• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Smart Girls DIY

You're a smart girl... you can figure it out

  • Home
    • Archive
  • About
    • Policies
    • Get to Know Me Posts
    • My Home
    • Old House Tour
  • Renovations
    • Kitchen Reno
    • Guest Bathroom Reno
    • Family Room Reno
    • Stairway + Hall Renovations
    • Office Reno
    • Laundry Room Reno
  • Projects
    • Tutorials
    • Crafts
    • Outdoor Projects
    • Landscape Tour
    • Girl Scouts
    • Christmas
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
You are here: Home / Renovations / Downstairs Hallway 1: Board and Batten Challenges

Downstairs Hallway 1: Board and Batten Challenges

March 29, 2014 by SmartGirl 6 Comments

Last week I shared with you that I tore out the base molding in my hallway.  I plan to do the whole downstairs eventually, but I must have had a brief moment of clarity and decided to stop with the hall.  I’ve hated the molding since the day we moved in, but never had a plan to fix it.  The moron who installed the hardwood didn’t remove the base molding first, just installed the floor and slapped on some quarter round.  Yuck!  It looked so stupid.  Well the good news is I found the perfect solution to cover the gap.  The bad news is… it involved a complete hallway makeover!   I decided to install board and batten paneling, something I’ve had in the back of my head for a long time, but decided now was a good time.  Haha.   If you’ve been reading my blog or following along on Facebook or Instagram, you’d know that I am smack in the middle of a redoing my office, family room, daughter’s bedroom and upstairs hall.  But what the hey, right!Crazy big gap in floor due to poor installation - I hate quarter round moldingI used 3/4″ MDF that I had cut into strips at Lowe’s.  The base molding is 6″.  It’s painted in BEHR Swiss Coffee (semi-gloss) from Home Depot, the same color as all the trim in my house.  And dude, I love it!  So much better than that damn quarter round molding!  I rounded the corners near the door casing with sandpaper because the MDF is a little wider than the casing.New 6 inch base molding covers gap - YAYI will give you the full DIY board and batten paneling tutorial on Tuesday, when it’s finished, but for now I want to address a few special installation issues I ran into.  Hopefully you don’t have these issues, but you may, so here goes.Issues with installing board and batten DIY

There is a step-down in my hallway

This meant the board and batten had to step-down as well, both at the top and along the bottom.  My stairs already had molding next to the stairs that couldn’t be removed, at least not easily.  So I had to work with what I had.  You can see here how tall the new molding is and I had to make that work with the stair molding.Replacing stair molding to match new base molding Did you know that the round portion is actually a separate piece of wood?  Smart Jr was pretty amazed.  To remove it, score the top and bottom with a knife.  As in, cut where the wall meets the molding and where the round molding meets the rectangular molding.

How to replace stair molding - Smart Girls DIYThen pry it off.Pry off quarter round molding Line up the new molding and mark where it needs to be cut.Measuring for new mouldingI didn’t measure a single angle in this project.  I marked where I needed to cut, then lined the MDF/wood up on my saw without changing the blade angle.  I had to clamp the MDF/wood to the saw for each cut, but I thought that was still a lot faster than fooling around with angles.  That can drive a person crazy.  This is what it looked like after everything was cut.Installing 6 inch base molding for board and battenI had to do the same process for the other side.  This is what it looked like with all the floor molding cut.Replacing with new base moldingI had to do the same thing for the top portion of the board and batten as well, but that a little bit different.  The top molding is 3.5″ and I installed all the horizontal pieces first.  If I tried to line the angled piece up against the horizontal ones, the angled piece would be wider.  If you don’t get it, just take my word for it.  To correct for this I laid out my angled piece to match with the bottom corner of the top piece and the top corner of the bottom piece.   Then I drew a vertical line where the two pieces met (just like with the floor molding).  Then I cut it the same way I did before.  You can do this!  It’s a lot easier than it sounds!Marking the angle to cut diagonal sectionCome closer — let me show you what I mean.  Haha.  This was me telling Smart Jr to get a closeup.Come closer - let me show you how to cut an angle pieceTo clarify – this picture was taken AFTER I marked and trimmed the board to length, but it explains what I was talking about above with matching up the angles.How to cut angles for board and battenSo now what to do with those piece that stick out?  Cut them off of course!Trimming the top angle to match vertical boardTop and floor angles complete - still needs caulk and paint

Random Security System Control

I’m pretty sure this one won’t apply to you, but you could (maybe) run into something similar.  Our house came with a non-working security system, remnants of which are seen with two of these lovely control boxes.  This one in the hall way hidden by a picture frame.  (Duh!)  And there’s another one in the master bedroom.  My solution?  Remove the cover and then hide the hole with a batten.  Smart Jr did the honors of removing the cover.  Notice the family portrait she drew when her sister was born.  That’s Lulu in the stroller circa 2007.Smart Jr removing old alarm system button Super husband cut the wires because I was too chicken.  He assured me they weren’t still connected to anything.  Whatever.  Still scary.   Notice I planned my whole batten placement around this one location.  No really.A batten was put over the hole created

Light Switches

Moving on to something you’re more likely to encounter — light switches.  One of my walls had a triple switch and a single switch.  Yea, the smart thing to do would have been to plan around them, but for me it came down to $$$.   I decided to make my vertical battens 48″ because I could get a crap load of them from a 4′ x  8′ sheet of MDF.  (crap load = 27)    I decided to deal with the consequences and while my horizontal board cleared the switches just fine, it did NOT clear the switch covers.  Instead of cutting off the top of the switch covers, I decided to rout out the board to make room for the switch cover.  FYI – I’ve only ever used my router one other time.  (Read post HERE) So don’t judge.  First I marked what needed to be cut.Width of switch covers marked and ready to be routedAnd here are my amateur cuts.Very amateur routingBut whatever, it worked just fine.Board and Batten - routed out to make room for switch coverRouted out to make room for switch cover

Coat Hooks

As you can see from the pictures above, I ended up using real wood on this wall because I plan to add hooks, which wouldn’t be anchored well in the MDF.  I strongly suggest you do the same if you want to install hooks.

