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One of the ways of interior decoration is lining the walls with clapboard. This wooden molding is timeless. Suitable for both cottage and home decoration. The good thing is that you can sheathe the walls yourself. Fastening methods, fastener selection, fastening features – you need to know this for self-assembly.
Choose the method of mounting the lining
There are three ways to attach the lining to the walls: glue, nails and kleimers. The choice depends on the operating conditions and the condition of the walls.
You can glue the lining in a dry room on even walls. If it is thin (13-15 mm) and small width (80-100 mm), it is quite possible to get by with just glue. For larger sizes, it is better to additionally fix with nails, but they will need 30% less.
It is possible to glue the lining on relatively even walls, but only small deviations are permissible. This finishing board has a small thickness and bends, however, due to the natural elasticity of wood, it can be torn off in the hollows. Therefore, if the walls are not perfect, it is better to use a combination of glue and nails.
With nails or screws, you can fasten the lining both directly to the walls and to the crate. The second option is chosen because of uneven walls or because of the need for heat-sound-moisture insulation. Nails can be hammered into a spike or groove, you can – into the face (photo below on the right). The first option is called secret, the second – traditional. It is not possible to fasten a lining into a spike / groove, but only some of its types (with sufficient dimensions of the protrusion / depression). And this option is also only available for dry living spaces.
Clamps (or kleimers) are special fasteners for concealed installation of tongue-and-groove moldings (photo on the left above). This category includes some types of lining. If the material you have chosen has a wide and strong tongue / tongue, you can fasten it with clamps. This fastener is usually fixed to the crate, but it is also possible to a wall lined with plywood.
General rules for preparing lining before installation
Humidity lining during installation should not exceed 14-18%. Previously, it must be kept in the room where the installation will take place. The minimum period is three days, but a week or more is better. During this time, the wood will take the humidity of the room and it will warp less.
The lining must be pre-sanded to smoothness. Especially if it has a curly front surface. After installation, you can only grind minor imperfections. This does not apply to eurolining. It is perfectly processed, often each plank is packed separately.
Before laying on the walls, it is necessary to cut the board into pieces of the required length. A couple of centimeters should be subtracted from the height of the wall. From the end of the board to the ceiling and floor, 1 cm is left. This gap is subsequently closed with a floor or ceiling plinth. If the floor or ceiling is curved, it is better to cut the ends with the required slope.
The most important thing: we fix the starting board of the lining
Regardless of the installation method chosen, it is very important to install the first board exactly. Everyone else will follow her. Therefore, the first bar must have an ideal geometry. And one more thing: even if you glue the lining on the wall, put the first board on nails / self-tapping screws.
For vertical installation, use a plumb line; for horizontal installation, an accurate building level is required.
You can put marks on the wall using a laser level.
Do not fix the first bar completely until you set it exactly. You can drive a nail at the top (for vertical installation), put it at the bottom and fix it there. Further – in the middle, making sure that the edge of the board goes exactly along the mark / beam / lace. We divide each half in half, put fasteners there. Repeat until nails/self-tapping screws stand in 40-50 cm or in each crossbar of the crate. Always check to see if the bar is in the correct position. With horizontal installation, everything is the same, only the direction changes.
We put the lining on the glue
You can glue the lining on pre-aligned plywood, chipboard, OSB or wall boards. All these materials have parameters similar to wood. This will ensure that the glued finish will hold securely.
Glue is needed carpentry quick-setting, universal is also suitable. It is more convenient to work if it is in a tube for a mounting gun. Glue is applied to the wall with a snake. With a greater thickness / width of the lining, we apply glue to both the wall and the plank.
How the lining is attached to nails / self-tapping screws / kleimers
You need to decide whether you will fasten the lining on nails or self-tapping screws. It is faster to work with nails, but it will be problematic to disassemble the lining without damage. Installation with self-tapping screws is longer: pre-drilling for each screw is desirable. But you can disassemble and not damage the straps.
Rims
According to the rules, a crate is needed to fasten the lining to nails or self-tapping screws. This is a wooden frame attached to the wall. A lining is attached to its fragments.
The crate for lining is assembled from bars of small section. In the simplest case, this is 30 * 30 mm. If it is necessary to lay heat and sound insulation, the parameters of the bar are chosen so that after laying the material between it and the lining there is a gap of at least 30 mm.
The installation step of the crate bar is 40-50 cm. If you lay the lining horizontally, then fasten the crate vertically. And vice versa.
