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Discussion Forum

Aesthetic question: Chair rail

emaxxman | Posted in Construction Techniques on April 15, 2004 06:47am

Should a chair rail be:

1) proud of the door casing, i.e. protrude further from the wall than the door casing

2) flush with the door casing

3) below the depth of the door casing

I guess in the end it’s a matter of personal taste.  I was just wondering if there was a rule of thumb that most people follow.  I just installed a chair rail and it is almost flush (slightly thinner than the casing) and I’m not sure if it looks right or not. 

Reply

Replies

  1. John7 | Apr 15, 2004 11:15pm | #1

    As a rule horizontal trim pieces do not exceed the depth of the vertical trim. Unless you plan on terminating the vertical trim on the horizontal (i.e. window casing on a window sill). After this rule it's all about taste....good luck

    p.s. in your specific case thicker casing(or a back band) might do the trick.

    john7

  2. andybuildz | Apr 16, 2004 01:45am | #2

    To me it should all meld together but if in fact you can come up with a design that "far" exceeds the depth of the trim you can simply put returns on the chair rail to make it look as though it was most definatly the plan rather than "trying" to tie in.

    Some people want to combine a chair rail with the look of a shelf/chair rail.

    right.its up to you but consider one thing.....don't try and make it look like you figured out a a way to blend them together in order to create an esthetically pleasing job.

    Put it together ...IMO...as separate thoughts done in a craftsmans way and mind.

     I donno.I don't think I said that right.

    BE unique

                       andy

    My life is my passion!

    http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM

    1. HeavyDuty | Apr 16, 2004 04:32am | #5

      right.its up to you but consider one thing.....don't try and make it look like you figured out a a way to blend them together in order to create an esthetically pleasing job.

      Put it together ...IMO...as separate thoughts done in a craftsmans way and mind.

       I donno.I don't think I said that right.

      Sounds ambiguous but it's all clear to me.

  3. steve | Apr 16, 2004 03:57am | #3

    chair rail is usually thicker than door casing, therefor i put a return into the wall at 45 degrees ie both mitre angles are 22 1/2

    looks sharp and easy to do

    caulking is not a piece of trim

    1. geob21 | Apr 16, 2004 04:07am | #4

      The rule of thumb is never beat your wife with a stick thicker then your thumb.

      What's that got to do with chair rail?

    2. Snort | Apr 16, 2004 04:33am | #6

      That sounds interesting. Got a pic? & how do you measure it? Don't worry, we can fix that later!

  4. HeavyDuty | Apr 16, 2004 04:39am | #7

    There is no hard and fast rules, it depends on the style of trim too. As long as you handle the juncture with the approach that Andy outlined, you'll be fine.

  5. Piffin | Apr 16, 2004 05:46am | #8

    For the best, I like to make it proud of the casing and return onto it.

     

     

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