Securing a Dado rail to a wall

Hi all, we are close to finishing a year long decorating marathon on our new (to us!) house - we have refitted the kitchen, main bathroom, and ensuite, created a little cloakroom/bathroom area under the stairs and painted every room. The only big job left is the main hallway which runs up three floors and which is big enough that we have decided to paint with two colours (red/cream) split by a dado rail about a third of the way up.

Now I have bought the dado rail and I have all the necessary tools but I'm just not sure how to attach it to the wall. I have used No-Nails adhesive for skirting and architrave, but I'm hesitant to use it for this job until I get some advice - should I go with screws, nails or the adhesive? My wife has a tendency to change her mind suddenly, so I have to bear in mind that the rail may come down after a year or three. The house is fairly new and the walls are mainly plasterboard over a metal frame, in case that helps.

Thanks for any advice on this!

Syl

No more nails, or Tech7.

The best job would be Tech7 like jmrc said. But I would prop the dado off of other walls using latts as stays until the glue has set. Which would prob take overnight.

Thank you jmrc and crazymary - grab adhesive it is then!

By sticking it to the wall, does he not risk losing half the wall if (when) his wife decided to go gor the clean lines look. I would have thought tacking pins would be the best & easy to remove.

If you think the rail might need to come off in a couple of years I would use pins, because you may take a lot of plaster off the wall if you use adhesive

Oh no, now I have alternative advice and choices!

So what sort of pins should I get for a job like this - what would give the best finish? We were planning on varnishing the rail before securing it to the wall - will that still work if I'm pinning it?

You would need to use adhesive with the panel pins otherwise anyone putting a hand on the dado will knock it loose.

Tec 7 stick it on. If you take if off in a couple of years you will do some damage to the skim coat on the wall, nothing Polyfilla won't repair easily.

sconhome said:

you would need to use adhesive with the panel pins otherwise anyone putting a hand on the dado will knock it loose.
Tec 7 stick it on. If you take if off in a couple of years you will do some damage to the skim coat on the wall, nothing polyfilla won't repair easily.

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+1

Not a dado rail fan... have removed them from the house. They didnt look great as previous owner had filler put in where wall was slightly curved,,, They were fixed with adhesive and most came off with no damage..polyfilla sorted out repairs... If you think you will be removing them in few years then why not re-consider the hall colours and dont bother with the dado rail

If you want a split look the why not just use masking tape and paint different coloursor do a stripe. Did this in my last house instead of using dado rail. cheaper, easier and simple to change.

I hope it's ok to piggy back on this post as it is a related issue. I'm about to attach a dado rail to a solid wall and was wondering what would be the best way to do this - adhesive or nails or screws? Any help would be grateful!

Combination of screws and adhesive in my opinion. Screws (with appropriate plugs) will keep it in position while the glue sets.
Leo