Chair Rail “Room Prep & Installation”

This post was written by Caldo on December 24, 2008
Posted Under: How To

davezillionOften times a little change to a room or hallway can make a big visual difference.  A chair rail, the wooden molding on a wall that is placed level with the back of a chair and is often used to separate different colors of paint, is an easy choice to add some life to a room waiting to be spruced up.  Although impressive looking, when you break it down it’s not very difficult to install a chair rail and change wall colors in order to upgrade the look of a room or other space.  Installing the chair rail is a two part process.  Preparing the room and walls is first and the actual installation of the trim is second.

           

Preparing the room the correct way will save you lots of time. You should do the following first:

 

·        Choose the top height at which you want the chair rail to be installed.

·        Head out to the local lumber yard or do-it-yourself store and choose a trim style                                                         that fits with the room décor.  When purchasing the trim, survey the length of each wall to be trimmed. Whenever possible choose the trim in lengths that will allow you to use a single piece for each wall. This will avoid piecing the trim together in the middle of the wall.  (Note: If this is your first time or it’s been awhile, you may want to consider purchasing an extra couple feet of trim for two reasons: 1)Practice your 45° corner cuts  2)A little extra for possible mistakes)

·        Once chosen, measure the width of the trim.

·        Choose paint colors for the top and bottom (each side of the chair rail)                                                                                .

Once you’ve done that initial prep work, you are ready to get started.

 

As mentioned above, the first step is preparing the room.  I know the first thing you want to do is jump right in and get that chair rail installed.  Trust me, I’ve done this more times than I want to count, and preparing the room first will save time and aggravation and you will end up with a great result. Here’s what you need to do to get the room ready:

 

1.      You’ve already chosen the height and the style of trim.  Now you will need to make multiple marks along the wall that are equivalent to the height (measuring from the top of the trim) that you have chosen minus half the width of the trim.  (Example: if you’ve chosen a 40-inch height for the molding and it is 4 inches wide, you will want to mark at 38 inches. To make sure you keep everything level, mark the wall every few feet.

2.      Once your marks are set, using a pencil, draw a line around the room using either a traditional level or a laser level.

3.      Now you’re ready to prepare the room for the paint job.  Yeah that’s right, your going to paint the room (both colors) before you install the trim.

4.      Remove hanging objects and wipe down the walls to get rid of any dust.

5.      Get some painter’s tape at your local hardware store.  Check to make sure the width of the tape you are using is less than the width of the trim being installed.

6.      Hang the painter’s tape on the wall keeping the center of the pencil line you drew (in Step 2) running through the center of the painter’s tape.

7.      Now you’re ready to paint. Exciting times, I know.  Depending on your skill level of painting, you may want to tape off other pieces of molding in the room such as doorways and windows to avoid getting paint on them.

8.      Paint the top section of the wall overlapping the tape and also the bottom section of the wall overlapping the tape.

9.      Once complete with all the coats necessary to get the shade you are looking for, peel off the painter’s tape.

 

Now you’ve painted the room without having to cut in the paint on the chair rail and avoided a possible mess. You’re halfway there.

 

                                    (COME BACK TOMORROW FOR PART TWO)

 

 

Caldo’s here to give you a virtual hand with all of your home projects. Send him questions at caldo@davezillion.com

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