Installing chair rails wall

While you will still need to paint the trim again after it is installed, painting as much as possible in advance significantly reduces the amount of painting required when the trim is on the wall. Installed trim is more difficult to paint because of the taping involved and the possibility of creating a mess on the floor and walls.

Use the stud finder to locate all vertical studs in the room. Mark studs with small pieces of painter's tape. If you are intending to paint the room, you can mark lightly with the pencil instead of using tape. Attach the chair rail to the wall with the electric nailer or with a hammer and finish nails. If you need to join two runs of chair rail, use a scarf joint.

A dot of wood glue on the joint helps the joint stay together over the long-term. Patch visible holes with wood filler. Finish with a final coat of paint. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads.

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Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article Steps. Tips and Warnings. Things You'll Need. Related Articles. Select appropriate molding to be your chair rail. It can be narrow or wide, depending upon the style you wish to add to the room, but it should be appropriate to go in the middle of the wall; it should lie relatively flat against the wall as well.

This is partly a test file for this modeling software. Determine the height of your chair rail. You can place a chalk line or strip of masking tape on the wall to help visualize the height while you decide.

It will probably be somewhere between 30 and 36 inches cm high, though some go higher for dramatic effect. If you have such a corner, look for an angle measuring device at your hardware store. Measure the angle, divide by two, and cut the chair rail on each side of the corner to the half-angle measurement. Measure the length of the chair rail carefully. Miter corners, especially interior corners first, then measure at the height where the chair rail goes.

Walls are not always exactly plumb or square. If necessary, miter the corners at the opposite ends. Regardless of whether the ends are mitered for interior or exterior corners, or not mitered at all, the back of the chair rail should be as long as the segment of wall against which it will rest. Paint or finish the molding. It is easier to finish the molding with it before it goes on the wall. Lay it on a drop cloth or newspapers or across a pair of sawhorses , and finish it to match other molding in your home.

Paint, paper, or panel the wall behind where the chair rail will go. Again, this is simpler before the rail is installed. A simple way to define a space or change the appearance of a room is to paint or paper a different color or design above and below the chair rail. Locate the studs in the wall and mark them with a pencil or bits of masking tape. Have an assistant help hold the chair rail at the marked height. Drive finishing nails through the chair rail all the way into the studs.

Take care not to hit the molding with the hammer, as it will mark. Use a nail set to recess the nails slightly into the molding, so that the heads are inset. Putty over the nails. If you like, caulk the joints where the ends of the chair rail segments meet. Touch up the paint or finish anywhere you have added putty or caulk. You miter it like it's an outside corner and then insert a tiny, oppositely mitered piece to fill in that miter, so the carving wraps around.

You might find this practice on your windowsill skirts. It looks sharp and is really the only right way to do it. Yes No. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 4. Trial and error with scraps. Or, fill-in the wall's corner in that area to get it to a proper 45 degrees.

Not Helpful 0 Helpful 3. Then, you cut it too long and need to cut an end a touch shorter. The piece should hold itself very close to flat in-place and keep the joints closed, but anything more and especially that forces itself out is just too long and could pop itself loose when relative humidity rises in the future.

Not Helpful 1 Helpful 1. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. For a cleaner joint at the inside corners, cope the joint instead of mitering.