Replies

1. 
   John_Moscone | Jan 28, 1999 06:30am | #1

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   It depends on the age of the home. Victotian and Italiante w/c was taller that Colonial. I put new w/c in my bath room and used the top of the sink backsplash as my height. Normally the height of the rail top was about the same height as a standard chair back ( hence the name chair rails as opposed to wainscotting. w/c is technically a raised panel like kitchen cabinets) in Victorian era homes dating from about 1860 or so. Old colonials had wainscotting generally no higher than about 1/3 the wall height inless it was a fully paneled wall

2. 
   Guest_ | Jan 28, 1999 06:35am | #2

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   In some arts and crafts style house - shaker too - the wainscotting may go all the way to a plate rail at 5 or 6' above the floor.

   And if your being authentic - the face of the finished wainscot was in the same plane as the plaster above - not applied over. I've done it - removing plaster to install wainscotting flush - looks good - probably wouldn't do it that way again.

1. 
   Guest_ | Jan 28, 1999 09:25pm | #3

   *You will often hear that 32 inches is the proper height. I believe this derives from being able to cut an eight foot piece (plank, sheet, etc.) in thirds without any waste.

1. 
   Guest_ | Jan 28, 1999 10:35pm | #4

   *When I started looking into designs for the raised panel wainscoting I was doing in my own house, I came across references for 32-36". When on the wall, however, it just loked too low. We then drew lines on the wall where it looked "about right", let it sit for a few days, rechecked later. The final height for us was 38" downstairs and 34 inches upstairs. Consider that my first floor ceilings are 9'8", 38" is pretty close to one-third the wall height, as John offered. We kept the upstairs 36" so that the chair rail would be the same height as the door knobs. Both looked "good" to us, both heights are based solely on personal preferences. It also blended well with our current furniture.If you do go with a non-standard height and still want to get three 32" boards out of an 8' length of stock, leave the gap at the bottom, fill it with a 5/16" thick scrap, then cover the filler with your base molding. As you are aware, the ability to either purchase or mill your own molding makes any layout possible. Go with what looks good to you.For my 38" wainscoting, the actual raised panels are only 19" high (visible), the other 19" is comprised of an 8.25" base, a 4" upper and lowerrail, and 2.75 inches for the chair rail and it's molding. It looks even better on the wall than it did in the drawings. Good luck.

1. 
   Guest_ | Jan 29, 1999 05:01am | #5

   *Nice picture, I'll file that away in my mental rolodex. Re: traditional wainscot, 1/3 the wall height was generally accepted, but not a hard and fast rule. you've got to live with it.

3. 
   Nathan_Turoff | Jan 31, 1999 09:55pm | #6

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   The style of the house and/or interior is important: Victorian vs. Arts & Crafts vs. colonial--but also consider the specifics of the room: what are your window sill heights and how will the chair rail intersect with them? It is nicer if the rail locks into the window trim at least a few inches above the window sill. Also consider the overall effect of the proportions of the door heights and window head heights and ceiling height.

1. 
   scott_l | Feb 07, 1999 06:51am | #7

   *Thanks for the great input. The other remodeling websites do not offer the quality of the responses that are evident here. I decided to go with 32.5" for the wainscoting. The addition of the chair rail takes the top to 34" which looks "right"

4. 
   scott_l | Feb 07, 1999 06:51am | #8

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   Is there a proper (or standard height) for wainscoting in a home? I am using 5/16" thick knotty pine wainscoting in a family room that is 12'x16'.