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Board and batten wainscot calculator

Wainscot battens, spacing and rail height.

Open the Board & Batten tool

Free. Runs in your browser, no account, and keeps working offline.

What it does

Enter the wall width, how tall the wainscot runs, and the size of the battens, rail and cap. The calculator picks how many battens keep every gap under 16″ (or use your own count), spaces them evenly with the first and last tight to the corners, and gives the gap and on-center spacing.

Batten length is worked out from the baseboard to the underside of the top rail. The cut list covers battens, rail and cap, and packs them onto the stock length you buy, with your waste allowance.

For a full-height batten wall with frames, grids or diamonds, use the Accent Wall Editor.

Worked example

A 12′ (144″) wall, wainscot 60″ tall with a 3/4″ cap and a 3 1/2″ top rail over 5 1/4″ baseboard, 2 1/2″ battens with no gap over 16″.

Battens
9
Gap between battens
15 3/16″
On center
17 11/16″
Batten length
50 1/2″
8′ boards for the battens (before waste)
9

The first and last battens sit tight in the corners; every gap between is the same.

Try it with your numbers

Questions

How far apart should battens be?

Spacing is a design choice; 12″ to 16″ gaps are common on wainscot. The calculator keeps every gap under 16″ by default and makes all of them equal.

How do I figure the batten length?

Measure from the top of the baseboard to the bottom of the top rail. The calculator does this from the wainscot height, rail width, cap and baseboard you enter.

How many boards do I need?

The cut list packs each piece onto your stock length and adds your waste percentage, so the count is boards to buy, not just linear feet.

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