If at the same time it is required to level the walls, gaskets are needed. It can be pieces of plywood of different thicknesses, trimming boards. From them, you collect linings / coasters, firmly insert them between the wall and the bar. Make sure that it does not arch (check with a level or even bar). Having aligned, drill everything, including the substrate, then fix it to the wall with a self-tapping screw.
Installation of lining on the crate
The installation of the first bar has already been described above. For vertical installation, it will be easier if the first plank is fixed on the edge on the right, with a spike also to the right.
For horizontal installation in wet rooms (for example, a bathhouse and a sauna), we fasten the spike up, otherwise moisture will get into the grooves.
In the video below, the lining is fastened with a spike up. During installation, a pneumatic nail gun (neller) is used.
If you plan to use clamps for horizontal installation, then it is logical to start from the top.
Use good quality clamps!
Someone prefers to start from the bottom when mounting on the clamps, but in this case the groove is directed upwards, otherwise the clamps cannot be installed. For dry rooms, it is permissible to direct the groove upwards.
Do not rest the lining on the floor – there should be a gap of 10 mm or so before it. Further installation is as follows:
- The second bar is driven into the groove with a spike. You can turn it at a slight angle, and then press it against the crate.
- Knock the new board close to the installed one. You can use the edge of your palm, if it doesn’t work, use a piece of lining and a small hammer. The spacer is inserted into the groove of the installed board and knocked out with a hammer. So you do not damage the lining.
- Having achieved a snug fit, we put the fasteners.
- We move to the next bar of the crate and repeat: we knock out, hammer in a nail / fasten the kleimer / twist the self-tapping screw.
Still need to explain about the installation of the last board. If this is a corner, measure the distance, cut it so that there is a gap of at least 5 mm from the edge of the resulting board to the corner. If it is not left, the finish will warp with increasing humidity. We fix the extreme board / bar only in the face.
To fasten in a thorn/groove or in a face?
Fastening in a thorn / groove is considered less reliable. With this method, fasteners are placed only from one edge of the board and it “captures” only 1/3 (in the groove) or 2/3 (in the spike) of the thickness of the bar. This may be important when decorating the walls of wet rooms (bath, sauna, bathrooms) or for houses with periodic visits (dachas). If you sheathe walls with clapboard in a house of permanent residence, the reliability of such fastening is sufficient.
Another point: you can only fasten a dry lining into a spike / groove, and only in an already living room. If it is of natural moisture, the finish simply tears off. The same can happen if the house is not yet inhabited or it is shrinking. In this case, it is better to fasten it to the face.
For mounting in a spike or groove, choose nails and self-tapping screws with a small hat. Tighten the screws so that they do not protrude above the surface of the wood, otherwise there will be problems with joining the next plank.
“To fasten into the face” means to drive screws or nails into the front of the board. For large widths, it may be necessary to install fasteners on one side and the other. And the installation itself is similar: insert, knock out, put fasteners.
How to fasten into the face imperceptibly
Many do not like fastening the lining to the face, because the fastener caps will be visible. There are two ways to make this method almost invisible. The first is to use finishing nails. They have a small head that is hidden in the fibers of the wood. Choose the color of the nails “to match the color” in which you will paint / tint the lining.
The second option is to drown the caps of the screws. In soft pine wood, they can simply be twisted deeper.
For harder rocks, you will have to ream the hole using a larger diameter drill bit than the cap size. A recess is made above the hole for the “body” of the self-tapping screw. It has a depth of several millimeters – so that the hat does not protrude above the surface.
Choose self-tapping screws with a small flat head. They are easier to hide.
After installing the screws, the holes are covered with putty for wood. When it dries, sand with fine grit sandpaper. With a properly selected composition of the putty, the holes are almost invisible.
Read about the choice of putty here.
Staplers
Clamps (clamps) are mounting plates for flush fastening of moldings with a tenon/groove connection. They are thin metal plates with a “tongue” to hold the lining and to install fasteners. They are installed only on one side of the board, so in terms of reliability this method is similar to fastening in a tongue / groove.
Advantages:
- when attaching the lining to the kleimers, the board is not damaged;
- ease of dismantling and the possibility of reassembly.
Cladding walls with clapboard using kleimers is not much different from the process of mounting on nails / self-tapping screws. The only difference is that additional plates are used, into the holes of which nails are hammered. The tongue of the kleimer is inserted into the groove – it holds the board. The second part of the kleimer is attached to the crate with nails or self-tapping screws. Here, in fact, all the features.