Plywood Strip Paneling



Plywood wall finish comes in the form of strip paneling. It is prefinished, and is a great deal easier to handle than the boards. Made by U. S. Plywood, it's called Plankweld. The 16-in wide strips (the exact dimension to fit from the center of one stud to the center of the next) have interlocking grooves cut in the two long edges. The stuff is nailed directly to the studs or to furring strips with a system of metal clips.

Unpack the Plankweld wall finish and sort out the sheets so that you have a nice flow of grain or color. The manufacturing process can only go so far, and wood will vary a bit from one tree to the next. All this is to your advantage, however, because you can select the panels that give a pleasing continuity.

Installation

Measure the distance between floor and ceiling and cut the first wall finish panel to size minus a small amount. Stand the panel in a corner of the room and hold a level against the outer edge. Juggle the strip until the bubble is centered. If necessary, scribe the corner edge to fit the space exactly. Fasten this edge in place, using 6 penny finishing nails through the face of the sheet into the stud or furring strips in back. From here on the Plankweld wall finish is held against the wall with metal clips.

Fit the lip of a clip into the groove in the edge of the wall finish strip. You can slide each clip slightly until it is in the center of the furring strip. (If you're attaching directly to the studs, space the clips about 16-18 in. apart.) The projecting part of the clip has a hole punched in it. Drive a nail through this hole into the stud or furring strip. Continue the same procedure all the way down the edge of the panel. To attach the second wall finish panel, simply interlock the edges of the two.

Other Types of Paneling

A quite similar wall finish material turned out by Masonite Corporation is called Marlite Paneling. It's made of hardboard and is installed in the same way as Plankweld (clips plus interlocking edges). The face covering is made of either simulated wood or a tough plastic finish in a selection of quite a few colors.

You'll also find plywood wall finish sheets made with a series of vertical grooves cut into the surface. These give the appearance of a tongue-and-groove wall, but actually the surface goes up in one large hunk. Although the grooves appear to be spaced at random, you'll find one every 16 in.

For this reason, you can put this stuff up against a stud wall, drive a nail through the plywood within a groove and hit a stud beyond. As long as you use small finishing nails and set the heads slightly below the surface, the nail holes will be almost invisible. If you are finicky on this score you can use a colored putty stick to hide the hole. Pick this item up at the lumber_yard in a matching color if it's not supplied with the plywood.

Since you're free to use nails in putting up this plywood wall finish there isn't much sense in going through the complicated procedure with contact cement. Nor do you have to bother with divider strips. The edges of the sheets are beveled and when two are butted together the resulting V-joint looks exactly like the other grooves cut into the face of the sheet.

Choose one of these types of wall finish and you will have a classy looking room.