Questions and Answers for HOUSE OF FARA 8 lin. ft. White Vinyl Wainscot Interior/Exterior Chair Rail and Base Kit

A:  The vertical wainscoting is installed to rest on the base trim, so that it is more than flush with the base trim to ensure that no gap is present after installation.

A:  1 13/16" to 1 7/8", depending on how tight you lay it on the bead board.

A:  Hi Sharon, thank you for your inquiry. When placing the Chair Rail, its best to place it snug on the Wainscot to have the least amount of space between the two mouldings.

A:  no need to fold back the membrane.....wall panel slips in just fine.....you may want to caulk the seam created by the panel and the base moulding prior to painting final coat.

A:  I didn't do the cutting myself, but I think it was easy.

A:  Yes it is very easy. We renovated two bathrooms and I wish I had installed in both but did not know about this product at the time. Great product!

A:  Yes, very much so. Just be prepared to clean up the edges with a SHARP utility knife and things will go very smoothly for you.

A:  Absolutely.....I found that a compound miter saw was the best where the saw itself can be set at 45 degrees to make the cuts you need. After a few practice cuts on some scrap material, you will be ready to go with the base and chair rail ....

A:  yes very simple.

A:  Yes just the same as wood

A:  I used a manual miter saw and it worked just fine. I was a bit leary about cutting them on my power miter saw. I've blown up fine moldings before going a bit fast on my power saw, so I stick with my manual.

A:  No problem. I used the wainscot In New York in the laundry room and here in the kitchen and master bath. All were installed by different men. No problem.

A:  Hi Phil, thank you for your inquiry. Yes, this item is very simple to cut with a miter saw, just like you would cut wood or mdf. Good luck with the project!

A:  The panel sits on top of the slot on the top of the base moulding, much as the top moulding (chair rail) sits on top of the panel, with the panel fitting under the slot of the chair rail.

A:  I used Behr Interior/Exterior Oil-Base Semi Gloss Enamel on my pieces. They did apply very nicely. However, after I applied it, I read that I really should have used a primer. So, when I painted the wainscot I first applied Zinsser Cover Stain Oil-Base Interior & Exterior Primer. So far I have not had any issues with my unprimed baseboards and chair rail, but they have only been installed for a couple weeks. I'm hoping for the best.

A:  get the primer - "STIX" used as a base coat, any paint you choose will adhere to STIX......

A:  I would not think this would be an issue as this is solid vinyl. No natural products at all. Nothing porous.

A:  As far as I can see it is completely temperature and humidity stable. It is waterproof. It is a very dense product and forms easily. Clean cuts no air bubbles.

A:  Thank you for your inquiry. All materials are sensitive to changes in temperature, some more than others. Wood, being a natural and porous substrate, is more prone to expansion/contraction/warping, etc. than a vinyl product.

A:  HI DrG depending on where you live yes humidity affects all wood products. My suggestion is a old carpenters trick used when installing paneling at each seam paint the wall behind it the same color as the outer color on the paneling so if the panel contracts which over time it will the background will be the same color and the space showing will blend in. In the case of the individual tongue and grove slats I would paint the whole wall area one inch below where the bottom base board is going to be and the same for the top molding. I hope this answers your question.

A:  Hi Ted just like the top rail the bottom molding has a step in it and the wainscoting just slides behind it. From my past experience one thing to check is your floor and is it level. I did three walls in my dining room and found my floors were off a bit which made the top of the wainscoting uneven. It did not effect the top rail from going on but I got concerned while doing this until I figured out it was the floor throwing things off as long as the uneven floor does not exceed the step in the top rail your good to go so if some of the wainscoting pieces do not line up even on the top you should be good to go the bottom step in the molding saves lots of measuring and level checks which makes this product great to use.

A:  No, it does not go all the way to the floor. There is a 1/8" deep groove and a rubber gasket at the top of the baseboard piece, and 5/8" deep groove at the bottom of the chair rail for the wainscotting to sit in.

A:  Though you might need/want to place the base molding in front of the panels, it could complicate your installation. The design is intented for wainscoating to rest on-top of the base molding. Recommend review my answer to "Yankee 53" question of 14 August.

A:  The wainscoting also sits on top of the floor moulding. The chair rail and base moulding act as a track to hold the wainscoting in place.

A:  Yes, the chair rail does sit on top of the wainscoting forming an overlap on the face it. Great design which covers rough edge cuts and the slight variations of multiple cuts that my occur. The baseboard is of a similar design with the bottom edge of the wainscoting resting on the top with slight surface overlap by the baseboard. I did not utilize this appearance on the bottom as I cut my wainscoting to extend to the floor and attached baseboard over it. Still a great look! P. S. - investment in a good nail gun to make the job go faster and eliminate surface marring.

A:  We did not nail them to the wall. We glued them instead.

A:  Use clear OR CRYSTAL CLEAR PAINTABLE ALL PURPOSEsilicone CAULKING. IT DOES THIS JOB PLUS IT CAN BE USED ON OTHER PROJECTS INDOOR OR OUTDOOR and it also seals and bonds so it is veristile for other uses. I woulf first try using liquid nail to secure the moulding nailing it would be my last resort.

A:  I used an enamel paint and it looks great! You could probably use wood putty if you can match the color.

A:  I don't use nails. I use power grab. No holes to fill.

A:  I didn't nail it. I used Liquid Nails.

A:  We used liquid nails so there were no nail homes to deal with. Worked perfectly.

A:  White silicone caulk

A:  First of all we glued all of our base,chair, and wall panels to the wall. if any nails where used we nailed at the very top edge so the chair rail lip would cover the nail heads. ( be sure your nailer is properly adjusted so the nail head is just flush or slightly recessed so caulk will cover. We did not face or edge nail any panels these were all glued up. Any nail heads in the railing or floor base was caulked at the same time all the trim was caulked.

A:  In “Answer (1)” above, House of Fara (the vendor) stated that the 2” CHAIR RAIL molding has a 1/8” deep notch. This is incorrect: The CHAIR RAIL molding actually measures 2.5” wide and has a 5/8” deep notch. The BASE molding (which FARA mistakenly refers-to as the CHAIR molding) is 3.5” wide, and has a very small notch that is actually less than 1/8” deep (about .090 vs .125). Because of these errors, (and if we ignore the slight variation in the 1/8” notch) the total overall assembled height would be a minimum of 41 ¼”; not 40 ¾” as stated by House of Fara. In actuality, using their pre-cut 36” panels, the adjustability in the Chair Rail mounting would enable an overall finished height of 41 ¼” to 41 ¾”. This error in the Vendor’s specifications has caused me rework in the prep I did while awaiting receipt of the units I ordered because it cost me the adjustability that I would have been afforded by the 5/8” notch. The 5/8” notch is a valuable feature that allows some adjustment room if you need to custom cut the length of your panels and don’t get each one perfect, and also (in my case) would allow approximately 1/2" for adjustment/leveling of Chair Rail to compensate in an installation where the floor might not be perfectly level.

A:  Hi and thank you for your question. We do apologize for the delay, but we had to make sure of the answer before responding. The notch in the 2 inch chair rail is 1/8" deep and the notch in the 3 1/2" base moulding is 5/8" deep. The combined height with the 36" vinyl panel would give you a total of 40 3/4" in height. With your question, we are now working to update the information on this product. We hope this helps with you project.