Hi all,
I made a half wall in my livingroom dividing two rooms. It extends roughly 9 feet. I want to put a piece of oak on top instead of just finishing it off with drywall, spackle etc.. My question(s) is there a piece of oak “out there” made for something like this? That has a groove 4.5″ wide and running lenght wise in the bottom that would fit right over the frame and drywall? Or do I have to make this myself? If so, how should I go about it? Much appreciated.
Mick
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Replies
I don't think I have ever seen what you describe, but others may have. As far as making it yourself, it is possible if you have the tools.
Most caps are attached to the top of the wall, and then a apron trim is applied beneath it around the wall to hide the gap between the cap and the top of the wall.
Dave
Make a cap yourself like the other poster described, this way you can use shims to make sure its level in both directions and it looks better, trying to mill a piece like you described sounds like it would have to many draw backs from my perspective
Just buy an oak plank that has the proper overhang width (I'd suggest 6") then sand it smooth and soften the corners with sandpaper. attach it to the wall top with a few finish nails and liquid nails glue. Underneath run a small bead of caulking after the wood is finished but before painting the wall. Voila!!!
You can do as Clay says or if you want you can dress it up by useing casing under it just like a window stool.
Doug
How you proceed with this project will depend on your skill level but it would be a shame to be using spendy oak and then mar it with face nailing.
One method of attaching caps or countertops to walls is to first screw down a piece of 5/8 or 3/4 plywood which overhangs both sides (usually) of the wall so that there is enough meat showing to drill screw clearance holes. 3/8 would do it.
The cap or countertop is then built, wider than the plywood base. This cap then has an underlip attached to hide the edge of the plywood. The underlip doesn't have to be very wide, again, 3/8 would do it. Along with hiding the edge of the plywood the little 1 by now looks more like a 2 by. In PLAM countertops, this double edge is banded at 1 1/2" with the same PLAM Other edging material can be used and then be given a pass with a router to dress it up. The edged top is then dropped over the plywood base and a few screws are used to fasten it down from the underside. Usually nothing more is done underneath because it's not a readily visible attachment (unless you are on your hands and knees looking for those things).
If you are going to use a length of 1 by oak you don't want to leave the endgrain exposed or routed. Just won't be or look right. If you want a square edge look then an easy way to disguise end grain is to glue on a super thin strip of the same material, usually ripped from another board, or you can buy facing mateial by the roll and iron it on.
If you want to have a profiled look (routed) then it tests your skill to apply a wide enough cap to the endgrain that can be routed without exposing endgrain. You have to FIT a mitered piece INTO the end of your board. When all the fitting is done and the underlip glued on then you can route your decorative edge. You could get your 9 foot wall done with a 10 foot length of 1 x 8 oak and some scrap plywood (and some careful cutting)<G>
Ralph,
I have made several laminated caps with wood edges and use a different method of attaching them to the wall. I predrill though the drywall at a 45 degree angle up and through the edge of the wall top plate, then use screws to pull the cap down to the wall. I drill over size holes and make sure the screws are short enough to not go all the way through the finished cap. On oak caps or oak edged caps I use 2" strips of hardwood flooring about 5/16" thick to trim the underside of the cap. By using thin trim strips I can keep the cap size down to around 5 1/2". If the cap is solid wood, I use large mitered returns on the end, so the routed profile doesn't tare them off durring milling. I also prefer 4/4 stock for caps because they look more substantial and give me more options for the edge profile.
Dave