Canadian innovations revive wainscoting tradition

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The best ideas in the world are timeless, and wainscoting is a case in point. It’s a classic architectural feature that uses frames and panels of wood fastened to the bottom half of walls to add an atmosphere of beauty and class to a room or staircase. The wainscoting tradition is more than a thousand years old, but it continues to turn heads today because it’s simply gorgeous. Wainscoting has also become a whole lot easier and less expensive to install, thanks to a Canadian innovation, three innovations, in fact.

Until four years ago, if you wanted real wainscoting in your home you either had to teach yourself to install it, or find one of those rare tradesmen who knew the tricks of this nearly forgotten trade. The widespread lack of wainscoting know-how is why so many homes (even million-dollar mansions) include fake wainscoting made of thin strips of painted trim glued to drywall. Second-rate details like these create the vague impression of wainscoting, but it’s a far cry from the real thing. It’s also a shortcoming that gave Marino Promozic an idea that’s now spreading across North America.

Promozic believed that traditional wainscoting could be reintroduced to the Canadian building scene if difficult parts of the construction process were prefabricated ahead of time and sold in the form of ready-to-install wainscoting kits. Using design features that minimize or eliminate the need for on-site cutting and fitting, Promozic launched an online collection of customizable wainscoting systems back in 2003. It must have been a good idea, because his shop, Elite Mouldings (905-760-1665; www.elitemouldings.com/wainscoting.htm) can hardly keep up with Internet purchases, much of it coming from south of the border. And part of the reason for his success is an ultra-simple installation process that I got to see first hand when I toured the Elite plant earlier this month.

The hallmark of all traditional wainscoting is a framework of vertical and horizontal wooden strips called stiles and rails. The challenge has always been getting these parts to join with each other tightly on the wall, with a minimum of fuss. To overcome this hurdle, Promozic has partnered with an international manufacturer of router bits to create something so simple you’ve got to wonder why it never happened before.

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