Dado Rail - First Attempt

[wheresmydrill]

Hi everyone,

I've been a reader of the forum for several years and have always found the help and information on here VERY useful. It's probably clear how useful it is because I've not had to post on here until now, despite my partner and I restoring a 1750s house to bring it back from the brink of dereliction for the past 2 years.

We're just keen DIYers - we certainly wouldn't claim to be very good at it - so we've employed professionals to take care of the jobs that we would be very able to make a mess of.

But where we've been able to do bits ourselves, we have done: I designed our kitchen from scratch (drawings, measurements, spec etc) and we had it made by a company in Dorset. We then painted it all up and made it ready for fitting by someone who wouldn't destroy it like I would have done trying to fit it. We also restored the fireplaces and landscaped the garden from the wasteland it once was. Given that we needed all new windows throughout, new roofs, a new bathroom and that the place needed to be fully replastered, painted, carpeted etc, we're pleased with how it's turning out. We both have full time jobs so I'm sure many others on here will know what it's like to do a full day at work, then come to the house, spend 5 hours working, then go home (whilst the house-in-progress was uninhabitable) and then doing the same thing the following day and every day...

Currently I'm trying to fit dado rail and panelling in the dining room and hallway. I know that in modern houses dado is pretty much thought of as being outdated, but we believe that our house would have had some fairly fancy panel work on the lower walls. Besides, our walls are quite large and we've felt for some time that they could just do with something to fill them up a bit. So far it's looking pretty good and I'm pleased with the results I'm getting with my shoddy collection of tools and complete lack of experience with this kind of job.

Anyway, after all my rambling, the question I have concerns returning the dado rail to the wall where it meets a doorway. In the dining room, where the skirting meets the same doorway, we have returned it to the wall. We didn't want it to go through the doorway because it's actually an open archway and would have looked odd with skirting running through it. You can see a picture of this, below:

Click to enlarge

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• wheresmydrill
• 11 Aug 2010
• 1

Where the dado rail reaches the same doorway, I had planned to use a coping saw to return it to the wall in the same way. However, I have come across a problem because the dado rail is not a uniform shape and has a bulbous 'nose' at the top.

Here is the profile we've used:

Untitled

• wheresmydrill
• 11 Aug 2010
• 1

So, the question is, how can I return or terminate this dado rail where it meets the doorway? My only other idea is to put a 45 degree (or thereabouts) mitre cut on the end of it and then blend it to the wall that way...

Any help or suggestions are gratefully received!

Thanks,
Andy

 

[foxhole]

I think it looks odd as is , would just have stopped flush at wall end if you don't want to wrap around arch.

 

[wheresmydrill]

Thanks for the feedback but 'returning' skirting and dados to the wall when you come to the end of a run is the right thing to do and - when painted (which the photo doesn't show) looks very smart. Leaving a flat, sawn edge would look terrible.

Plus, leaving sharp, sawn edges that protrude is just begging to have someting to stub your toe on in the mornings.

Do you have any comment to make regarding my question about the dado, in addition to offering your opinion on the skirting? If so, I'd love to hear it.

 

[speed]

you need to do a return mitre, so the molding is mitred into the wall

 

[joinerjohn]

The easiest way to return the dado profile you have there is to cut the end at 45 deg and cut another insert piece at 45deg and use this to return it to the wall.
Heres a pic of what it should look like from the top view.

Untitled

• joinerjohn
• 11 Aug 2010
• 1

Cheers JJ
BTW your skirting looks very nice

 

[wheresmydrill]

(Smacks own forehead with palm because it now seems so obvious!)

See, that's why this site has become my bible: you find a problem that seems to have no solution, you ask for help and within hours people have provided the PERFECT answer! I have made an external mitre joint, trimmed it to size and glued it to the reverse mitred end of the dado. A bit of sanding and it'll be ready to fit!

Thanks very much for the suggestion guys - fantastic!!

 

[foxhole]

Leaving a flat, sawn edge would look terrible.
I agree but seems to be what you have done?

Plus, leaving sharp, sawn edges that protrude is just begging to have someting to stub your toe on in the mornings.
That's why I suggested otherwise.

 

[joinerjohn]

What the OP has done there with the skirting is cut the profile onto the end of the skirting. Old Victorian houses often have this where skirting is returned to the wall. Nothing wrong with this method really, Just a very old fashioned traditional way of doing it. The Victorian joiners weren't blessed with electric mitre saws like us modern chippies.

 

[wheresmydrill]

Thanks for the inputs guys - the reverse mitred joints are looking good so far (considering my lack of ability with such things!) so I'll post a couple of pics when I feel they're ready for public consumption.

Thanks again.