making flooring into wainscott

[phil]

a little further.
the plinth blocks were too short so I made new ones from old growth fir parts from steps in an old building.

installed the air return vent I made. it fit in ok, much better than the painted tin cover it had.

I have more to do , its a bit slow since I am adding strips to build them out from the wall so they don't become buried later with wainscot. I started with the longer ones so now the ones left are all 4 feet or shorter and a bit easier to handle.
feels nice to at least get rid of some of the paint, as you can see the doors and other parts still need doing but its a process.
the 1/4 round I will leave off for now I can do that all at once.

[Gothichome]

Phill. That looks pretty good. After the wainscoting goes up are you planning a bullnose to hide the ends. I think some hing like a thinner half round might look nice. It would provide a bit of a shadow line an add a bit off extra detail

[phil]

my plan is to run the wainscott up to eye level because it was like that by evidence of the scratch coat of original plaster. then to cap it off with a shelf maybe 4-6 inches wide. further up at about 16 inches below the ceiling there will the top part of the window casings. Just above that I planned a wider shelf about a foot wide possibly.

Im still open to changes. I dont think I actually have enough flooring to make enough to go that high all around the room with wainscott and it is normally only run up to a chair rail in a living room area. a while back Lily posted a pic of a parlor with high wainscott and I took some inspiration from that.

I want the shelves to make a radio display that potentially could run all around the room and free up storage space and allow them to be shown. some are table radios typically not that big but some are cathedral or tombstone radios that may have a height of about 24 inches. the more I can get up on the walls the better. a bedroom full of bookshelves is an option but then I have no reason to go in there other than to show a visitor.

I was thinking maybe I could make sort of like a string of clear christmas lights so I can insert one into the dial lamp area to light all the dials woithout them needing any modification or to be powered up. they display nicer with the dial lamps lit up. maybe also some lamps to light up the display like they use in kitchens under the upper cabinets. I could run power and antenna to use some of them but the main purpose is just to let others see them when they visit without needing to occupy so much of my house as storage.

too much stuff on the walls might be an earthquake hazard or might make people feel there is a danger of things falling on them. the shelf could have a front edge, like a bump so things cant slide off and they dont exactly move on their own. I might be able to secure some to a cable and maybe a screw eye in the back of them.
I can make it with enough strength to support the weight safely, but Im not sure if I'm creating some weird visual proportions.
first I will get all my casings and baseboards back in place , they were off way too long. and then I'm planning to do one wall with wainscot and then see how I feel. If it feels too closed in I might have to lighten up the plan or make some of it lower. Where I have windows the wainscot will only be as high as the window sill.
I'll leave the side of the fireplace for now. I have about 4' either side and that could be a built in shelving unit that ties in with the wainscot.
part of it is where you come in the door shown in the pics, that space is not well used and will also function as a coat closet with a shelf above.

for all the shelf brackets I was thinking of copying the dimensions of the typical craftsman roof brackets but scaled down to fit.

I stepped out the baseboards a little so the wainscot doesn't bury them and when I put 1/4 plywood plus about 1/4" thick wainscot it should hide the glue joint that you can see along the top of them.
that one corner i cut too short and added back on and tried to hide it but you can see where I added a piece back on. I squished some filler into that joint and haven't sanded it yet. I can probably round that corner over a bit so it isn't so sharp. Thought I'd just ease that corner with sandpaper rather than trying to use the roundover bit. some of the baseboards have butt joints but I am trying to put the ones that need to happen where there will be furniture. Ill probably need to add box extenders to bring the electrical boxes out of the wainscott area.
They all were into the baseboard but I removed them so they can be on the wall rather than cutting even more holes in the baseboards, because I wanted more outlets than original.

[Gothichome]

Phill, I was referring to hiding the bottom of the wainscot were it meets the base boards. The rest of the plan sounds nice though.

[phil]

ok I see..

with the ones in my kitchen I just set them on top of the baseboard, no molding. i found if I cut them off from 90 a bit then I didn't see the gap at the bottom edge so much. Yes I suppose it could have a bullnose or maybe a strip like the quarter round. if they sat behind even a slight indent that might also help them stay up against the wall.

maybe in some houses they just put the wainscot and then the baseboard in front. i thought of that and decided no it's best this way and then it isn't using a bunch more wainscot. I'm trying to not add too much ornateness but try to keep it to the theme but I hadn't really thought of a molding there. do you think it would be a appropriate to have one? I will add a typical 3/4" tall x 1/2 deep quarter round at the floor to hide any gap.

[Gothichome]

Phill, this is what I was thinking of on top of you baseboard
https://www.homedepot.ca/product/alexan ... 1000140170
The undercut will provide a bit of a shadow line and give the appearance of higher grade millwork with out straying from the Craftsman look.

[phil]

The thing is they look extra thick now because I compensated to allow for adding 1/2" material to the walls. The top of the roundover can't have trim on it. that only leaves 1/4" or so of "shelf" on top. I guess I might get away with adding a strip under the wainscot and protruding 1/8th or so but that might be too small.

In other words, what will show after the wainscott is on will only be the original 3/4" of "reveal" and 1/4" of that is the roundover. If I cover the roundover it would make a weird gap.

the way Im visualizing it the bead would also create a sort of a V shape against the wall and that would collect dust. I'm not sure if I'm visualizing the added molding piece the same way you are.

maybe you meant to put it just under the shelf at the top of the wainscot?

in my kitchen I cut the first couple ( in there I used MDF to save cost) and I saw a visible gap where the bottom met the baseboard so I started cutting them at a slight angle so the face is a wee bit longer and that closed up that gap. In there the window sill had been cut down so it didn't protrude as it should. It was flat to the wall, so I extended the sill by adding a wainscot cap to the edge of it and continued that along the wall. that piece has a rounded edge and a little undercut that covers the top edge of the wainscot.

