A beautiful, rustic barn board accent wall can be used to accent a room or be the showcase of a home and it’s easier to build than you might think! With The Home Depot’s barn wood products, you can easily transform your wall into a showpiece that will captivate your guests.
There are 4 steps to completing this project:
First, ensure the wall is clean by wiping it down with a damp cloth, letting the surface dry and removing any electrical or light switch covers. As the boards may not be perfectly aligned, you may want to paint the wall where your bard board will be in a complimentary colour to help minimize show through of the wall between the cracks of the boards.
Measure the length and height of your wall and multiply the two. You’ll get the total square footage of your wall.
Eg: 12’ x 8’ = 96 sq. ft.
It is recommended to measure at both the top and bottom of the wall - and from both ends of the wall - as the wall may not be perfectly square. Ensure you add 5-10% for waste factor when cutting and installing the boards. This will help you determine the quantity of barn board pieces required to complete your project.
Eg: 96 square feet x 10% = 105.6 square feet.
A 1x8x8 piece of barn board covers 5.25 square feet so you would require 20 pieces of board to complete the wall. (Note that some patterns are more elaborate and will require more boards to complete.) Using your stud finder, level and pencil, find and layout the studs (draw a line all the way to the floor) and measure from the ceiling down the width of your first board on both ends. With your level, draw a line to connect the two points.
Start at the top of the wall and working towards the floor to reduce any visible installation variances that may occur if a wall is not perfectly square. This also allows for any inconsistencies to be more easily concealed with a complimentary baseboard trim, keeping them away from eye level.
In a zig-zag pattern, apply permanent construction adhesive to the back of each board. If your project is only temporary, you can skip the adhesive. Set the first board in place along the layout from step 2 and reinforce it with a nail or screw it into the wall stud. You can either face nail the board with finishing nails or a brad nailer or you can top nail at a 45-degree angle to avoid face nailing. Always check that each row is level and square.
Measure out each row and cut each piece using an electric or traditional miter saw. You can use touch up paint to touch up each end-cut. Be sure to check your measurements twice to insure the cut is correct. Do this until your wall is complete.
When you have to cut out for the light -switch or electrical outlet be sure to leave a half-inch space around the outlet to allow the cover to be installed flush to the drywall or talk to an electrician to learn how to shut off the power to those outlets.
Remove the cover and the nail or screw holding the electrical box in place against the stud. Extend the position of the electrical box out the thickness of the accent board 7/8” - re-fasten the box to the wall stud. Alternatively you can purchase electrical box extenders or spacers and longer switch plate screws. Proceed to cut out boards to leave a quarter-inch of space around the outlet – enough for the cover to conceal the gap.
