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How to Use Siding as an Indoor Wall Treatment

Jonah Morrissey

You can use exterior wood siding to create a rustic accent wall within your home's interior. Wood siding comes in a variety of materials, including tongue and groove, shake siding and beveled ship lap. Tongue-and-groove siding is ideal for an interior accent wall because it locks together with the tongue and groove for a clean installation. This type of siding traditionally is made from pine or cedar. Either species of wood is suitable for an interior wall.

Wood siding can liven up an accent wall inside your house.
  1. Measure the height and width of the wall you have selected for the siding wall treatment. The boards will run horizontally across the width of the wall.

  2. Calculate how many boards will be required to cover the wall from floor to ceiling.

  3. Measure, mark and cut the required number of siding boards to length using a miter saw. The length is the width measurement of the wall.

  4. Run a stud finder across the wall and mark the location of each stud on the wall with a pencil.

  5. Start at the bottom of the wall and place a siding board with the width flat against the wall and the tongue edge facing up toward the ceiling. The good side should be facing out toward the room.

  6. Nail the bottom siding board in place by driving two evenly spaced nails through the tongue of the siding at a downward angle into the wall at each stud location.

  7. Place another siding board on top of the bottom board and lock the groove of the second board into the tongue of the bottom board. Nail the board in place with the same method as described in Step 6. Continue adding siding boards in this manner until you reach the last board before the ceiling.

  8. Measure the space from the top edge of the top board to the ceiling. This is the required width for the final board.

  9. Adjust the table saw fence to cut the required width. Run the board through the table saw and cut off the edge with the tongue.

  10. Slide the groove in the bottom of the final board over the tongue of the last board before the ceiling and push it flush with the wall. The cut edge should be flush with the ceiling. Nail the board in place along the top edge using one nail at each stud.