Beadboard partition walls

[AdrianB]

Hello, I’m new to this forum and am hoping to get some advice.

We’ve been stripping back the bedroom walls in our 1895 Victorian farmhouse and we’ve been surprised to find that the partition walls are finished with bead boards, laid horizontally across the studs. We were expecting to find lathe and plaster. The boarding could make quite an attractive feature wall but it doesn’t seem quite in keeping with the style of the house.

Does anyone know if such boarding was usual in a house of this age and if the boarding was ever meant to be the final wall finish?

Any insights will help us decide on the final decoration.

 

[Abi Cott]

Beadboard? I think I might have something similar but with vertical boards.

My house dates to about 1829, but I think this wall is later, so maybe within 10 years of the date of yours.
I took off 3 layers of wallpaper and a layer of badly artexed plasterboard, but no paint, so my guesses are either it was supposed to be exposed and unpainted or it was supposed to be wallpapered and the beading was a massive faux pas.

 

[Abi Cott]

I hate trying to post images these days, take two....

As best as I can work out I have 3 walls upstairs of this construction, that were added when the first indoor toilet was put in. Prior to this the upstairs would have been one large room.
I also think I have a couple of similar partitions on the other two floors creating lobby areas around the front and back doors, but I've yet to attack the decor in those areas.

I'm in a 3 storey weavers cottage in Yorkshire.

 

[AdrianB]

Thanks Abi. Ours does look quite similar.



Like yours they hadn’t been painted. Under the many layers of wallpaper, paint and hardboard the original layer was a fine cotton/linen sheet which had been treated with a size or dope to shrink it flat over the boards. This was then wallpapered.

I’m still confused as to why they would have used bead boards as it makes decorating so much harder.

How did you decide how to decorate yours?

 

[Abi Cott]

I'm going to leave that one exposed and paint it. I think it will look nice that way even if it wasn't the intention of the original owners.

On the other side of that wall there is evidence that the boards were left undecorated, or just stained. I've got burns from candles that were presumably stood on the stud having been used to light the way to the loo at night.

 

[CliffordPope]

I've seen plenty of vertical-laid boards in old houses, but usually with wider boards than those pictured. Either bare, or encrusted with about 100 layers of old paint.
The partition between kitchen and dining room seems a common feature of 19th century farmhouses, at least in west Wales. Perhaps it was cheap and easy to move. There was the remains of one like that in ours (c 1875) with very old wallpaper preserved in a narrow strip on the wall behind the end.

 

[88v8]

Match and bead was widely used as a finish. Not so much horizontally, although one can see why it would have been tempting, as it just nails on the studs without counterbatten.

DON'T PAINT IT !!!!!!

Just a transparent varnish. Or at the most a light stain & grain.

The problem with painting is seasonal movement. Exacerbated by CH if you have it.
The boards will shrink and swell, and the paint will crack along the joins. Any paint, all paint. And it will show bare unpainted lines where the boards shrink. So one way and another, in a year or two it will look grotty. That happened in period too, which is why it was often covered up.

Of course, bare wood doesn't suit all interiors. Perhaps you can live with cracked paint. But it will crack, don't kid yourself otherwise.

When I have created areas of match & bead, I've pre-painted it, then secret nailed. And after that never ever painted it again. That way, when it moves the paint doesn't crack and there are no bare lines where it's shrunk. But one can only do that from new.

Nice feature to find.

Ivor

 

[AdrianB]

The problem with painting is seasonal movement. Exacerbated by CH if you have it.
The boards will shrink and swell, and the paint will crack along the joins.

Good point - thanks. The same problem with any tongue and grove boards.

Do you think a limewash finish would have the same problem? Our colour scheme for this room had been quite light and we’d got the paint before discovering the boards.

And does anyone have any advice on repairing/filling gaps where the tongues have split. It’s only in a couple of places but wide enough to poke a screwdriver through.

 

[88v8]

The same problem with any tongue and grove boards.
Do you think a limewash finish would have the same problem? Our colour scheme for this room had been quite light and we’d got the paint before discovering the boards.
And does anyone have any advice on repairing/filling gaps where the tongues have split. It’s only in a couple of places but wide enough to poke a screwdriver through.

Limewash on wood. Hmmm. Dunno if it will adhere?
It says so here
https://www.realhomes.com/advice/how-to-lime-wood
but that's using lime wax.
And here it mentions that one can indeed use limewash
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/limewash-furniture-technique-104719.html
but then defaults to wax because it's 'safer'.
Well, lime is not good stuff to get on your skin, that's for sure. Wear gloves.

Yes, If the paint is more of a transparent stain it will be better than a solid coat. Better still if the tongues are downwards so the paint or wash can seep into the groove. Apply as little as possible.

Split tongues: Any filler will tend to fall straight through. Try papier mache made with brown paper and watered with the paint. Try some in a hidden corner and let it dry to check colour.

Ivor