Add a Decorative Newel Post

After the maple countertop was installed (this post), it was time to finish up by adding the trim. For the most part, I was able to reuse the casings and jambs from the old doorway that was here except for across the top of the new opening. In addition to the casings, the homeowners wanted me to add a decorative post at the end.

For the post, I used a poplar newel post that is normally used as part of a stairway handrail. Ahead of installation I cut off the ball on top and then primed and painted it.

I hated to write on or put screws into the beautiful countertop, but alas, it had to be done! First, I taped a scrap of building paper to the spot so that I could mark my guidelines and make sure that I didn't make any unnecessary pencil marks on the counter. I left this here through the installation and just tore off the paper after the post was in place.

I bought a 'newel post bracket kit' to install the post. The kit includes four brackets to attach the post and then some decorative trim that is pre-cut and meant to cover the brackets. (I painted these ahead of time as well.)

I cut the post around 1/8" short and then used shims underneath to press it snugly up against the top jamb. The gap on the bottom will be covered by the brackets and this prevents it from being so tightly fitting that I risk any scratches to that countertop. (Yes, I'm being very protective of that counter, they aren't cheap to replace!! :)

I fastened the top of the post with some finish nails and then covered the holes with putty and paint.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Prepare the Door Jambs for Tile

One of the marks of a professional tile job is how the door jambs look when you're done. The idea is to not leave any raw edges of tile showing. These should be covered with trim of some kind, unless it's up against a threshold or cabinet. Let's talk about how I handle the tile around the door, which can be a tricky spot.

To make the cuts to the door jamb or casing, I use one of my new favorite tools, a Rockwell Sonicrafter. It has a small blade that oscillates back-and-forth allowing you to make plunge cuts into wood that would be otherwise impossible, or at least, barely possible.

I used to attempt these cuts with a reciprocal saw which is crazy at best. It's hard to control and I would normally end up replacing all the casing after the damage I made...

The Sonicrafter comes to the rescue. It's nearly identical to the Fein Multimaster, but costs much less. I considered the Fein, but for the amount of use that I give it, I think the Rockwell tool will suit me fine. So far I'm thrilled with it and I'm sure I'll think of many more uses for it as time goes on.

Anyway, for this project, I laid the blade over a scrap of the 1/2" Hardibacker and a piece of tile and used this height to guide my cut. Adding to this the width of the blade, this will usually be exactly the right height to allow me to slide the tile in underneath later.

This picture shows how it looks after I've laid the tile. The marble threshold butts up to the inside of the door jamb, while the tile slides under the casing back to the wall. Any exposed edges will get covered up by the baseboard and shoe moulding.

For most bathrooms, I like to use a marble threshold (also called a sanitary sill) at the doorway. This should be placed directly under the door, but it's typically wider than the door. I prefer to notch the door jambs and slide it forward until it's flush with the door jamb on the inside.

If you don't do this, you'll have a small place in the corner that won't get covered by the door casing where you'll have a tricky cut or a very small piece of tile to deal with as you can see in this picture.

Grouting the tile and caulking around the threshold complete the job and hopefully leave the homeowner with a top-notch finished product.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

The Baseboard Puzzle

Trim is usually a highlight of a project, mainly because I'm finally doing something that people will see and enjoy, as opposed to framing which is important but hidden in the walls.

The room that used to be an old garage is becoming a nice office or bedroom, looking nothing like its former self. One of the main details of the room was the small ledge that was created by the cement block wall that runs around the lower portion of room. This was an opportunity to reuse a few of the old 1x8 boards that were covering the garage walls when I started.

Most of the baseboard was straight-forward, but I did have to spend some time running baseboard up each side of the steps. (See this post about building the steps.)

On the right side, I even had to go around the corner at the bottom. If you're working a puzzle like this, my advice is to dry fit several pieces and then tack them together with brads and glue before installing them on the wall. If your steps are square, then you should be able to get tight joints. The steps will later be finished off with carpet.

It took a couple days to get all the trim done and prepped for paint, but now I'm ready for the paint brush. Stay tuned for some color...

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Installing the Back Door

It was finally time to install the back door at my garage conversion project (see these posts). The old back door was damaged and needed to be moved because of the new utility room wall that will soon be framed. I found a great door at Hailey's Salvage (this post) that will coordinate well with the rest of the home.

