DIY Authentic Shiplap Wall

HIDING OUR FURNACE AIR RETURN BEHIND THIS DIY AUTHENTIC SHIPLAP WALL AND REMOVING THE ENTRY CLOSET CHANGED OUR ENTRY FROM BLAND TO BEAUTIFUL!

This entry remodel project has been on my dream list for quite a few years. While I didn’t always envision us installing authentic shiplap on the wall, I did always want it to be more open, bright and cheery. But, building this authentic shiplap wall has absolutely transformed this room.

As you can see from our pictures below we had this strange ill-placed coat closet ‘island’ between our entry, living and dining areas. It blocked the views through the house and made it all seem crowded and small.

Remodel delay

For years I desperately wanted to rip out the closet and open the rooms up…but there was a problem. The furnace forced air return was built in and through this closet area. We couldn’t just rip out the closet without coming up with a new location to build in the air return vents.

Problem was, there really wasn’t anywhere near that we could build them in. The stud cavity of the adjacent entry wall wasn’t big enough for the correct air flow. And, there were no other walls near this area that would tie into the furnace just below in the basement.

So, we had to get creative. We came up with the idea to build a faux wall just 9 inches out from the original adjacent entry wall.

We would build the air return into that wall cavity by simply opening up the flooring to some furnace ducting in the basement below. Then put in the grates at the top of the wall. In this way, the entire air space between the two walls would become air return.

The idea of an authentic shiplap wall

Ever since Joanna Gaines brought shiplap to the farmhouse decorating world I wanted to makeover this entry wall with shiplap. Knowing that shiplalp was expensive, we had thought we would makeover this wall with faux plywood ‘shiplap’. We did that in our bathroom. A very cost effective way to get the farmhouse shiplap look for less money.

Of course, like all our projects here at the farmhouse, we had to do this very inexpensively. That meant DIY, so I began running costs. If we used faux plywood ‘shiplap’ we would have to put up sheet rock first in order to keep the 1/4″ plywood ‘boards’ from bowing.

I quickly figured out that with the combined costs of sheet rock and the plywood, it would be near the cost of installing authentic 3/4″ shiplap boards…my dream! Simply installing the authentic shiplap right to the studs would be enough and we could eliminate the need for the sheet rock. So for only about $30 dollars more we chose the authentic shiplap!

DIY Authentic Shiplap Wall Video

What is authentic shiplap?

Authentic shiplap is dimensional lumber that simply has a notch along each long side. One on top and the other on the bottom, as seen in the photo above. In this way, when you put it up on the wall it simply ‘laps’ over the piece before as the name implies. It also sheds water. The ends are blunt cut and just butt up to one another for an authentic vintage feel.

Authentic shiplap is different than tongue-and-groove or sheathing boards. Both of these are often see sold as ‘shiplap’ and are often installed in homes today.

Tongue-and-groove has, as it sounds, has a groove cut into one side and a tongue sticking out on the other. The tongue locks into the grove of the piece before. Typically, they would lock on the short ends as well.

Sheathing boards are flat board strips that were used in the day before plywood to help strengthen stud walls. They were often installed diagonally or horizontally and they simply have square blunt sides with no notches.

Authentic shiplap can be square cut or cut to have a V notch when put together. Ours have a V notch, and I really like that look.

The tongue-and-groove ‘shiplap’ boards were quite a bit more costly in our area. We also had a hard time finding them without broken ‘tongues’ so we didn’t see them as a viable option for our project.

The authentic shiplap we ended up purchasing also came in longer and wider pieces than the tongue-and-groove. This made it go up quickly and also look less busy on the wall. We sorted through about 25 pieces to come up with our 18 pieces of wood we needed.

There was also a narrower lap product similar to ours available. It came just over 5″ wide and 8′ long. It was more costly and was in very poor condition with lots of splits and cracks.

Installing the authentic shiplap wall

So, after years of dreaming this is the result! The shiplap boards came in 3/4″x8″x12′ long pine boards so it went up quickly and easily on our 14′ wall.

Stud Wall

We simply built a 2×4 stud wall, with extra studs so we had a stud every 12″. That only required 2 extra studs in 14′. But, it made hanging the shiplap very cost effective because we could cut and install it on even foot configurations and have very little waste. And that meant a big cost savings on the shiplap which was more expensive than studs.

Priming & Nailing Up

I chose to prime the unfinished boards before putting them up on the wall. Then Bill and the boys nailed them up with a finish nailer. They nailed in the lower lap on the bottom edge so it would be hidden by the next lap. On the top edge they just nailed on the top of the finished board.

We filled the nail holes on the top of the finished board with wood putty, and then sanded and primed over the putty.

They installed our boards from top down because we had to work around the return air vents. We really wanted those cuts to come out correctly.

Also, because we do not have our new flooring installed yet, we just hung the shiplap right down to the underlayment on the floor. When we put in the flooring we will just install up against the shiplap and put a trim piece over.

Finish Paint

Last we painted the entire authentic shiplap wall with semi-gloss interior wall paint. If I was to do it again I would go ahead and paint on the finish paint before nailing it up.

I did have some trouble painting between the boards because the paint wanted to fill in the gap below the V notch. I had to take a table knife and wipe out the collected paint bubbles from between the boards. Painting them before installing would eliminate this. You would still have to fill and paint the nail holes though.

Trim

At the outside corner we installed a 1″x3″ mdf trim molding for the shiplap to butt up against. On the inside corner on the other end and along the ceiling we just butted it up against the finished wall. You can see a few little gaps along the ceiling where the ceiling was not exactly straight. We plan to just caulk and paint those and will not be installing a trim piece.

Supplies used to build our authentic shiplap wall

• 3/4″x8″x12′ shiplap pine boards
• Kilz primer
• air brad nailer with compressor similar to ours
• Of course, we also used studs, screws, cordless screw drivers, chop saws and other framing tools we had on hand to build the stud wall.

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All in all we are super happy with our diy authentic shiplap wall. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Be sure to subscribe to my emails so you are sure to never miss a post!

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