Step 1: Observe product guidelines.
When installing any product, you should always follow manufacturer recommendations and use proper safety equipment, including safety goggles, at all times. The information presented here gives you a general overview of the project, but the manufacturer may offer specific instructions for the product you choose.

Step 2: Determine desired wainscoting height.
While there are plenty of rules of thumb, there are no hard-and-fast rules when it comes to choosing wainscoting height. To generally maintain room proportions, wainscoting can be installed at either one-third or two-thirds the total height of a wall. (Usually the one-third rule results in a measurement of 28–36 inches high.) Wainscoting can also be used as part of a chair-rail installation at approximately one-half of the total wall height. (To protect walls from being bumped, the rail height would be determined by the height of the chairs.)

Step 3: Acclimate the product.
To prevent buckling and other problems after installation, panels should sit in the room where they will be installed for 48 to 96 hours. This allows time for expanding and contracting due to the room’s humidity and temperature. Stack them horizontally with thin blocks of wood between each sheet to allow air to circulate. While you wait for the product to lose excess moisture it might have picked up in the warehouse, plan your project and prep the walls.

Step 4: Prepare the wall.
Even if you have just installed new flooring, it may not be level. Installing the wainscoting from a level line on the wall will help hide any such imperfections. At one point on the wall, measure the desired height of the wainscoting (remember that cap molding above the wainscoting panel will add to the finished height). From that point, use the level to draw a horizontal line, and then extend it around the room.



It’s much easier to extend a level line around a room with a water level than with a traditional carpenter’s level.

Water levels, which are available at home centers, use long tubes filled with water. They make it easy to mark points throughout the room at exactly the same height. Use a chalk line to connect the points.

The line you marked around the room is the top of the panel installation. The base molding installed toward the end of the project will cover the bottom edge of the beaded-board paneling, so even if the floor is uneven, the wainscoting appears level.

If you’re working on a wall that already has base molding, remove that now. Plan to replace the base molding as one of the last steps of the project.