Anyone ever hung wainscoting?

I'm curious if anyone here has ever hung it themselves? I would LOVE to put some up in the baby's room; using bead-board for the wainscoting. I'm not sure what DH will think of that so I want to get an idea of how difficult it is to do first. And about how much it will cost, but I can figure that out easy enough.

I read some online last night that you have to adjust your electrical outlets. That seems to be the hardest part. I'm hoping I'd be able to reuse the base molding I already have too. It's times like this I sure wish my Dad lived a bit closer. He'd surely help DH with that and I know he's got the skills to handle the whole outlet thing. Oh...and the tools.

Hey....I've never hung it myself, but I will be in the future (with my dad getting me started most likely ) Are you planning to hang the prefabbed sheet beadboard or the real thing, where each one is an individual piece?

As for your outlets, there are these neat little things you can buy to adjust your outlet and bring it flush to your wall. All you have to do is purchase some of these spacers. You remove the receptacle plate, remove the 2 screws that attach the receptacle to the outlet box, and put as many spacers onto the screws as you need to bring it flush, then screw it back on. You can get them at Home Depot or Lowes in the electrical department. This is what they look like.....

https://www.mclendons.com/item.asp?sku=302510&from=cart

As long as you can remove the baseboards without damaging them, you should be able to reuse them. If you install the beadboard where it goes all the way to the floor, then you'll just have to cut a little off of each baseboard to compensate for the beadboard.

Thanks for your reply! My Mom mentioned hearing about some kind of crowbar tool that is meant to take moldings off without damaging them.

And yes I was thinking the prefab sheets of beadboard. I think the ones I was looking at were 4'x8'.

Prefab sheets are easier to hang than the individual ones, as they are large enough to nail to the studs in the wall. I've done both, and prefer the look of the individual boards, but it is a lot more work. Prefab sheets are nearly always 4x8 unless you find specialty ones used for your purpose, but those will cost more.

You don't have to move your outlets - you just have to cut out an opening in the bead board that exactly matches where your outlets are. The only thing you have to do is remove the outlet covers.

I use a crowbar and/or screwdriver to remove floor molding. If you plan to paint it when you are done, if doesn't matter if you mar it a little bit when you remove it, as you can patch up the damage then paint over it.

My advice if you do this yourself: buy a stud finder. When you nail the boards and top railing in place, you want to nail them into a stud, otherwise it will fall off the wall. And I'll state the obvious in case some folks don't know what a stud is: it's the wood framing within your wall that holds the wall up, and your plaster drywall is attached to it. In a typical house, the studs are spaced 18" apart.

Originally Posted by MoochNNoodles

My Mom mentioned hearing about some kind of crowbar tool that is meant to take moldings off without damaging them.

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She likely means a pry bar - they usually less than two feet in length and a couple inches wide. You shouldn't use a crowbar - wrong shape and length, you'll end up doing more work then needed to loosen stuff and may damage the floor or molding in the process.

I've helped put some up many years ago - it's not that much different than paneling if you're using the prefab stuff. Haven't done so recently, though, I have some cheap stuff in my kitchen that will be getting removed soon. It's ugly and I don't really like the look of wainscoting myself. My only suggestion is don't cut corners on quality if you want it to look good.

Originally Posted by Momofmany

You don't have to move your outlets - you just have to cut out an opening in the bead board that exactly matches where your outlets are. The only thing you have to do is remove the outlet covers.

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But won't there be a gap between the covers and the outlets if we don't move them forward a bit?