I started by adding treated trimmer studs on either sides of the door. I used treated because they come in contact with the cement at the bottom and this will help them not to absorb water and rot. I measured the exact dimensions of the door and framed the entire doorway, leaving around 1" around the door for the doorjamb with some wiggle-room.

If you can find a pre-hung door already in a door jamb it will be easier to install. We didn't have this luxury so I made the door jamb and even installed the door in it before placing it in the doorway. It doesn't always make sense to do it this way, but it allowed me to make sure my doorjamb was the right size to have around 1/8" gap around the door for a perfect fit.

The framing was level so installing the door was pretty straightforward, starting with the hinge side and working my way around the door to make sure all the gaps were parallel and the door fit right.

Now I could start thinking about the exterior trim. These old houses are tricky because they use trim that is hard to find these days. You have to be creative and basically custom make each piece. For the door and window casings, the original was a full inch thick (not 3/4" like most boards are today). It needs to be this thick because of the depth of the wood siding that butts up next to it. So, the stock I start with is 5/4" x 4" Paulownia. This may require some explanation.

First, Paulownia is a light-weight wood similar to balsa except stronger and resistant to splitting. It's very popular for exterior trim because it's naturally resistant to rot and decay. I get mine at Walker Ace Lumber and it comes already primed. The 5/4" x 4" boards are actually 1 1/8" by 3 1/2". That will work for our purposes, though I'll have to rip them all down to 3" wide to match the other window and door casings.

The other trick is what to use for that little trim that is on top of the door and windows. It's actually called a drip-cap. They sell it at the home stores like Home Depot, but theirs is a little bulkier than the historic stuff. I prefer the one that Walker Lumber has because it's shape is right and it's made out of PVC. PVC is a great choice for exterior trim because it won't rot. This especially good for a drip-cap because if it's wood it will eventually rot.

My technique is to first cut the top trim and the drip cap and nail them together as a unit. The drip cap has a lip on the back that actually slides under the wood siding. This is very important in keeping the water out of the house. I install the top trim first and then I can see where I need to cut the siding to install the side pieces. I make a chalk line and cut it with my jig saw upside down at an angle (like you're about to do a plunge cut). I find that using the jig saw like this is a little more accurate than trying to do it with the reciprocal saw.

The trim goes in quickly with some long trim nails. For this installation, make sure the nails are galvanized. This will help prevent rust showing up from the nail heads.

Pink siding with a green door? Why not?

Just kidding, it will get painted... :)

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Add Some Crown to the Beadboard Porch Ceiling

This week I took a morning to do some trimwork for a friend who had just installed a beadboard porch ceiling at his Inglewood home. It's a beautiful stone home that is getting some updated finishes like cedar posts to replace those ornate steel ones that were holding up the porch and rusting out.

Anyway, they left the crown moulding for me and I was glad. It's fun to see how things transform once you add trim. You can tell from the pictures that it still needs some paint, but the change is already remarkable.

This porch took around 80 feet of 3 5/8" crown. It's wide so I got to use some 16-footers. Again, I used a longer 2x4 as a helper to hold one end while I secured the other end. If you're trimming out a porch with crown you might like these posts:

Tips for Installing Crown Moulding

Crown Moulding- How To Get Tight Outside Corners

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Improvise Trim for French Doors

Improvisation works for jazz and McGyver, so why not me, right?

After installing the French Doors in this post, we met a problem when it came to trimming between the doors and the windows. Mullion trim would be perfect, except that I couldn't find any that was the right width for this project. Further, we needed a skinny piece to run across the top of the door to match.

What to do? Time to go custom...

For our purposes, it really didn't need to be fancy. I wanted to start with a thin board and round over the edges. A typical 1x4 would be 3/4" thick which is still too much. Instead, I bought some wider pine baseboard and ripped off the decorative edge with my table saw to leave me with a 3" board that was only about 1/2" think. Perfect!

Next I used my router to round the edges and then sanded them down as you can see in the picture. Once the boards had been transformed into decorative mouldings, I was ready to install them as usual.

This was the last piece of this puzzle. It was time to putty and caulk all those seams! Fight that temptation to skip the caulk, even with a brand new door installation. The caulk makes everything look seamless so that instead of looking at gaps you can enjoy the new door.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Trim for Inglewood Kitchen Project

It was trim day at my kitchen project which is always fun because of the transformation that takes place when you start hiding all the rough edges.

