Chair Railing Installation

What is Chair Rail?

Chair railing is a moulding that encircles a room at a specified height from the floor. The name comes from its function: to prevent chairs placed or knocked against the wall from doing damage to the wall surface. Historically, chair railing was used in dining rooms where there are usually a large number of chairs with hard corners.

Presently, chair railing is often used in hallways, elevators, technical buildings such as laboratories, or institutions. In most of these applications, protection of the walls is the primary reason for installation. Service carts, bottled gas tanks, small machinery- anything from vacuum cleaners to small forklifts- can quickly cause significant damage by bumping walls. Chair railing quickly pays for itself.

Although its purpose is functional, it creates an opportunity for decoration of a home or business, such as a restaurant. In some cases it might be installed purely for decorative reasons. Chair railing can be given a natural wood finish, or painted to blend or contrast with the room. Often the wall sections above and below the moulding are finished differently with paint, paneling or wallpaper for decorative interest. The possibilities are nearly endless.

Chair railing is basically a narrow strip of durable material which is applied to the wall. It may be made from wood, plastic or metal but wood or MDF chair railing is by far the most common. Wood mouldings come in several styles from simple boards to ornate routed and embossed designs associated with formal settings and may be applied with screws or adhesives.

Just moulding uses a custom chair rail installation process which can combine railings with mouldings to provide a tight, overlapping joint which helps prevent separation of the parts from the underlying studs. The standard height for chair railing is 30- 36 inches above the floor, and this can be adjusted so as to give maximum protection from bump heights of known sets of chairs. Purely decorative railings may be installed at any height.

Chair Railing Design and Installation Process

Our professional installers will visit your site and make a preliminary examination of the need. A written estimate will then be presented to the customer. Upon approval, actual digital measurements will be made. This method is quick and causes little disruption of normal function. With the precise information thus gained the mouldings will be pre-cut away from the job site. This eliminates the bulk of the mess associated with on-site finish jobs. Finally, the installers will return and perform a quality installation of the pieces, being careful to fit and fasten the chair railing so that there will not be gaps. All nail holes are filled and finished.

Chair railings provide a room with a traditional finished appearance and provide protection with only a modest expense.