How to make a timber feature wall

The rich appearance of timber lining can be spoiled by careless application. Always check as you goalong to see that boards are straight and joints are even.

Horizontal positioning

Horizontal T and G boards are fixed in thesame general manner as vertical ones. It isbest to position the first board an inch ortwo (25mm to 50mm) above floor level, withthe tongue upwards. This board should beskew-pinned into the underlying battensthrough the surface of the timber about�½ in. (12.7mm) up from the bottomedge. It should then be skew-pinnedthrough the battens along the edge of thetongue so that the groove of the next boardwill cover the pins. Use a spirit level overthis first board to see that it is level.

Continue fixing the boards up to ceilinglevel, cramping each board and checkingyour boards every once in a while to seethat they are level. If they are slightly out ofline, you can make adjustments by cramping very closely where necessary. Just below the ceiling,leave a �½ in. (6mm) gap for air to circulate.

If you cannot buy boards which will fit the entire breadth of your wall, you will have to join two ormore lengths. Use a splay joint , so that no gap shows at the joint. Stagger the joints so that they fallrandomly across the wall.

Diagonal positioning

An unusual and often effective means of fixing boarding is diagonally. Visually, the best angle to fixdiagonal boarding is at 45�°.

Instead of beginning with short lengths of board in a corner, begin at a position along a wall whereyour first board will be a full length one (you can save short offcuts to fill in the corners later).

To establish the length of the full-length boards required, cut 45J angles in two boards with a mitreblock. Be sure to cut these angles in the direction in which you want the boards to slope. Positionthese boards one beside the other and hold them against the wall, adjusting them until they arestraight and you get the correct length. Fix them tog ether by nailing two short battens across them.These boards will give you a gauge from which you can measure the first full-length board. Theothers can be marked from this - but check asyou go that the lengthsdo not need to vary slightlybecause the floor and ceiling are �out�.� If your walls are very high, it is not

advisable to attempt to cover them in diagonal boarding, since you may not be able to buy longenough timber to avoid a jumble of joints.

For boards which are to slope from left to right, work from left to right across a wall, with thetongue on each board facing towards the right. Hold your first board in place with nails partly driventhrough the surface of the timber on the right-hand side only. This first board is fixed loosely so thatlater boards can be �sprung� into position, as previously explained. �Secretfix� the remaining full-length boards into position by skew-nailing them through the tonguesand punching the nail heads below the surface of the timber. Cramp each board as you go along andcheck, occasionally, to see that all the boards are at the correct angle of 45�.

To fill the top left-hand corner start by temporarily stacking a row of offcuts against the wall alongthe left-hand edge (you will need to hammer in a few nails to keep these boards up) until you canaccurately judge the size of the board that will fit into the extreme corner. Cut this board, which willbe a right triangle, about �½ in. (6mm) oversize along the two sides forming the right angle, andfix it in position. (Cutting the board oversize will ensure a tight fit later).

Once you have fixed board C into the corner, you can remove the offcuts from the wall and withboards which have been cut to the correct size, work progressively back towards board A, crampingeach board along the tongue-side as you go. However, the last three or four boards should not benailed into place at first, but �sprung� into position. If the last board does not quitefit,the tongue-edge may be smoothed with a plane slightly so that it can be eased in. After theseboards are in place, nail them through the surface and punch in the nailheads. Fill the holes with awood filler.

To fill the bottom right-hand corner, follow roughly the same process. When you have six or sevenboards to go, stack offcuts as you did before until you can ascertain the size of the corner piece.However, do not fix the corner piece first. Rather, work from left to right, springing the last three orfour boards into place and surface nailing them.

Doors and windows

When fixing timber boarding around doors or windows, one of the most important considerations isto see that the unsightly rough edges of the planks do not protrude beyond architraves or flushedges. Usually, the thickness of the battens plus the thickness of the planks will be greater than thethickness of your architraves. If you have doors or windows which are set into walls without anyarchitraves, you will encounter the same problem. And anyway, most elaborate moulded architraveswill look awkward set against this sort of boarding.

Such problems can be solved by first removing all existing architraves. Try to pry them off from theirexternal edges so as not to damage adjoining woodwork. Windows may present many more problemsthan doors, since you will have to remove not only the architraves but also the window sills (or trimthem flush with the wall surface).

On masonry walls, replace the old moulding (or, in the case of doors and windows without anyarchitraves, make a new moulding) with square-section timber (1 in. x 1 in. or 25mm x 25mm orwhatever size necessary) which will be slightly thicker than the combined thickness of your battensand your planks. The same procedure will work on timber walls, but only if �nailing� isavailable around the door or window - either to existing studs or to battens which you provide.

When putting up vertical planks arounda door, work progressively across oneside of the wall from a corner to thedoor, then across the wall space abovethe architrave, and then across the wallon the opposite side of the door to theend of the wall. If you are plankingaround a window, follow the same plan -side, top, side - and then fill in the areaacross the bottom of the window. To fitboards around the corners ofarchitraves, scribe and cut boards.

When putting up horizontal boardingaround doors, begin on one side of the door and work up the wall to the top of the architrave,butting the boards against the architrave asyou go.

Then, work up the wall on the other side of the door in the same way. Finally, fix boards across thewall area above the architrave, staggering any splay joints which you may need to make. Forboarding around windows, follow essentially the same procedure, beginning with full-length boardsat the bottom of the wall and working up and around the walls on either side of the window and thenacross the top of the window. It is important that you stagger any splay joints across the wall so thatthey do not make an unsightly line.

Fixing the boards diagonally around doors and windows often is not visually pleasing, and problemscan arise in matching the slope of the boards and the angles. Consider carefully before you attemptto fix diagonal boarding on a wall area broken by doors and windows.

If you do fix diagonal boarding, be absolutely sure that you measure and cut your boards so that theycan be butted smoothly against any architraves and are all positioned at a 45�° angle.