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Board and batten is certainly one of our favourite, straightforward DIY tasks. It’s fully beginner-friendly and it makes a big effect in any room, entry, or hallway. That is the third home the place we’ve put in this kind of wainscoting, so we’ll present you our trick for making this mission quicker, simpler, and cheaper than conventional board and batten!
For this explicit set up in our seashore home, we did a better board & batten and hung peel-and-stick wallpaper above it. It was precisely the combination of conventional & colourful that we had been going for on this visitor bed room!
What’s Board & Batten?
Board and batten originated as a mode of exterior siding, however can be used as inside paneling. It describes a method the place skinny strips of molding – or “battens” – are positioned over the seams between bigger, flat boards. It may be put in floor-to-ceiling or partway up a wall, and battens will be organized vertically, horizontally, and even in packing containers. It’s fashionable amongst designers and DIY-ers alike due to its versatility: it will probably look conventional & luxe, cottage & informal, and nearly each fashion in between.
How A lot Does Board & Batten Price?
Our board & batten tasks have value us between about $50 – $650, however this vastly will depend on the scale of your house and your chosen supplies. We as soon as put in it for somewhat as $57 (beneath, left) as a result of we reused our baseboards and picked easy lattice strips for our battens. We tailored that very same approach in our subsequent residence however layered on further moldings to offer a extra conventional look (beneath, proper). That hallway was additionally twice as lengthy, so it value nearer to $300.
We additionally put in a floor-to-ceiling box-style board and batten in our final rest room that, because of the quantity of molding it required, value nearly $650. That was our priciest molding mission, however it match the high-end look we had been aiming for.
The purpose being: board and batten will be an costly mission – however it doesn’t need to be! The mission we’re exhibiting you at this time was about $195. It may cost extra in case your room is greater, however it’s also possible to maintain the fee down by not going so excessive up the wall.
Instruments & Supplies
Prepared for a secret? We’ve saved prices down for all of those tasks by not putting in the “board” a part of our board & batten. As a substitute, we merely set up battens in opposition to the drywall and paint every part to match. This protects time, labor, supplies, and cash whereas trying simply nearly as good.
It solely took us half a day to put in ours, however due to numerous drying occasions between caulk, spackle, primer, and paint – it wasn’t fully carried out till the following day. However once more, it’s not an excellent time-intensive mission. Perhaps six stable hours of labor damaged up throughout two days. So listed here are the fundamental steps.
Step 1: Plan Spacing
We cowl our planning in additional element in this submit, however the essential factor right here is to find out the HEIGHT of your prime rail, and the SPACING of your battens. We used a measuring tape and blue painter’s tape to mock ours up in just a few alternative ways to assist us decide what our eyes appreciated finest.
We chosen the broader 18″ spacing of the battens, and aimed to position our prime rail about 20″ down from the ceiling. We selected this peak to reduce the quantity of wallpaper wanted. We had been additionally conscious of the place it intersected with our doorways and home windows, ensuring that it appeared deliberately decrease than them.
Step 2: Mark Studs
Subsequent, use a stud finder to find and mark the position of your studs throughout your room. We’ve fallen exhausting for this magnetic Stud Buddy as a result of it’s very reliable. You sweep it throughout the wall till the sturdy magnet catches on the nails in your studs. Because it’s magnetized, it stays in place so you’ll be able to mark issues hands-free. Mark your studs with a pencil or use items of painter’s tape like I did. I put one excessive and one low, simply to be protected.
That is essential since you’ll need your prime boards to be held securely into the wall and hitting a stud together with your nail gun is one of the simplest ways to do it.
Step 3: Prep Baseboards
This step will depend on your present baseboard scenario. On this room, the baseboards are only a 1 x 6″ board with a chunk of ornamental trim alongside the highest. The 1 x 6″ offers the proper backside rail for our board and batten, so we simply wanted to take away the ornamental piece so our battens might sit flush in opposition to it.
After scoring the highest edge with a utility knife (it’s also possible to use the sharp nook of a spackle knife or painter’s instrument) we pried off the small ornamental piece on prime. The scoring is useful to reduce injury to the drywall behind it.