Outside Corners

Most of my horizontal pieces butt up against door casing, but there is one outside corner.   I guess there’s also an inside corner, but that wasn’t an issue.  (See 1st two pictures in this post)  The outside corner was a bit of a pain, plus it met on one side with the existing stair molding (which I think there is a specific word for, but I haven’t got a clue).  I had to add that little sliver to bring the stair molding out to match the new 3/4″ molding next to the closet.Outside corner - Board and Batten - Thicker base moldingIt will look fine once I sand, caulk and paint it.DIY board and batten paneling - outside corner

Repositioning Battens

Um… I’m an ass.  Well part of it was smart, I decided to fudge my 16″ spacing going up the stairs because one of the battens would have landed half on the flat portion and half on the angled portion and that seemed like a big pain wouldn’t have looked right.  So I moved it over about 2″ so it was all flat.  But… that meant that it was now only 14″ from the batten to its left (the one closest to the front door).  The 14″ might not have been so bad if it were next to 16″ spacing, but now it was next to 18″ spacing and it was driving me nuts!  It was only like that for a few hours, but I was nuts I tell you.  The only logical thing to do was move that batten over a few inches too.  Did I mention I nailed and GLUED them in place?  Yea, what a mess.  Making adjustments to board and batten - damaged the wallThe joint compound is drying as I write!Damaged wall fixed with joint compoundI think that sums up all my crazy issues.  I look forward to sharing the big reveal on Tuesday.  This is where I’m at right now.Smart Girls DIY - Installing Board and Batten - part 1

Staircase 1: Taking Carpet Off Stairs

Staircase 2: Bizarre Platform Fix (Part 1)

Staircase 4: Filling Holes, Sanding + Stripping

Staircase 3: Bizarre Platform Fix (Part 2)

DIY board and batten

Downstairs Hallway 2: Board and Batten is Finished

Upstairs Hallway 1: Installing Hardwood Floors

Upstairs Hallway 2: Hardwood + Spindles

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit

Filed Under: Renovations, Stairway + Hall Renovation, Tutorials, Woodworking Tagged With: hallway

« Family Room Can of Worms (Family Room 2)
Downstairs Hallway 2: Board and Batten is Finished »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Janet says

    March 30, 2014 at 10:35 am

    I just discovered your blog (from betterafter.net). As a self-taught female builder, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read so far! I love how you keep it real. The name of the stair trim is called skirting. (Unless that is just a regional term, I’ve discovered that sometimes terms vary based on where you are in the country).

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      March 30, 2014 at 1:14 pm

      Thanks Janet, that sounds right! It was late and I was too tired to look it up. I’m so glad you found me and please keep reading. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Kim (TheKimSixFix) says

    March 31, 2014 at 1:26 am

    Okay, you are so much smarter than me! I hit the switchplates with my B&B and I just cut the stupid switchplate covers with a hacksaw. Routing it would be easier and the line would be cleaner.. DUH.

    As for the ‘random security panel’ I ran into that too (Mine was a ‘vintage 1988 intercom which works so poorly you have to SCREAM into it, which defeats the entire purpose of an intercom.. but I digress..)

    Can’t wait to see it finished.. it is going to look awesome!

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      March 31, 2014 at 9:46 pm

      Haha. I went right over to your blog to check out your girls’ room. It looks like a magazine! I feel like you did way more work than me. I’m so glad I was able to use my walls instead of boards. It should be finished tomorrow. Yay!

      Reply
  3. Julie at Being home says

    April 1, 2014 at 12:23 am

    Ha! And I thought I do too many projects at once! Liz, do you not sleep and live on coffee or Red Bull? 😉 The new trim is looking good and I love that board and batten!

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      April 2, 2014 at 1:09 pm

      I usually only get caffeine from tea, but I have had a few iced coffees this week. The boar and batten is done! Yay! Just waiting for the wall paint to dry before I take a few pictures. Now back to finishing up all the other projects I’ve started. Hehe.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Smart Girls DIY Blogs about using Barker Cabinets in her kitchen renovation
How to build and make stuff with Smart Girls DIY
Smart Girls DIY blogs about all her crazy adventures as a Girl Scout troop leader
Christmas crafts and projects by Smart Girls DIY
Visit Smart Girl's profile on Pinterest.

Never miss a post again

* indicates required

Sponsors

Let’s Stay Connected

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

How To

How to make santa logs
How to make a Jake and the Neverland Pirates costume for any age
How to tile a herringbone floor
How to hang a heavy mirror
How to install carpet yourself
How to build an arbor
How to Build Custom Ikea Shelves
How to install hardwood flooring
How to install a hex tile floor
How to seal an asphalt driveway
How to build a custom shower pan
How to hang ukuleles on your wall
21 Free Nativity Printables

Copyright © 2022 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.