# Bead Board



## Ed'sGarage (Aug 16, 2007)

Recently, I was commissioned by my wife to install bead board and trim in my study. I did some research on the web and found that buying this stuff is incredibly expensive. I beginning to think(as is usually the case) that I can make it myself at a greatly reduced price. I've looked into the usual suspects; Rockler, etc, but haven't been able to find a beading bit that fits the bill. The tongue and groove is a little easier to find, but the beading bit is becoming difficult; anyone have any ideas where to get it???


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## Handyman (Jan 2, 2008)

Ed'sGarage Not sure what kind of finish look you wanting but Lowe's sells a 3/8 4x8 sheet of bead board plywood that is about $16.00 a sheet, as well a 1/4 unfinished birch bead board paneling that sells for about $36.00 a sheet. I have installed both in houses as waynes coating. Just a thought


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Are you going to paint or stain the beadboard?

I have used that sold by Lowes and it is good for painting. However, I do not think I would want to stain it.

George

George


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## bradnailer (Nov 11, 2008)

Probably not a big deal, but if you make the bead board from dimensional lumber it will not be as stable as sheet goods. 

However, I've put backers on furniture pieces made from 1x stock and rather than beading them, I slightly chamfered the edges. To connect them, I cut a dado in each edge then secured them with wooden splines.


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## red (Sep 30, 2008)

It is also available in a MDF sheet at most sheet good dealers. This paints up beautiful! Red


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## Charles M (Dec 10, 2007)

Ed'sGarage said:


> Recently, I was commissioned by my wife to install bead board and trim in my study. I did some research on the web and found that buying this stuff is incredibly expensive. I beginning to think(as is usually the case) that I can make it myself at a greatly reduced price. I've looked into the usual suspects; Rockler, etc, but haven't been able to find a beading bit that fits the bill. The tongue and groove is a little easier to find, but the beading bit is becoming difficult; anyone have any ideas where to get it???


Here you go:

Freud Tools - Beadboard Bit System


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## MotorcycleRex (Nov 18, 2008)

Handyman said:


> Ed'sGarage Not sure what kind of finish look you wanting but Lowe's sells a 3/8 4x8 sheet of bead board plywood that is about $16.00 a sheet, as well a 1/4 unfinished birch bead board paneling that sells for about $36.00 a sheet. I have installed both in houses as waynes coating. Just a thought


Ugh... the previous owners of our house put in what I call "fake wainscotting" in the back sunroom... this plywood stuff... it looks horrible!!! It's got all sorts of chips and uneven patches... I think the guy who lived here was operating under the dillusion that a thick coat of white paint would make everything look OK in the end. 

You know, it really won't. 

Ripping that stuff out is on our "to do" list... Along with removing his nice white paint from various other surfaces in the house...

If you go the pre-fab route just make sure it looks good! I'm sure you can get smoother, better stuff than this guy used... 

But why is your wife telling you what to do in YOUR study?  Depending on your house... this is just my observation as someone who recently bought an old house and watched a lot of HGTV during the house hunting process... I feel like there's a move to add "architectual details" to houses now that are more fitting in old houses than new houses, and not even always fitting in old houses... ie not EVERY house needs crown molding... Beadboard wainscotting is also up there on the list of "architectual details." I would just consider if going to the effort of doing this is going to result in something that seems dated in a few years?? I could be totally wrong about this, just some things I seem to have noticed... I kind of think the last people who live here watched too much HGTV and that's where the idea to put wainscotting in the sunroom came from. Though to be honest, had it been done right, it would be pretty nice out there. (As would the cut-outs they did over the doorway, had they only been centered correctly...)

I guess what I'm saying is, make sure you're not just doing this because it's the thing right now... and if you do it, make sure you do it well. 

Sorry, not helpful in getting the job done... but could get you out of having to do the job in the first place/


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## Ed'sGarage (Aug 16, 2007)

*bead board*

I stopped by Lowe's today (per Handyman and George). The only sheet goods, that can be stained, is birch. We're not going to paint. We wanted to stain oak. I don't know how the birch will stain, but I'm going to pick up some waste birch and give it a try. To this point this seems like a possibility. We looked at the pine bead board stained golden oak, but honestly it didn't look anywhere near as nice as the actual oak stained the same way. Unfortunately, I get the feeling that when I stain the birch, it won’t look anywhere near as good as the real oak. I do like the idea of making my own bead board out of dimensional oak and may go that way. We’ll see. Still more research to do.


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