Advice about crown molding

Trim Molding by Craig Savage. You might find it at your local library or Amazon.

Looks too easy. They mention that all your joints will be perfect because they are pre-mitered. Problem is, you house is not perfect. I'd like to see a real installation first. What you see in a video may be nothing what it looks like in real life with all the seams.

materials for crown molding are not that expensive. if you are going to paint it, caulk can cover your sins. i'd be concerned about the stuff falling off. but i may be wrong.

I'm on a budget as well, and would like to do crown molding in my house. I wouldn't touch this stuff, personally. I'd just set aside some money every once in a while and when I get enough money to do a room, do it.

I've seen too many cheap plastic "stickem" products that don't last and look cheap.

I mean, look at the video! That stuff looks like a cheap version of vinyl siding.

Anyone with a critical eye (like a potential buyer) will catch that. If I saw that in a house I was going to buy, the first thing I'd wonder is what else you cheaped out on in the house.

The only way I'd buy it is if I was redoing a hotel or office lobby or some place where surface aesthetics are more important than a job well done. In my house, no way.

it looks cheap.

I agree - there's no way it's as easy as the video. You'll find that your walls will come together at 92 degrees or maybe 88 degrees or anywhere else but a nice 90. One or two degrees doesn't matter? You'll find a 90 degree molding corner and an 88 degree wall makes for a gap big enough to drive a truck through. I know, I just did this job a month ago for the first time and the ulcer is still with me.

Since this is your first installation, and I doubt you have an expensive compound miter saw lying about, there's only one way to go - standard wood crown molding with pre-made corner blocks. If you can cut a straight line, then this is for you :-)

If you want another consideration that is easy if you are proficient with drywall compound:

Go here:

Get a long strip of really junk (cheap) and just play a bit.

Listen to these words .... " Cut it like it lays "

Lay the piece on your miter saw .. where it ISNT laying flat on the table OR the backplane. In other words have your piece where it is LEANING.

Just C-clamp a strip of board towards the front of the miter saw table .. so that when you put the edge of the molding against it and lean it back .. it will lean at a consistant predictable angle.

The angle will be dictated by the flat part on the crown molding. Just imagine your miter saw to be the wall and the ceiling

once you have this makshift jig set up .. just take your long piece of junk molding and start playing .. thinking about how it meets the other piece.

Note .. that you will frequently have to make the cut with the molding upside down.

Trust me .. just experiment a bit

And remember .. if its not perfect .. its amazing what a little caulking will cover up.

mike

I used this system to do the crown molding in my kitchen:

The book and angle finder also available at HD.

-Frank