Board and batten is a popular interior and exterior decoration style found in buildings. Battens are placed on wood boards and that is how the name board and batten became famous. This decoration style can encourage the elegance of your house from both inside and outside.
Today, we are going to discuss how tall the board and batten should be.
How tall should the board and batten be?
Board and batten should be tall enough to cover one third of the wall’s height. The board and batten should be thirty two inches tall on a wall that has a height of eight feet and it should be thirty six inches tall on a wall that has a height of nine feet.
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Board and batten should be installed with the goal of covering 33% of the entire wall’s height. Board and batten is a simple decorative style that gives off an elegant look in your home. But in order to achieve this elegant look, you have to make some important decisions.
Deciding the height of the board and batten is one of those decisions. If you are planning to implement board and batten design on a one hundred inches wall, then you will need to cover thirty three or thirty four inches of the wall with board and batten.
The width of the wall does not influence how tall your board and batten should be, but the height of the wall certainly does so.
After you have decided and found out how tall your board and batten needs to be, you can start installing the board and batten yourself or you can seek the help of a professional.
What height should the board and batten be?
Deciding the height of the board and batten while installing it can seem difficult. But there are some rules you can follow to decide the height of the board and batten when you are using them inside your house.
First of all, the board and batten design should cover one third of your interior walls.
This means if you have a wall that has a height of one hundred and eight inches or nine feet, then your board and batten decoration needs to cover thirty six inches of the wall starting from the bottom.
The height of the board and batten might vary according to your need and the structure of the house. But it is better to stick to the general rule to achieve the best result.
What size boards do you use for board and batten?
The size of the boards you use for board and batten depends on your preference. The standard size of boards for board and batten is 1×10. This means the height and width of the board is 9.25 inches and the thickness of the board is 0.75 inches.
You can also use 1×8 size boards where the height and width of the board is 7.25 inches and the thickness of the board is 0.75 inches. Another size of board that is approved by experts is 1×12 size boards where the height and width is 11.25 inches and the thickness is 0.75 inches.
The size of the board can also vary depending on how many boards you intend to use. If you increase the number of boards, then the size of each board will reduce. Decreasing the number of boards will increase the board’s size.
How tall should board and batten be in a hallway?
Board and batten covered hallway is considered elegant by most homeowners. But as a hallway is typically narrower than a room, selecting the size of board and batten for a hallway can be a difficult task.
The height of the walls that cover the hallway is important when it comes to selecting the size of board and batten.
If the hallway wall is eight feet high, then you will need to cover at least one third of the eight portions. Whatever the size of your hallway hall is, covering one third of it using board and batten is crucial.
So the height and usage of board and batten in a hallway is largely influenced by the height of the hallway walls.
How tall should board and batten be for an 8-foot and 9-foot ceiling?
The rule of putting board and batten on walls is fairly simple. The board and batten needs to cover 33% height of the wall. If you have an 8-foot ceiling, then it means you need to cover thirty inches of the wall from the bottom.
Anything more than that will look too much and anything less will look inadequate.
The same rule applies to a 9-foot ceiling too. You will need one third of the one hundred and eight inches wall with board and batten. This means thirty six inches of the wall will have to be covered with board and batten.
Some people prefer covering half of their walls with board and batten. But this looks incredibly odd as we are used to seeing boards and battens cover one third of the wall.
How far apart should board and batten be?
How far you place your battens from each other on board and batten depends on a lot of things. First of all, the width of your wall decides how much apart you should place your battens on board. The ideal distance between battens is in the range of one to two feet.
For example, if the width of the wall is one hundred and eighty eight inches and you want to place eleven battens on it, then you need to do some calculation to find the desired distance between the battens.
If the batten is four inches wide, then the eleven battens will take approximately forty four inches of space. This will only leave one hundred and forty inches of remaining space.
Eleven battens will be responsible for creating ten spaces. If you divide the remaining one hundred and forty inches by ten, the distance between battens will be fourteen inches. Fourteen inches falls in the ideal range of one to two feet.
So you will need to find out your wall’s size and the size of the batten to decide the distance between the battens on board.
How do you measure board and batten walls?
There are some steps and methods you can follow to measure board and batten walls. Let’s discuss them in detail.
Measure the height:
The height of the wall is necessary when it comes to selecting the size of boards. You will need to cover one third of the wall’s height with board and batten design. If you have a wall that is nine feet high, you will need to cover three feet of the wall with board and batten.
That is why you will need to measure the height of your wall with tape. After finding out the height, buy the size of boards that meet your demands and needs.
Measure the width:
You will need to measure the width of your wall to find out how many battens you need. The battens need to be installed on boards by maintaining a space of twelve to twenty four inches between them.
This is crucial because placing battens correctly on boards can make or break the design of board and batten walls.
Measure the batten:
The batten’s width can influence the decision of how many battens you need. Because wider battens will mean that it takes more space on your wall and thus less number of battens will be needed.
The important thing to remember here is that you will need to select the batten’s width based on your preference. If you want to use more battens, then you will have to install battens that are not so wide.
If you want to use a smaller number of battens, then you will need a wider than usual.
Measure the space:
While choosing the number of battens and their width, try to maintain a balance so that the space between battens is not less than one foot and more than two feet.
If you place the battens too far from each other or too close to each other, then it can ruin the design of your board and batten walls.
Final Thoughts
Board and batten needs to be tall enough to cover thirty three percent of the wall it is going to be installed upon from the bottom. It means board and batten should cover three feet space on a nine feet wall. The distance between the battens should be twelve to twenty four inches.