How to Install Wood Panelling on Stairs?

Wooden panelling is a great way to revamp your old house. It not only makes it look stylish and modern but also keeps the home warm. When we renovated our 10 year old house, I was keen on getting wood panels on our staircase, but we weren’t sure how to install wood panelling on stairs, or if it’s possible for that matter. So we asked our renovators, and they got it done for us. Let me tell you the process.

How to Do Wood Panelling on Stairs?

We learned that you require some necessary materials like a caulking gun, panelling nails, wood filler, adhesive, and rolling pins. Let me share the steps we observed the professional perform. 

1. To panel the stairs, you need to secure the panelling to the wall with panel adhesive and finishing nails. 

2. Then, we saw him load a caulking gun with a tube of panel adhesive and apply a small amount of it on the wall. After this, he placed the panel on the wall and pressed it into the adhesive.

3. Once the adhesive became tacky, he pushed the panel back on the wall, and rolled it with a pin. 

4. Finally, he drove finishing nails into place at the top of the panel and applied baseboard to hold the bottom. 

5. Then he followed the same process for the adjoining sheet. He mentioned that it’s important to leave a small gap between the two sheets to allow for movement. 

So, this is how to do wood panelling up stairs. The professional mentioned that you can use a wood filler to fill any holes or marks on the panelling. 

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Hi there. I can tell you about the wooden staircase panelling process. We got the same done for the staircase at our house a while ago. Let me share the whole process.

How to Do Wood Panelling on Stairs?

Here is how you can install wood panelling on your house stairs.

1. Begin by measuring and marking the position of the dado rail. Start measuring straight upwards from the ground floor skirting board and mark the height using a pencil. A height of 1 metre is good.

2. Measure the same height along the hallway. After you do this, go upstairs and measure the same height for the landing. 

3. Then, use chalk and point the position for the dado rail. You must measure every straight line, i.e. the stairs, landing and the hallway.

4. Cut the dado rail pieces. With the help of a protractor, measure the angles. Halve the total to get the cutting angle. 

5. Halve the total to get the cutting angle. With a mitre saw, cut the angles on each piece of the dado rail.

6. Attach the dado rail to the wall with wood glue. Position the dado rail above the chalk line and attach it to the wall. Take a stud finder to look for any pipes or cables before you use a nail gun. 

7. Take an offcut and measure equal spacing at the bottom and top. Mark these points with your chalk line. 

8. With a spirit level, make sure your vertical marks are accurate. Next, calculate the horizontal gap between the 2 vertical markers. I used 4 panels with 3 gaps of 100 mm. The width is 3800 mm in total. On subtracting the gaps from the total width, I got 3500 mm. I then divided the 3500 mm by the number of panels, i.e. 4. This gave the panel width of 875 mm.

9. Measure and mark your wall. Check your design and see how much the vertical pieces measure in length. Also, find the obtuse angle.

10. Then, divide the obtuse angle by 2 to find the cutting angle. Subtract the obtuse angle from 180 and the obtained number will give you the opposite acute angle. 

11. Divide the acute angle by 2 to get the horizontal cutting angle. Make cuts on your moulding and see that the joints fit together well.

12. Fix them in their position with the help of wood glue. Use nails for extra strength and smoothen out any joints with wood filler.

13. After you do this, measure and mark the horizontal panels for the landing and hallway. Measure and mark equal spacing along the landing and hallway.

14. Cut the moulding to the right length and angle. Cut the right angle at 45 degrees. Do so with the help of a simple mitre box.

15. Use wood glue to fix them in position and repeat. With a damp cloth, wipe away chalk dust before you begin painting.

16. Paint the new panel in the colour of your liking.

This is all about wooden staircase panelling. I hope this helps.