And talking of harm, after eradicating this piece you might have some clean-up to do to make the wall as easy as doable behind it. We needed to scrape off a few of the remaining caulk and even patch just a few nail holes with spackle.
You additionally may take into account changing your current baseboard with a 1 x 6″ board in case you don’t have already got a very good backside edge on your battens to take a seat in opposition to. In our earlier hallway tasks, we used thinner lattice strips as battens as a result of they lined up nicely with our thinner baseboards. However having carried out it each methods, we favor the extra substantial baseboard & thicker battens seen right here.
Step 4: Set up Prime Rail
Step one is hanging the highest rail (the 1 x 4″ board) horizontally across the room. This must be straightforward since you’ve already decided your peak and marked your studs. An airless nail gun like ours makes it fairly quick too.
Simply you should definitely maintain a lengthy degree useful as you do that. Our seashore home is 115 years previous, so not one of the ceilings or flooring are completely straight (wonky partitions = character… proper?). So it’s possible you’ll need to match your degree to the slope of the ceiling as a substitute of blindly going by what the extent says. That may assist your closing set up look essentially the most degree to your eye as a result of it’s going to look parallel to the closest aircraft.
We use our miter noticed to chop the boards to size, however you’ll be able to lower by hand in case you’d favor. You possibly can even get Residence Depot to make the cuts for you in case you have measured them out beforehand. We didn’t do any angled or mitered cuts within the corners, so it’s fairly easy. The one angled lower we did was on the wall you see above the place we had to make use of two board items to span the entire wall. The angled lower helps to cover the joint greater than straight cuts, however it’s not vital.
Step 5: Set up Vertical Battens
Now that you simply’ve warmed up your measuring, slicing, and nailing muscle groups, it’s time for the principle occasion: putting in your vertical battens. It’s definitely not rocket science – particularly in case you’ve already decided your spacing – however the forwards and backwards of this course of can get a bit tedious. I favor to measure every one earlier than I lower it simply to be protected (once more, our partitions aren’t completely degree). This helps to make sure that your battens match as snugly as doable.
The opposite factor I extremely advocate is making a “spacer” out of scrap wooden. You possibly can see mine within the picture above (it’s between the 2 center battens floating beneath the highest rail). This makes it straightforward to make sure every vertical batten is evenly spaced with out having to interrupt out a tape measure every time. Since my 2.5″ huge battens are 18″ aside from middle to middle, my spacer is lower to fifteen.5″ huge.
Some individuals apply glue or caulk behind these battens, since your nails aren’t all the time hitting studs. I don’t like to do this due to the additional injury it might go away on the wall if we ever resolve to take away the wall remedy. I’ve discovered that they keep in place lots nicely with just a few nails up and down the board, plus the caulked edges and the paint you’ll be including subsequent. Simply don’t hold something actually heavy (like a coat hook) until that batten has been nailed to a stud.
Step 6: Thoughts The Corners
Maybe you’ve ironed this out in your planning step, however generally the spacing can get a bit tough relying on the size of your wall. We typically tried to middle one batten within the room, after which set up them evenly at 18″ till we bought to the corners (or a door or window). , if that final one bought “lower off” within the nook, so be it.
However we found by some trial and error that the corners appeared finest when two “full” battens met one another. By full I imply that they didn’t overlap within the nook, which might’ve made one look skinnier than the opposite.
In order you’ll be able to see within the picture above, this meant not pushing our nook battens absolutely into the nook. As a substitute, they floated off the nook ever so barely so not one of the nook battens overlapped one another. This manner they each appeared full dimension as a substitute of 1 trying slimmer than the opposite.
Step 7: Add Prime Ledge
After skipping a prime ledge for our first board & batten mission, we’ve since determined it’s value the additional effort. A flat ledge seems to be extra substantial and creates a spot to lean art work or one thing on prime. So as to add it, we used a 1 x 2″ board simply nailed alongside the highest.
We don’t plan to lean something on ours, however in case you do (notably one thing heavy) it’s possible you’ll need to think about using screws as a substitute of or along with your nails.