I figured if I make a shelf, I want to bulk up the edge of the shelf a bit so I'd add some sort of molding strip there and it would be rounded off and also form a ledge on the shelf. one way to add strength to a shelf is to put a strip under the shelf where it meets the wall and and under the front edge. this prevents bowing as it functions like a rib. that way I can probably use about a 3/4 inch thick shelf but prevent bowing by bulking up both edges underneath a little. I can probably cut the molding myself once I know what I want.

I set some of the longer pieces of flooring aside thinking I might use that for the shelf but it could be plywood with a fir veneer to save bit of stock.
The joiners at work were able to get fir veneer and they have a press there like a platen with hydraulics, that I could use to veneer my plywood. they have fancy machines, For example a wide belt sander that is a dream for things like what I'm doing with splitting the fir. I could fire it through and out the other side it comes perfectly sanded to thickness.
They will let me do some but I try to keep the stuff at home if I can.

[Manalto]

Phil,
Your baseboard is looking good and will be really nice with the wainscot, whether you decide to add trim or not. You mentioned that cutting it off the 90-degree angle makes a tight fit, so it will appear to extend behind the baseboard - with the advantage that no dirt will accumulate in the gaps (if there are any, as there are with my beadboard wainscot). My suggestion for the shelf is to go with the wider dimension; your radios will be more secure and it will look like some dining rooms I've seen with a tall wainscot and a shelf for platters, teapots and other dining paraphernalia. You might want to consider a plate groove toward the back; it's a pretty standard feature, won't get in the way, and will give you the flexibility to stand up a plate if you decide to go that route. What do you think about wooden brackets, spaced at approximately 3' intervals, "supporting" (whether they do or not) the shelf? It's a typical Craftsman detail. Another Craftsman detail comes to mind - above the tall wainscot, embossed wallpaper, sometimes meant to mimic tooled leather. That may be an East-Coast thing, however.

Your plan to run (LED?) lights through some of the radios to make them glow sounds really beautiful. I demand photos when you're done!

[phil]

thanks James. I am thinking about the brackets and shelves. Il lneed to decide how wide they are. as long as they don't overcome the space too much I'd prefer if they can be wide enough for table radios, and maybe the shelf above could support the larger tombstone and cathedral radios.
as I put the baseboards back Ive been careful to put my nails on the center of the studs so I can find them easily. so any shelf support brackets could be located to the studs. I think others Ive seen were just sort of rounded like if I cut some 1 inch material on the bandsaw then I wouldn't have to go making duplicates of the roof brackets.
I think one issue I have is that I might run out of stock but I figured if I do one wall I can see how it's going and maybe make a better estimate then. I suppose I can always find more fir somehow. the end near my fireplace has 4 feet either side and Im thinking maybe I could build a built in or do something different on that wall to break things up.

such as life I got sidetracked because the washing machine died and I had to take that all apart. last night I got home and my alternator belt had mysteriously gone missing I guess it broke, but I had another to keep 'er going.

[phil]

spent a couple more weekends on this. moving on to the left I had the bay window with about 10 small pieces meeting at angles. I stripped the paint, sanded the face of each, glued two 1/2" strips to the back. cleaned up the edges on my jointer and did a fresh roundover with the router. then fitted each again. some I moved around and substituted because they were too short or damaged. Its kind of fussy and I'm looking forward to moving past installing the baseboards but I'm winning. I still have the hall to restore and the bathroom, and they are painted too. I'll get there. living room first.

I already trimmed most of the flooring to a even dimension and removed the T and G. I'm planning to split the material which is now about 5/8 or so down to 1/4" thick strips. I practiced on my tablesaw and that works but stopped because they may go bendy if I dont install them yet. On the weekend someone posted two free bandsaw blades. YEA !! I guess he bought them online and they were too short for his saw.
They are too long for my saw but I plan to shorten them and silver solder the ends to shorten them up. the bandsaw has a narrower kerf so less wood lost in the splitting but Ill see how even I can cut them. I picked up the free blades and they look just right one is about a 1/2" ripping blade. I tried previously but the only blade I had was too little , it was more suited for tight bends and fretwork. I'm hoping if I have a more suitable blade that will cut faster and straighter. the less wiggle in the cut , or loss from the blade kerf, the more wood I get to keep on the strips. bandsaws have a narrow kerf than an tablesaw. It's common to use them for resawing but mine is not a huge machine, it's only got 12 inch wheels. after I split each one I can fire it through my thickness planer and that should lean up the surface but each process removes more wood so I have to be careful or they will be uneven or too thin.
once I get the baseboards installed I can install some 1/4 plywood where the wainscot will be and then start splitting strips of flooring to go on top of the plywood. ill bevel the edges and glue them on with maybe a few small nails into the plywood. I'll plan to just do one area first. see how it looks and how far my material seems to be stretching. I'll need less material if I allow butt joints, otherwise a lot will be wasted by culling all but the lengths I need. I cant; decide if I should allow butt joints. strip wainscot isn't normally joined mid length like flooring is but maybe I can get away with it. once they are glued to the plywood it should minimize movement.

I might need another source of wood but I figure Ill sort that out once I have used up what I have. Maybe some more free vintage flooring will come my way. I got a bunch of free 1/4 round. almost everything I'm doing is from old reclaimed wood and recycled stuff so it will all be resurfaced but old growth lumber with fine grain patterns. I had a couple of really nice big 3/1/2 HP routers given to me and they both work nice so I can give one to the friend that gave me the flooring.