The kitchen has 4 doorways that all got 3 1/4" casing. Some of the door jambs had to be extended with furring strips by about 3/8" because of the drywall that I had installed that made the walls a little thicker. (See this post)

In addition to the doors and a little baseboard, I installed some thing trim around the large recessed refrigerator to hide the unfinished ends of the drywall. There was also a matching cavity above the fridge that would hold a couple wine racks that I trimmed out as well. (See picture).

Now that the Travertine flooring is installed and grouted and the trim is going in, we are very close the end of this project. I'll start caulking and puttying trim tomorrow and wrap this up with some paint after that.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Custom Transom for Interior Door

A client of mine wanted to add French doors to divide a large bonus room upstairs in his home. It's the same room where we installed the laminate flooring a few weeks ago. (See this post.)

Anyway, he ordered the doors to be custom made to fit this opening.  The only problem was, there was still a 7 inch gap at the top.  Instead of covering this with drywall or trim, he wanted me to build a transom or window over the door to coordinate with the French doors below.

I measured the door frame below and wanted to match this size with the transom above.  I bought some 1/8th inch window glass and made the frames out of 1x6 boards that I had to rip to 4 1/2 inches.  To strengthen the corners I made mortise joints in the horizontal pieces that the sides would fit into.  You can see the notches in the picture.

The glass would be set toward the back, around 3/4" from the edge to match the French doors.  Thinking ahead, I realized that if I put this all together I would not be able to get my nail gun inside the frame to nail the muntins in place. ( A muntin is the strip of wood trim that will hold the window in place.) So, I glued & nailed the top and bottom muntins before I assembled the frame.  You can see in the first picture that the muntin is already in place.

I clamped the frame together on a flat surface with a little glue and held it together with a couple clamps while a put some nails in the corners.  The clamps enabled me to square it up perfectly before I nailed it.  It needs to be square so that the window will fit right.

Now that the frame was finished I inserted the glass over the muntins I already installed and added the muntins on the other side.  This would 'sandwich' the glass in place.

WHERE DID I GET MUNTINS?   

This took a little improvisation.  I ended up buying some pieces of mullion trim that are widely available and 1 1/4" wide.  (Mullion is trim that separates different windows, whereas muntins separate panes of glass, at least that's how I understand it...)  I ripped about 3/8" off of each edge to use as the muntins.  This worked great for this project because the edge profile was a very close match for the muntins used for the doors and sidelight.

Once the transoms were completely built I positioned them in place above the door and tacked them in place with some finish nails.  All that was left was add normal door casing.

It was a beautiful day and this was a fun project.  Kind of like craft day at school, except with nail guns...

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Crown Moulding- How to Get Tight Outside Corners

I was installing crown moulding at my current kitchen remodel and thought I'd cover some tips for installing it. Let's start with those pesky outside corners. How do you get them to match up just right?

The first step is to get the cuts right. See yesterday's post for that lesson.

Then, before I work on the outside corner I like to cut the other end of each piece involved in the outside corner. This may mean a coped cut that will fit with the adjoining piece.

After making this cut and/or coping it, I like to hold it in place if possible so that the long end runs past the corner. Then, I can mark exactly where the corner is and make the cut. Even still, I may cut it just a bit long and test fit it to make sure it will be snug.

When that's finished, DON'T NAIL IT yet... Lay it aside and do the opposite piece for the corner. Cut it in the same fashion and test fit it with the first piece to make sure there will be no gaps.

Now that the pieces are cut to fit, lay them on the floor (or a flat work table if they'll fit). Add a bit of wood glue to one end and nail them together with small brads. I use 1" brads for this. Usually, I can get two brads in each side. You have to hold them carefully and get those nails in right or you may be taking all apart to fix it!

With the corner now assembled perfectly, you can hold the pieces in place and nail them up there. If your corner is square and the ceiling level this will leave you with an outside corner that you can be proud of, even without caulk!

By the way, this process also works great for other outside corners like baseboard, especially then there are small pieces with weird angles involved.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Tips for Installing Crown Moulding

I thought I'd share a couple tips to installing 'standard' crown moulding that may save you some time and improve your work as well. Let's start with some preparations.

