Introduction #
This guide covers how to install shiplap on walls 7 to 14 feet wide. That's the range where a single board can't span the whole wall anymore. For shorter walls, see our core guide: How to Install Shiplap, 0′ to 7′. Read that guide first. This guide assumes you already know the standard horizontal, vertical, herringbone, and chevron methods. It only covers what changes when the wall is wider than one board. Everything else about installing shiplap stays the same.
Most shiplap boards come in 8-foot lengths. Some suppliers carry 10- or 12-foot boards too. Once the wall is longer than your boards, you need butt joints: spots where two boards meet end to end within the same row (called a course). Handling these joints well, where they land, how far apart they are, and what holds them, is the main new skill for this wall size. The basic install doesn't change. The planning does. You still install shiplap the same way, course by course. You just add a joint plan on top of it.
What Changes When You Install Shiplap on Longer Walls #
- Butt joints are required. No single board spans the wall. That means every course has at least one joint where two boards meet end to end.
- Stagger your joints. This means spacing each joint so it doesn't line up with the joint in the row above or below it. Joints must be offset by at least 2 stud bays (the gaps between wall studs, usually 16″ apart), so 32″ minimum, between courses next to each other. Random stagger looks better than a repeating pattern.
- Every joint must land on a stud. Both board ends at the joint need solid nailing. Never let a joint float between studs, meaning it lands with nothing solid behind it.
- Small level mistakes add up faster. A 12-foot wall shows a small level error much more than a 6-foot wall does. Check your level more often.
- You'll waste a little more material. Each course leaves cutoff pieces, the leftover piece after you cut a board to fit. Plan your board lengths so the cutoff from one course can start the next course. That wastes the least material.
- You may need a second pair of hands. It's hard to hold a 10- or 12-foot board level while you nail it by yourself. A helper or a temporary support cleat makes the job faster and more accurate.
Additional Materials for Long Walls #
You'll need everything in the core guide tool list, plus:
- Longer boards when you can get them - 10′ or 12′ boards mean fewer joints. If your supplier carries them, order these for walls over 8′. The extra cost is worth having fewer joints.
- Temporary support cleat - a scrap piece of 1x material (thin board stock, sometimes called one-by lumber) screwed to the wall at your working height. Rest the board on it while you set it in place and nail it. Take the cleat off once the course moves past it.
- Extra brad nails - each joint gets 4 nails (2 per board end), so longer walls need 20-30% more nails than short walls.
How to Plan Joint Layout #
Joint planning is the single most important addition for walls this size. A poor joint layout leaves visible vertical lines that ruin the look. A good layout makes the seams disappear.
The Stagger Rule #
No two courses next to each other should have joints within 32″ of each other (that's 2 stud bays on 16″ centers). Aim for 3-4 stud bays apart instead (48-64″). Random stagger always looks better than a repeating pattern. If every joint steps exactly 32″ to the right, your eye picks up the diagonal line it makes. True random placement - sometimes left, sometimes right, with the offset changing each time - looks natural instead.
The Cutoff Strategy #
Say you install shiplap on a 10-foot wall with 8-foot boards. The first board leaves a 2-foot gap. Cut a 2-foot piece to finish the course. That leaves a 6-foot cutoff piece. Start the next course with that 6-foot cutoff. Its joint will land 6 feet from the starting wall, well clear of the first course's joint at 8 feet. This cascading cutoff method wastes less material and staggers your joints automatically.
Pro Tip: Before cutting, dry-lay 3-4 courses on the floor (lay the boards out without nailing them, just to check the layout) to map out your joint pattern. Mark where each joint lands. If two joints end up within 24″ of each other vertically, adjust board lengths to push them apart. Five minutes of planning saves hours of reinstalling work.
Joints on Studs #
Every butt joint must land directly over a stud. Both board ends at the joint get nailed - two brads per end, for a total of four nails at every joint. If a joint lands between studs, the board ends will eventually separate, bow, or open up into a visible gap. This is the one rule you can't bend on walls over 7 feet.
What’s Different Step-by-Step to Install Shiplap #
Follow the core guide for each orientation. The changes below apply to all orientations (horizontal, vertical, herringbone, chevron).
Step 1 (Layout) - Add Joint Planning #
Same layout process, but add a joint plan. After you calculate the course count and check for thin rows at the top and bottom, map out where the joints will fall. Mark stud locations on the wall first, then sketch joint positions on paper or directly on the wall. Check that every planned joint lands on a stud.
Step 2 (First Course) - No Significant Change #
Same process. The first board may not span the full wall, so you'll cut a fill piece. Make sure both the full board and the fill piece are level. Check across the seam. Nail both ends of each board at the joint into the stud.
Steps 3-4 (Build Up / Outlets) - Add Level Checks and Joint Nailing #
Same course-by-course process, but:
- Check level every 3 courses (not every 4-5 as in the core guide). Longer walls show small level errors faster.
- Butt joints must be tight. Push the second board firmly against the first before nailing. A small gap (even 1/16″) at a joint becomes a dark line that draws the eye. If the boards have shrunk a little from acclimation, apply a thin bead of wood glue to the end grain (the cut end of the board, where the wood fibers show) at the joint.
