Trimming a Window on a Paneled Wainscot Wall

In this Project House video series, Justin Fink visits Arkansas, where longtime finish carpenter Gary Striegler teaches his simplified technique for building and installing paneled wainscot. Although Gary has done wainscot many ways, this is one of his favorite approaches because it’s fast but doesn’t sacrifice appearance for speed. The heart of the approach is using a pocket-screw-joined frame assembled on a workbench or sawhorses, which is then finished with a piece of plywood attached to the backside and panel molding attached to the front. Then, the wainscot is installed in prebuilt sections.

Episode 1: Windows, Doors, and Backband Molding

Before the wainscot panels can be sized and cut, the trim surrounding the windows and doors has to be measured, cut, and installed. The standard package includes an extra deep window stool and casing around the windows and doors, but Gary also shows us how to get a bit of extra depth on the edge of a piece of casing by adding a backband to the outside edges of the casing.

	Episode 1: Windows, Doors, and Backband Molding Whether new house or remodel, wainscot always starts the same: trimming windows and doors.
	Episode 2: Sizing and Assembling Wainscot Panels Plan the wainscot panels on the wall, but build them on the bench
	Episode 3: Wainscot Cap and Two-Piece Baseboard Molding With the panels in place, it’s just a matter of adding molding to finish the job
	Episode 4: Installing Crown Molding No wainscot job is complete without a run of crown molding above to visually anchor the whole installation

Read the companion article:

Project House: A Simple Approach to Paneled Wainscot