PREPARE FOR SUCCESS

Like most jobs, the prepwork is foundational to ending up with quality work. Crown can be a frustrating character, especially if you're working by yourself. The first thing I like to do is lay a piece of the trim against the fence of my miter saw (since I know it's square) and measure how far down the wall the trim will come. (See picture)

The particular crown came 3" down from the ceiling, so I went around the entire room and made a mark at 3", especially in the corners. If you want, you can even mark this with a chalk line. The purpose is to give you a reference point so that your crown doesn't twist or gradually rise or fall as you go along. Keeping it level is one key to having tight joints.

USE THE TRIANGLES

Cutting crown can be a real mystery to figure out. I used to have to think very hard and make lots of test cuts before I figured out the system. Well, I've gotten better at, but I've also discovered the triangle.

Most miter saws will have a triangle mark (or circle) on them, to use as a 'cheater' for cutting crown. You probably have two sets of them depending on the type of crown, depending on the angle that the crown is to the ceiling. I won't get too technical, but my crown was the 38/52 type which meant that I could use the triangles at miter angle of 31.6 degrees and a bevel of 33.9 degrees.

You don't have to know all the technical stuff to do this. Just put your saw at the two triangle marks and cut with the crown laying flat on the saw. You still have to think a little bit to make sure you're doing it the right way, but if you trust the triangle, your cuts will likely be more reliable.

NOTE: Another way to cut is to lean the crown, usually upside down, against the fence of your miter saw at the same angle that it will be against the ceiling. With this position you won't use the triangles, but the actual angles that you're working with for each dimension. This position may be helpful if you have non standard angles for corners or if your crown is non-standard angle to the corner.

INSTALL THE CROWN

I like to do the longest run first, because it can be cut square on each end. Then, I usually do the next one to the left because it will have a square cut on the left end of it and a coped cut (using the triangles and your handy coping saw) to join up to the previous piece. An outside corner will interrupt this pattern, but you can continue after the corner around the room.

Start nailing at the end that joins the previously installed piece. I usually work alone, so I have to make a jig or at least lean a 2x4 against the wall to support the other end until I get to it. Make sure to get those corners tight and keep the crown level along those lines you made on the wall.

Finally, this is the time to use a finish nailer with some long nails. I usually use 2 1/2" finish nails that I can shoot up through the middle of the crown into the plates at the top of the wall. You need to hit something solid or the crown will eventually sag and crack the caulk if it's painted. If you can't find a stud or anything solid, you can criss-cross two nails in the same spot that will hold the crown pretty good as long as you're hitting studs most of the time.

Crown can really transform a room which is what makes this project so fun. Hopefully, these tips help keep the fun from getting squashed for you!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Cove, The Un-Crown, Crown Moulding

Part of some work I've been doing for some friends was to drywall a plaster ceiling in a bathroom that wasn't looking so great. As part of this project we thought it might be nice to add some trim as well. To match the changing area just outside the bathroom I used a 1 3/4" cove trim.

Cove is not typically thought of as crown moulding. More often, it's used for inside corners with beadboard or paneling. For this small bathroom where a larger crown might be overkill, this seems to dress up the room just enough.

Just like other crown moulding, I coped the corners just like I would with normal crown moulding for a tight fit. First, I cut it upside-down at a 45 degree angle while holding the trim against the fence like the picture. Then I used the coping saw to cut along the front edge of the mitered cut, removing as much off the back as possible so it will fit snugly next to the adjacent piece.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Beadboard Porch Ceiling and Drip Cap

Having the roof done means it's time to finally add some trim to this porch I've been working on.

The old porch had a beadboard ceiling. To get the look without the expense, my clients opted for the beadboard plywood. This went up first after I cut out a hole for the light.

The rest of the porch trim is mostly 1x6 boards inside and out. With the sides finished, I put one on the bottom and mitered the corners at 45 degree angles.

The face of the porch will match the street starting with a drip cap above the bottom 1x6. When I did my first renovation, I thought this was just a 1x2, but have since discovered that most of the home stores actually sell a specialty trim called 'drip cap'. Sometimes it's made out of PVC for weather resistance, but I'm using wood for this project.

The drip cap is supposed to guide the water away from the trim below, and it just looks great. It also has a small lip on the top that the first row of wood siding will overlap. It's very common in older homes from the early 1900's and can add distinctive character, especially when it's used around the base of an entire home like it was at my Eastside Bungalow project.

Anyway, the trim is finished and the porch looks like a porch. It's a good feeling.