- 4 nails per joint - 2 brads in the end of each board, one high and one low. Both board ends must be locked to the stud on their own, separately.
Step 5 (Top Row / Finish) - No Significant Change #
Same process. Set the joint nails below the surface, just like the nails over the studs. Wipe off any wet glue squeeze-out at the joint right away. Filling those joint holes and any touch-up on pre-finished boards is the painter's job from here.
Vertical Orientation - Additional Notes for Long Walls #
On walls 7-14 feet wide with vertical shiplap, butt joints usually aren't the main concern, since boards typically run floor to ceiling in one piece. Instead, the challenge is keeping the boards plumb (perfectly vertical, straight up and down) across a wider span, and dealing with the extra furring strips (thin strips of wood attached to the wall that give you something flat to nail boards to) you'll need.
- You'll need more furring strips. Wider walls need more horizontal blocking (short framing pieces added between the studs). Install furring strips at the same 16-24″ vertical spacing as always, but check that each strip is level. A bowed furring strip on a wide wall will push the boards out of line.
- Check plumb every 4-5 boards and correct gradually. On a 14-foot wall, even 1/8″ of lean per board adds up to over 1″ by the far side.
- The left and right edge boards must still be equal width. Figure this out carefully on wide walls. The small rounding error you get from dividing up the wall width shows up more when the edge boards are far apart.
Angled Patterns (Herringbone/Chevron) - Notes for Wider Walls #
When installing herringbone or chevron patterns on walls wider than 7 feet, the plywood backer requirement from the core guide becomes more important:
- Plywood seams. Standard 4×8 sheets won't cover the wall in one piece. Stagger the plywood seams so they don't line up behind the shiplap joints. Landing a shiplap joint directly on top of a plywood seam lets that spot flex, which can open the joint over time.
- Wider walls mean more pattern repeats. The herringbone zigzag or chevron V shape repeats more times across the wall, so any small angle mistake becomes easier to see. Use a digital angle gauge to check that your saw stays at exactly 45° throughout the project.
- You must use construction adhesive. On wider walls, angled boards can shift more easily because they have more leverage. Use adhesive on every board, not just the problem spots.
Quality Check - Additions for Long Walls #
Complete the full core guide quality checklist, then check:
- No two adjacent courses have joints within 32″ of each other
- All butt joints are tight (no visible gaps or dark lines)
- Every joint lands on a stud (no floating joints)
- Joint nails set below the surface, matching the stud nail treatment
- Level is consistent across the full wall width - check at left, center, and right
- No repeating stagger pattern visible (joints should appear random)
Troubleshooting - Long Wall Issues #
Joints opening up after installation #
The board ends are shrinking from changes in humidity. The end grain (the cut end of the board, where the wood fibers show) soaks up and releases moisture faster than the face grain (the flat front and back surfaces of the board). To prevent this: glue both end-grain faces together before you butt them, and keep every joint nailed tight to the stud during install. A joint that opens up weeks or months after the wall is finished is a paint touch-up job, not a reinstall. Flag it for the painter instead of pulling cured, painted boards off the wall to re-nail or re-cut them.
Visible vertical line from stacked joints #
Two or more courses have joints that are too close together, so you get a visible vertical seam line. Take the boards off the worst courses and re-cut them to stagger the joints farther apart. Keep a minimum 32″ offset, ideally 48″+. This is why dry-laying courses on the floor first matters. Catching this problem during planning takes minutes. Fixing it after you've nailed everything takes hours.
Board ends not flush at joints #
One board end sits slightly proud (raised above the surface of the board next to it) at the joint. This can happen because board thickness varies a little between pieces, or because the stud face isn't perfectly flat. Fix it by sanding the proud edge flush, or by shimming (adding a thin wedge of material to fill the gap) behind the lower board to bring it up level. Press both boards down gently onto the course below so the lap joint (the overlapping edge where the boards meet) stays seated.
Level drifting across the full wall width #
The wall itself may not be flat or plumb. On walls over 10 feet, small problems in the framing show up as waves in the shiplap surface. Fix this by adding shims behind boards at the low spots. Check with a long straightedge across the wall. If you see daylight (gaps you can see light through), shim those spots before you keep going upward.
Helpful Resources #
These outside resources go into more detail on shiplap techniques for longer walls:
- Family Handyman - Shiplap Wall Ideas - Design inspiration and layout tips for various wall sizes
- This Old House - How to Install Shiplap - Professional techniques including joint management on long runs
Once you can handle a 7- to 14-foot wall, joint planning stops being the scary part. It becomes routine. Dry-lay your courses first, keep every joint on a stud, and stagger with intent. Do that, and the wall will read as one continuous board, not a row of visible seams. The nail pattern and the eye for level are the same whether the wall is 7 feet or 14. Take your time on the joint layout, and the rest of the job goes just like the core guide describes.
Related Guides #
- Core Guide: How to Install Shiplap, 0′ to 7′ - Complete installation process for all four orientations
- How to Install Shiplap 3, 14’+ - What changes for walls over 14 feet including multi-piece runs and scaffolding
- How to Install Shiplap 4, Ceiling - Overhead installation techniques and gravity challenges
- How to Install Shiplap on a 3-Sided Fireplace Under 10′ - Mitered corners and heat clearance for fireplace wraps
