How to Lay Out a Wall for Wainscot Paneling
- 1). Remove the floor trim, using your hammer and pry bar.
- 2). Measure up from the floor on the wall to the height you want for the top of the wainscot paneling, using a measuring tape. Standard height is 36 to 46 inches. If you're going to top the wainscoting in a chair rail, then lower the height to allow for the additional height that will be caused by the chair rail, usually 2 to 4 inches.
- 3). Make several more pencil marks on the wall at the same height off the floor, 3 to 4 feet apart, spanning the whole wall.
- 4). Hold your level along the wall at the height of the marks, and determine if the marks are all the same height. They may not be, even though you measured the same up from the floor, because the floor could be out of level.
- 5). Draw a level line over the wall at the point of the highest mark, from end to end, tracing along your level with a pencil.
- 6). Run the electric stud finder along the wall. Draw a straight vertical line with your pencil, alongside the level, to show the position of each stud. Make the line go from the floor to just above the horizontal line. The vertical lines should be 16 inches apart. Use the horizontal line as the guide to cut and install your paneling, and use to vertical lines to show where to nail it into the wall so it grabs studs.
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