Picture Rails - on the cheap

lucifersangel87

Hey guys,

I'm looking to stick up some picture rails in the living and dining room. The Mrs. has visited too many National Trust places and got too many ideas!

Aanyway, i've decided to take the plunge and do the work myself rather than hire a potentially expensive builder to do the job.

I've calculated i've got roughly 31m of wall to cover, and Botch&Queue are selling primed MDF picture rails at 2.4m lengths for around £4.53.

Deciding to do one room at a time seems a rather good move, but before I get stuck in I wanted to check my method with other savvy DIYers and get some tips where there are any.

I'm going to start by using a plumb line from the ceiling (no coving here) to mark a drop of 40cm in pencil, at several points along each wall.

I will then measure out the Picture rail and saw the ends using a mitre block at 45 degree angles to get the right lengths.

I will then use an electric/water tester along the line of the new wall markings to test for cables and pipes.

All being well, I then use small nails along the marked line to "Support" the picture rail as I drill at 1m intervals, through the picture rail and into the wall.

I then take the picture rail back down, countersink the holes I have just drilled in it, rawl plugs go into the wall side.

At this point, wood glue goes onto any length-ways joints (straight mitres) and the picture rail goes back up and is screwed into place.

Once all 4 walls have been done, wood filler is used to cover the countersunk screwheads.

some wet and dry paper is then used to sand off burrs of glue and filler.

White gloss will then be used to paint over them, using masking tape to protect current paint.


Optionally, when the pencil marks have been done, I will paint the new colour below and white above, so that when the picture rail goes on it saves me the job of masking it when I paint the two colours after.


Does this all make sense? Would anyone do anything different from experience?

Thanks,
Martin

leveller2911

Decide on the height you want to have the picture rail and then use a long level to level round the room. The longer the level the better and everytime you move along the wall flip the level round end for end and that way if the level is slightly out you are correcting the difference when you move it along the wall. Even better to use a laser level which you can hire but a normal level is fine.Never assume that a ceiling is level because they rarely are .

The main reason to use a level line is because if you intend to hang a patterned wall paper in the future the pattern will always line up where it meets the picture rail, if you don't level the line the pattern/drop won't be the same all around the room.

Internal joints should be scribed and external ones mitred but nowdays people tend to bodge it and just mitre them all. Then spread gripfill adhesive (or similar but Gripfill solvent based adhesive is the best imo) hold up against your level line and press hard onto the wall and then just nail some pins through the rail to temporary hold it in place until the adhesive dries , should be dry enough after 1hr to pull out the pins.30mm pins will be man enough to nail into plaster and just hold long enough for the adhesive to dry.

Always check to see where the power sockets are and avoid pinning above a socket.

Then just fill the pin holes and any gaps between the wall and the picture rail fill with caulking.

PS: I tend to mark the wall first then paint almost up to the line with the wall colours. Then undercoat the picture rails before fitting so it just needs touching up and top coat when fitted. If keeping the existing wall colours then fit the rails,caulk the gaps underneath the rail and wipe off any excess with a damp cloth, allow to dry and touch up the caulking with top coat.

phil24_7

Any joins on long walls should be cut at 45 degrees to hide the joint.

Ectophile

If it's an older house, don't assume that everything is square. If you go for a constant drop below the ceiling, it may not be a constant height off the floor. You may have to decide what looks right to you.

robin58

Ectophile wrote: »

If it's an older house, don't assume that everything is square. If you go for a constant drop below the ceiling, it may not be a constant height off the floor. You may have to decide what looks right to you.

Agree with you. Yet to see a totally 'square' room.