Pine plank walls?

[KyMama]

Anyone want to volunteer to come help me?    Seriously though, anything I need to know before I get started?  The planks will we be going up on stud walls in the basement, no drywall.  I'll be nailing into the tongue since I plan on just doing a clear finish on the walls when they are finished instead of painting them.  So far my plan is to make sure the first board is level, nail it and then continue up the wall.   It seems simple enough, but I've learned before that what seems simple sometimes isn't so I wanted to check in here and see what I'm forgetting.  

[Cabin Fever]

You might want to consider sealing the boards before you put them up. If you plan on sealing by brushing on a flat or satin polyuretane, make sure you stir the can every few minutes. There are dulling agents in the poly that tend to quickly settle out. If you don't stir, you'll end up having boards with different sheens from flat to gloss. Don't ask me how I know this.

If you are going to butt board ends together on long runs, tongue and grove the butt joints. Otherwise, when the boards shrink, there will be a gap between the butt ends.

[KyMama]

I'll have to seal them once they are up because I don't have the room to lay them out and seal them before hand. I'll remember to stir often, thanks.

I assume I would need to use a router to tongue and groove the butt joints? My router skills are sorely lacking, are there other options? Can I do a miter joint or maybe a biscuit joint? Not that I have a biscuit joiner, but they aren't too expensive that I can't buy one. Right now I'm only working on the walls in my laundry area and the room that will be my craft room, but we plan on doing the whole basement a room at a time so if I need to invest in a tool I'm okay with that. Thank you!

[Bear Foot Farm]

You can do miter joints but they may split if you try to nail them together.
If you do them with just a slight angle and do them over the studs you'll have more "meat" to nail to, but you will also have more waste.

You might also want to figure out your widths so as to have the boards about the same top and bottom. If you start with a full width at the floor, you could end up with a very narrow piece at the top.

Drill pilot holes before nailing the joints.

[shin]

I wish you were nearby! I'd love to help you out with it!

[Deleted]

I have tongue and groove in my house. Looks pretty good if I do say so myself. I installed it vertical and avoided the butt problem.

[Cabin Fever]

Yes, you could do a miter cut. What I would suggest is cutting the over-riding board with an opposing 45º cut to make the joint look like it is V.....if that makes sense. If it don't, I can draw a picture.

[KyMama]

Thanks everyone! I think I've got a pretty good idea on getting started. I'm testing my patience now and trying to give the boards plenty time to acclimate to the basement before I begin. My husband came home last night and asked if I had put any up yet because he knows I hate to wait on anything. lol

Once I get started if I run into any problems I'll be back. Thanks again!

[Skandi]

EVERY..SINGLE...external wall (on the inside to be confusing) in my house is covered in that stuff, verticaly placed and then stained a few shades darker, I hate it! All I can say is use nails that will not rust, because if you ever want to paint it it'll take forever to cover every head..don't ask how I know

[Bear Foot Farm]

if you ever want to paint it it'll take forever to cover every head..don't ask how I know

In that situation the first coat or two should be KILZ.

www.kilz.com/

The nails should be set below the surface and the holes filled with wood putty beforehand.

[Deleted]

Stagger the joints, you don't want a seam running floor to ceiling.

[KyMama]

Apr 20, 2017 13:35:31 GMT cornhusker said:

Stagger the joints, you don't want a seam running floor to ceiling.

Thanks.  Luckily I've updated most of our floors upstairs so it was automatic to stagger the joints and also to make sure that it didn't stair step up the wall. 

I also decided that I needed to update the outlets and switches from the dark browns that were down there to an almond color with wood covers.  Seems easy enough, right?  Wrong, it took me almost an hour to switch out a switch because of the mess in the box.  Isn't is always that way though?  The easy stuff turns into a harder job.  

Is it so hard to square up walls when you are putting them up? Had to get a little creative to get this corner done.  My tiles are straight, it's the wall that's all out of whack.  The vertical stud is pointing in one direction and the horizontal boards are pointing in the other.  If that makes any sense?  I just happened to have a 3/4" square stick of wood that I was able to use there.  

 
 

Oh and I got a new tool - a table saw.  Finally talked DH into getting one because I have to rip the boards at the top of the wall.  I've been wanting one for awhile so very happy to have it for other projects too.  

[Cabin Fever]

Good job!

Are you using that hammer to attach all the boards? If so, ask you husband for a pneumatic brad nailer, too.

[KyMama]

No, that hammer is for random nails sticking out of the studs. I have no clue why there are a ton of nails on every wall but that hammer goes everywhere I go. In the first picture, bottom right corner, you can see the edge of my nailer. I wouldn't even think about doing all these walls without it.

[KyMama]

I'm stuck.  I can't wrap my head around how to cut out for these pipes.  The only way I can think of is to cut from the bottom, slide the board down and then use 1x2's for trim to hide the missing chunk.   There is 2" from the block wall to the pipes and 1¼" from the bottom of the tongue to the bottom of the pipe.  I hope that makes sense.    Help and thanks in advance.  

       

[Cabin Fever]

I would just build a bump-out box around the pipes. Frame the box with 2x4's. You can have the bottom of the box start just below the pipes, or have it go all the way to the floor.

I had an issue like this with a drain pipe that when from floor to ceiling right next to a wall I was finishing. I boxed in the pipe by making a small book case around it.

[Bear Foot Farm]

Can you reroute the pipes so they are closer to the paneled wall?

If they were as close as possible to that wall it would be simple to box around them like CF suggested.

The your turn away from the wall would be at the top where it will be less noticeable.

Another possiblity is cutting the holes for the pipes with a hole saw and then carefully cutting the board apart at the centers of the holes.  

It might require removing part of the groove on the back side to get it over the tongue.