Building components · Wall Leaves & Backing
Lining Batten
Explains battening as a position doing two things at once — providing a fixing plane and creating a gap — and separates it honestly from the metal profile that occupies the same position.
Educational reference entry. What this element has to do, and whether any particular arrangement of it is adequate, depends on the whole assembly, the loading, the exposure, local requirements, the manufacturer's instructions and qualified professional design.
Overview
What a lining batten is
A lining batten is a timber member fixed in a regular pattern to the face of an existing or newly built wall so that boards, panelling or a lining can be fixed to the battens rather than to the wall. Because the battens stand proud of the wall a gap is left behind the lining, and because they can be packed and planed the plane they form can be flat even where the wall behind it is not.
Both of those are the point. A wall that is uneven, soft, or of a material that will not hold a fixing becomes useable once battened, and the gap behind gives somewhere for cables and small services to run and keeps a dry finish off a masonry face. What that gap is for — whether it is filled, sealed, ventilated or simply left — is a decision made about the wall as a whole and is not a property of the battens themselves.
Boundaries
How it differs from nearby elements
The distinctions that keep this entry from being a restatement of its neighbours.
- It is not a furring channel. Both occupy this position and in many linings either could be used, so the honest difference is one of form rather than purpose: a batten is a solid timber member that can be cut, notched, packed, planed and fixed into anywhere along its length, while a channel is a folded profile that can do none of those things. What each can accommodate follows from that and not from any difference in performance.
- It is not a wall stud. A stud is a member of a wall's own frame and carries the wall; a batten is fixed onto a wall that already exists and carries only the lining in front of it.
- It is not a counter-batten. Counter-battens are a roofing position, fixed over an underlay to create a drained and ventilated space beneath tiling battens; a lining batten is on the face of a wall and carries an internal lining.
Terminology
Common names and aliases
These names describe the same element. The library keeps one entry per component so that a trade term or a regional name never becomes a second, thinner page.
- wall batten
- strapping
- timber batten
Dependencies
What it depends on
What has to be right elsewhere for this element to do its job.
- The wall behind it, since a batten is held only by whatever its fixings reach into, and battening does not improve a background that will not hold a fixing.
- How flat that wall is, because the packing needed to bring the battens into one plane grows with the deviation behind them.
- Whether the wall is damp or able to become damp, since timber held against a wet face and then enclosed by a lining sits somewhere it cannot be seen.
- What the gap behind is for, which governs whether the battens run vertically, horizontally, or in both directions.
Considerations
Topics that genuinely apply here
Subjects worth discussing about this element. These are discussion topics, never measured values, ratings or performance claims.
Timber fixed to a masonry wall sits against whatever moisture that wall carries, and once the lining is on neither the batten nor the wall face can be inspected.
Battening creates a space between a wall and its lining, and whether that space is filled, sealed or left open changes how heat and air move behind the finish; what it should be is a question about the wall build-up rather than about the batten.
Battens can be packed and planed to bring an out-of-plane wall into one plane, which is commonly why they are chosen; the flatness of the finished lining is settled at this stage and not later.
A batten can be packed, planed or ripped to bring a wall into plane, so the correction is made in the member itself and survives whatever is later fixed through it.
Materials
Commonly formed from
Material families this element is commonly realised in. This states common practice only — it is not a statement that any of these materials suits this component in a particular building, which depends on the whole assembly and on qualified review.
Assemblies
Building systems this element is met in
The role this component fills inside each assembly. A role describes what the element does there — it is not a statement that this component suits that system in any particular building.
Related elements
Neighbouring components
Typed relationships to other elements. There is deliberately no generic “related” category: an edge that cannot be classified does not exist.
Clarifications
Commonly misunderstood
- That battening dries out a damp wall. It conceals the wall behind a lining; whether that wall is dry, and why it might not be, is a separate question the battens do not answer.
- That the batten pattern only has to suit the boards. Anything later fixed through the lining — a rail, a cabinet, a bracket — can only be fixed where a batten is, and that is decided before the lining goes on.
Conversations
Questions for qualified professionals
Questions worth asking someone with the project in front of them. This page cannot answer them.
- What are the battens fixed into, and will that background hold the fixings the lining needs?
- Is the wall behind dry, and is there any reason it might not stay dry once it is lined?
- What is the gap behind the lining for, and is it meant to be filled, sealed or left open?
- Where will fixings be needed through the finished lining, and does the batten pattern allow for them?
Go deeper
Related Build Design Hub guides
Planning guidance behind the decisions this element involves.
Preparation
Related planning checklists
Owner-side preparation before the conversation where this element comes up.
What this entry does not do
- This entry describes a position. It states no section, spacing, centres, fixing schedule or treatment requirement, and none can be inferred from it.
- Whether timber is appropriate against a particular wall, and whether that wall should be lined at all, are assessments made on site with knowledge of the wall rather than questions a reference entry can settle.
Wall Leaves & Backing
The distinct vertical layers that make up a wall — outer and inner leaves, the cavity between them, and the backing that supports what is fixed to the face.
Browse all wall leaves & backing entries →