-Peter

http://www.carpentryguy.com/

Carpentry Basics- Make Accurate Cuts

One of the basics of any type of construction work is to make accurate measurements. Many people can get by with "close enough" but sometimes, the cut needs to be perfect in order to fit.

To get accurate measurements, you have pay attention and think a little more as you measure and cut.

First, measure the length to be cut exactly. For instance, I was cutting several pieces today that needed to be 51 inches long. They all needed to be the same in order to fit snugly. So, I marked the lumber at 51 inches... -WAIT!

This is the important part- How do you mark it??

To get accurate cuts you have to watch where you put the mark. Is it right on 51"? Is it just above/below? This is very important.

I've developed the habit of always marking just above the measurement. This way, you will cut "on the mark" leaving no pencil line on the finished piece. So, for a 51" cut, my pencil mark is to the right of the 51" line.

When I make the cut on the miter saw, I line up the left edge of the blade with the left edge of my pencil mark, assuming I measured from my left. This way, the remaining piece is exactly 51".

Once you start paying attention to this it will become habit. You'll probably be surprised at how your cuts will get better and you won't have to "re-do" as often.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Spruce Up Those Windows!

I spent much of last week working on a sunroom that needed some repair. After fixing the cedar siding (read this post), I went to work on the windows.

The wood casement windows mainly just needed to be scraped and painted, however there were a couple small trim pieces that had rotted and come loose.

I would have to make the replacement pieces using my tablesaw to rip a small board down to a 3/8" x 1/2" moulding that would replace the one around the window. After replacing the trim, I caulked the gaps which were mainly around the sill at the bottom.

Then, I scraped all the loose paint off, trying to catch as many of the paint chips on a drop cloth below and gave the windows a coat of paint.

This homeowner was wise to attend to these windows now before they deteriorated more. If they had waited much longer, it's likely that more the wood would have been damaged and needing to be replaced. Now their sunroom is all spruced up and ready to go!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Keep the Birds Out of Your House!

Birds live in nests, right?

Well, not always...

At today's project, the birds had made their way into the walls of a client's sunroom. They seemed to have moved on for now, so it was time to do some repairs.

The exterior walls of the sunroom were covered in 8" cedar bevelled lap siding. It's just like the wood siding that you find on older homes, except that it's cedar and doesn't have to be painted. One drawback with cedar is that the boards can be somewhat brittle, meaning that they may split over time, and birds can dig their way through knot holes and make a home in the walls.

I started loosening the nails and removing siding when I saw into one of the nests and found that the animals had worn much of the insulation off of an electrical wire that supplies the outlets in the sunroom. There were bare wires showing! It's amazing that no birds got killed and the wire didn't short out... or worse!

Now my day of siding repair included some electrical repairs as I fished a new wire through the walls to replace the damaged one.

This is a prime example of why birds should stick to nests... :)

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Make the Window A/C Disappear

In getting ready to sell their home, some clients wanted me to remove an old air conditioner and patch the hole. It was quite unsightly and hadn't worked for years. It was a straightforward project, but I can understand how things like this get put off. (I have stuff like that around my house too!)


Anyway, after getting the unit out and not breaking my back, I removed the old trim, etc. from the A/C hole. Once I got down to just the framing, I added a couple nailers and started putting things back together. The siding was 1x8 beveled spruce which was easy to replace.

Thankfully, the hole was directly between two windows so I didn't have any weird seams to deal with. If you're patching a similar hole, try to not let any two pieces of siding end on the same stud. Try to overlap to make it less obvious that there was once a hole here. This may even require cutting and re-installing some existing siding so that the breaks are in the right spots.

With a little caulk and paint the homeowner said something like, "You'd never know there was a hole there!"

That's about the best compliment I can get.

-Peter


www.CarpentryGuy.com

Coping Baseboard Inside Corners

When trimming an inside corner with crown moulding, the best way to make the joint is to 'cope' the corner with a coping saw. This is also true when laying baseboard or even shoe moulding. Here's how it works with baseboard like I was doing this week:

1. Install the first piece with the end square and flush with the wall.

2. The next piece will get 'coped'. Cut the end at a 45 degree angle with the back being the longer edge. (See Fig. 1)

3. Grab a coping saw. Cut along this edge with the saw angled back into the board (Fig. 2). You may want to lightly sand your cut to make a really smooth edge.

