1966.

I now live in a house of a very similar age. All the original period stuff has long gone but I'm trying to make the lounge area a bit more true to its day, and so one of the things I am considering is wainscotting. I'd like to do it all in oak, but I think that would be prohibitive, oak-flavoured poplar is more to my budget, I fear.

So I have two questions.

Is there a standard height for the top of the wainscotting from the floor, and what oak-flavoured product would you recommend to give me a suitable colour without obliterating the grain of the wood?

I think there is about 10 linear metres to do.

Many thanks
Steve

 

[skipdiver]

Think the rule of thumb is 1/3 of ceiling height.

 

[deema]

Have a look at the following link.

http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2010/12/ ... hair-rail/

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi - I think that if you're looking to be "period-appropriate", and it wasn't built as a "high status dwelling", you might be better off with good quality softwood e.g. scots pine/redwood in fairly wide boards. I can't help with the height, but it'll be some number of feet and inches (not mm!). Our village hall, built in 1908, has 5ft 6in high wainscot with a nice wide cyma recta moulding on top, using painted 4inch T&GV boards and a nice 8in skirting board topped with a 3/4in ovolo. Cheers, W2S

 

[skipdiver]

That's an interesting article deema.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Yes, indeed it is, thank you.

 

[Rorschach]

I thought the current trend was for white painted wainscotting?

 

[Steve Maskery]

I thought the current trend was for white painted wainscotting?

Quite possibly. But I want it to look fairly dark. Gentleman's residence. Leather sofa (I like Chesterfields to look at but they are not very comfortable). Times on a pole. Brace of pheasant on the wall. that sort of image.

Well, maybe not the pheasant.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Any tips on the finish, then, guys? An all-in-one poly or stain and clear finish? I don't have a spray booth so it has to be rubbed or brushed.

 

[SammyQ]

"Times on a pole."
I prefer women....

:-"

 

[Harbo]

Paint the walls and ceiling nicotine yellow for the full look!

I did a pseudo liming on ours in the hallway using white emulsion, then sanding off to expose the grain - finished off with a clear water based varnish. Most people like it and it still looks good after 10 yrs.

Rod

 

[PAC1]

just a guess but the sticky brown stuff would be a linseed oil based varnish?

 

[Jacob]

Why me? I don't know!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panelling
I don't think there is a standard but one tendency is classical with the dado rail as top of the pedestal and a picture rail for the entablature. But you'd need a high ceiling.
One thing could be to have the top (dado rail) higher than chair backs to protect the wall
I'd be inclined towards painted pine myself - having spent a lot of time in old pubs with panelling.
Brown paint or varnish was popular but tends to look a bit brown for some reason.

 

[bugbear]

I'd like to do it all in oak, but I think that would be prohibitive, oak-flavoured poplar is more to my budget, I fear.

If the large panels in your design are flat, would oak-veneered ply bring oak within budget?

As a bonus, it's also more stable than solid...

BugBear

 

[RobinBHM]

I supplied some furniture and stuff for the Weatherspoons at Gatwick airside a few years back. The architect's spec was for panels made in ash veneered mdf and pine for the mouldings (from dresser mouldings).

All then finished in dark stain, the ash and softwood actually look good together once done.

If you want that Gentlemans residence feel how about doing panelling instead of wainscotting. The panels could be done in ash veneered mdf and softwood panel beads, or ash beads.

If wainscotting, could you do t and g effect with ash mdf with V grooves formed by a router. Or buy veneered neatmatch mdf

Why not make a chesterfield too, we could have an upholstery section then !

http://www.buildersoak.co.uk/OakNeatmatch.html

 

[Steve Maskery]

All good ideas, thank you. I was actually thinking of vertical boards with a staff bead.

 

[AndyT]

Steve, I think the answer depends on the ceiling height. Our house (1897) has 9' 6" ceilings on the ground floor and has a dado rail, 2 1/2" deep, with the top edge at 39" above the floor. The skirting is 8 1/2" high and will also affect the proportions. If you do fit panelling you will need to replace it or at last move it out from the wall so it sits in front of your panelling.

This extract, Dado and Surbase, from "Notes on Building Construction" is about right for the period and suggests a rail height of 36".
You may want to use modern methods and simplify the fixings to the wall a bit, and if you use vertical matchboarding you won't need feathers or tapered keys.

(Ours is like fig 472 but has Lincrusta panels, which are thin and don't complicate the woodwork.)

 

[graduate_owner]

I remember my brother telling me about a technique he learnt as an apprentice painter and decorator (early 60's - when there were apprenticeships). It was called scumbling, and the craftsman would apply a coating of shellac mixed with meths to the wood, then create a wood grain effect by dragging a comb through the scumble. They would make their own combs from stiff cardboard. Could this be the effect in your parents' house?

Also - fully agree with the comment about Chesterfields. Look superb, but with no effective rest for the shoulders and neck they are so uncomfortable to sit on.

K

 

[Steve Maskery]

I remember my brother telling me about a technique he learnt as an apprentice painter and decorator (early 60's - when there were apprenticeships). It was called scumbling, and the craftsman would apply a coating of shellac mixed with meths to the wood, then create a wood grain effect by dragging a comb through the scumble. They would make their own combs from stiff cardboard. Could this be the effect in your parents' house?

Also - fully agree with the comment about Chesterfields. Look superb, but with no effective rest for the shoulders and neck they are so uncomfortable to sit on.

K

Funnily enough I was discussing scumbling with Eric the Viking only yesterday. TBH I don't remember our wainscotting very well, 1966 was a long time ago, but I actually think that Linseed Oil is a more likely scenario.

Andy - Thanks very much for that, very helpful.
Jacob - I thought you might know because it is old...
W2S - High status? Oh you are a wag, you.

I must admit I hadn't really though about the "lower is better" school of thought. In that first article from deema I quite like the waist-height example that he provides as "wrong"!

Thank you all for your input, much appreciated.

 

[AndyT]

The point about status is important - what works for a 2 bed cottage won't look right in a bigger house, and if you use cottage materials where you ought to have something grander, people might think you were just covering up a damp patch!

If you really want the gentleman's club look, maybe something more like this would be better:

or this

or this - I'm sure one of the turners will help out with the handles!

For more detail, and even more hard work, read on here: http://www.archive.org/stream/cassellscarpentr00hasl#page/n515/mode/2up