Board and batten spacing for a 12 ft wall

Twelve feet is a typical bedroom or living-room accent wall. Cut one spacer block to 15-3/16 in and use it for every gap — it is faster and more even than measuring each one.

What to know about a 12 ft board and batten wall

• Measure the wall three times. Take the width at the ceiling, at mid-height and just above the baseboard. Drywall corners carry a build-up of joint compound, so a “12 ft” wall is often a little under 144 in at the corners. Lay out from the smallest figure and scribe the end battens to the corners.
• Eleven 8 ft sticks do it. Each of the nine vertical battens is one full 8 ft stick on a wall with 8 ft ceilings (less if the battens stop on top of the baseboard), and the 12 ft top rail takes two more with a joint over a batten. A 12 ft board for the rail avoids the joint if you can get it home.
• Check the outlets before the first nail. With battens about 17-11/16 in on center, mark every batten line on the wall and see where switch and outlet boxes fall. Nudging the target to 15 or 17 in often moves a batten clear of a box; otherwise plan box extenders.
• Make the spacer from scrap. A 15-3/16 in block cut from a straight 2×4 offcut sets each gap; two blocks, one near the top and one near the bottom, keep the battens parallel. For how many blocks one stud yields, see How many 16 in pieces from an 8 ft 2x4.

Primed MDF battens are the usual choice for a painted wall. Fill the nail holes and caulk the batten edges before the final coat — the shadow lines are what make the wall look finished.