4. When you've got it right, the front edge will sit flush with the piece you've already installed with no gaps and you're done!

Coping is better because even if the piece moves a little, as trim will do sometimes, there will not be a gap because the boards overlap. If you cut both boards with a 45 degree angle and one moves, then you'll have a gap in the corner.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Repair for a Rotted Eave

Today, I was helping some clients by repairing a rotted eave above the porch on the Victorian home in one of Nashville's older neighborhoods. It has an interesting design where the porch roof has a valley that directs water to the sides of the home without having gutters along the front.

It may have worked well when it was installed, but now there are a couple very small places where the roof is beginning to let water through and it's rotting the fascia board.

Expecting the worst, I began removing the rotted portions until I found solid wood. It's worth noting that this exact repair seemed to have been done before, so it may be a recurring problem with this roof's design. Whatever the case, my job was to just repair the eave, not replace the roof.

With the rotted fascia boards off, I 'sistered' some new nailers on the side of the rafters that were weakened. (Sistering boards means that I nailed one member along side of another to strengthen it.) With this done, it was time to add the new boards.

Let's remember that this is an OLD house. Not only that, but one with some unconventional parts. As best I could, I ripped some 1x10s to match the old fascia and got it all put back together.

Tomorrow, I'll putty,caulk & paint and seal up those pesky holes in the roof. Maybe this repair will last a little longer than the last one.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Built In Bathroom Cabinet

As part of 'trim day' yesterday I not only took care of the wainscoating, but I also built a small cabinet to fit in a small alcove behind the bathroom door in my bathroom renovation.

I had been designing this in my head from the beginning. I thought it would be cool to have a counter with an outlet where the homeowner could put electric razors or a hair dryer, etc- a place to contain the mess. Below the counter I built a two-shelf cabinet with doors.

The cabinet is actually only a cabinet face. The sides and back are just the drywall that was already there. I mounted supports on the wall to hold the shelves and just attached everything to studs that I put in just the right spot when I was framing.

I made the front of the cabinet out of higher-grade pine and the doors are nice plywood. At the bottom I put a 3" toe-kick to give the feeling that this is more like a piece of furniture than just some storage cabinet. It turned out great and looks even better with paint.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Beadboard Wainscoating for the Bathroom

Today I watched my bathroom project transform. It was trim day which is always one of my favorites. The owner wanted all the old house charm in this bathroom- subway tile surround, hex tile floor, and beadboard wainscoating.

The wainscoating I used actually comes in 4x8 sheets. They call it "ply-bead" at Home Depot. (It's in the plywood section not with the paneling.) It achieves the look of beadboard without the associated cost. (Also great for porch ceilings: see this article for more.)

QUICK NOTE: The "bead" in beadboard refers to the little rounded ridges. HardwoodInfo.com says that it's a "narrow, half-round moulding".

I started by deciding on the best height for the beadboard. From the beginning of this project I've been considering this so I would keep the outlets out of the way of the top trim on the wainscoating. Mine ended up around 43 1/2" off the floor. I cut my panels at 43" because the baseboard will cover the bottom and this will give me plenty of wiggle room.

Many times people use a height of around 32" because you can get three panels from each sheet of plywood and they even sell these pre-cut at the home stores. However, I think the higher height has more old house character.

The first piece had all the holes for the plumbing and an outlet. It's very important that the edges of your panels are on studs so think about this before you place the first one. Also, the panels are made to overlap- one side has about a 1/2" lip. You want to place your pieces so that you do the receiving piece first and the one with the lip second.

I add a little liquid nails to the wall and put the panels up next. Since they'll have trim covering the top and bottom edges, I'm mainly concerned with getting them level vertically so that the beads don't lean.

Home stores actually sell a paneling cap that is made to go along the top edge of panels like this. It works fine, but I thought it wouldn't fit the look of this room. Instead, I wanted to have a small ledge around the top of my wainscoating where the homeowner could put stuff if they wanted.

To make the ledge, I bought some 1/2" x 2" squared trim pieces that I found at Lowe's. I ripped it to 1 1/2" so that it wouldn't interfere with any switch covers. (You have to think about this stuff!) I put this basically flush with the top edge of the panels, but made sure it was level all the way around. On top of this I added my small ledge that was actually some door stop trim with one rounded edge. I mitered the corners and attached it with wood glue and brads. It looked great!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com