Step 8: Spackle & Sand Nail Holes
Earlier than you paint, you’ll need to fill your whole nail holes. Lots of our podcast listeners stated this 4-in-1 spackle instrument is ideal for a job like this. And also you guys had been proper. And spackle knife would do, however this fashion was so quick!
To make use of it, you squeeze a dot of spackle out of the tube after which flip it round to easy it with the flat edge on the again. It has a sanding pad on the cap too, however we discovered it simpler to make use of a bigger, common sanding block.
Make sure you mud off the sanded areas too earlier than you paint. A microfiber fabric or paper towel works nice for this.
Step 9: Caulk Seams
Subsequent, caulk any seam the place your boards meet the wall or each other. This helps disguise any bows in your wall and makes the board and batten appear to be it’s a part of the wall – not simply one thing nailed on prime of it.
We love this Excessive Stretch caulk as a result of it resists cracking and separating when the temperature or humidity in your home adjustments. Our native retailer was out of it so we used this quick dry stuff as a substitute, which can be fairly good – particularly in case you’re desirous to get portray.
You in all probability received’t want a thick line of caulk for this mission, so watch out to not lower an excessive amount of off the tip of your caulk tube (even higher in case you can lower it at a slight angle and maintain it good and small). That may assist this half go quicker and also you’ll keep cleaner. You possibly can all the time lower off extra if wanted.
We discovered it was quickest to squeeze out a skinny line of caulk round all 4 sides of a specific “field” unexpectedly, reasonably than stopping to easy all sides one by one. Dip your finger right into a cup of heat water earlier than smoothing the caulk line yields a smoother end result – and retains the caulk from sticking to your finger.
So there’s the board & batten tutorial for everybody who has been ready for it – and for anybody who desires to see the room accomplished (and be taught all about how we hung the wallpaper & learn our ideas for that course of) that’s coming! We simply need to take some images with the great digital camera & write that every one up for you (we even made a video tutorial for that one). Within the meantime, listed here are another DIY wall remedy tasks you may need to attempt:
Board & Batten FAQs
Is board & batten outdated?
Nope! Board and batten is a timeless look that may be tailored to many types and functions. To maintain it from trying dated, paint it a crisp white (we love SW Pure White) or one other on-trend shade.
What sort of wooden can you utilize for board & batten?
You should use many kinds of wooden or MDF to get the board & batten look. We like to make use of pre-primed pine or lattice strips for our battens as a result of it saves time. In case you are putting in boards over your drywall, MDF panels gives you a smoother end than plywood. Simply don’t use MDF in a humid location like a rest room or kitchen as a result of moisture could cause it to warp. If putting in outside, you should definitely use strain handled wooden or cedar to face up to the weather.
The place does board & batten look finest?
There aren’t any exhausting guidelines about the place board & batten can be utilized. It’s fashionable for hallways & entryways, in addition to bedrooms & eating rooms. Simply be certain your wall house is massive sufficient to suit at the very least 3 panels, so the repetition is smart.
How excessive ought to board & batten be?
Board & batten usually seems to be the perfect between 1/2 and a pair of/3 up your wall. It may possibly even go all the way in which to the ceiling! We advise utilizing painter’s tape to visualise the perfect peak on your house, conserving in thoughts the peak of ceilings, doorways, and art work. We advocate erring on the facet of upper than decrease, particularly if going that “midway” look. A real midway measurement usually seems to be too low, so take into account dishonest it a bit larger.
How far aside ought to board & batten be?
We advise spacing your vertical battens between 12″ and 20″ aside. The bigger your room, the broader it’s possible you’ll need to house them. We advocate testing your house with painter’s tape first. And do not forget that totally different partitions in your could require barely totally different spacing in an effort to stop small or cut-off sections within the corners.
Can you put in board & batten on textured partitions?
Sure, however you received’t be capable to use your current drywall because the “boards” like we do on this tutorial. As a substitute, you’ll need to set up skinny, easy boards over your drywall earlier than including your battens. We advise a skinny MDF that’s screwed into wall studs to attain this.
Extra DIY Wall Therapies
On the lookout for extra concepts so as to add architectural curiosity to your partitions? Listed here are extra of our favourite DIY-friendly wall remedy tasks, together with different iterations of this board & batten:
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