Crown molding

[philo]

Walls in the kitchen have been prepped and wallpaper going in today.

Next week I'll be putting up the crown molding which is something I've never done before.

Looked on line at the tutorials and they just show a guy with a brad gun putting them in staggered about a foot apart.

There is no mention of studs.

Since the small brads are just going into drywall I don't see how that can hold too well even though the crown molding is very light.

My plan is to put the brads into as many studs as possible...

I went around last night near the ceiling and poked some brads through the wall where the studs were supposed to be and amazingly found a good deal of them.

The tutorials recommended construction adhesive as well...I'm wondering if that's why they did not mention the importance of hitting studs.

[Terry Coombs]

The fact that you're putting in nails from 2 directions helps - and using construction adhesive is a mistake , makes a mess . Before you start , find where the bottom edge of the molding will be , and strike a chalk line about

1/8" below the lowest point - use blue or white chalk , red will NOT wash off . This will give you a guide to help keep from twisting the mold as you work down the wall . If you're painting , mitered corners will be OK , if staining learn to cope the inside corners for a better fit . The biggest thing to remember is : When you're cutting the molding , the wall side goes against the back , and the ceiling side goes against the bed of your chop saw . This will have the ends "reversed" , so left is right and right is left . So if you're cutting an outside miter for the right end , you cut the left end when on the saw . Hope that was clear ...

[Vic Smith]

I did a few rooms with 4' oak a few years ago. Used 2" brads. Plenty strong as long as hit stud/joists.

Used a magnet from a hard drive to find studs and joists. Tagged them with pieces of masking tape. If you're using foam/plastic crown molding I'd consider gluing it.

[dpb]

On 08/14/2015 7:31 AM, philo wrote: ...

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Should be no problem in finding them all since you can cover up the exploratory holes...average out the locations you've found to get a starting point and measuring 16" OC should get them--unless, of course, you had a typical framing crew these days and they put every third one or the like on the wrong side of the mark... :)

As another says, I'd absolutely forego that; it'll just make a mess and is a pita to deal with without smearing all over everywhere...

The "cheating" way that makes for easy nailing is to cut an angled filler blocking and put it in the corner and then you've got a continuous nailing surface plus (assuming you cut the angle correctly) you've got a guide to keep it uniform. With larger crown this can be a godsend; for smaller it's pretty easy to do without but for a newbie it's a nice crutch.

As another says, take some time and practice and learn to cope the corners; also note that way you can butt the starting end and only cope the matching piece of one corner per wall, not two...

[Mayayana]

As Terry said, glue just makes a mess. And what if you need to take the molding down later without replacing the wallpaper? You want 4F or 6F nails, depending on the size of the molding and what's in the wall. (You also need to find wood in the ceiling.)

You say crown molding. Do you really mean the

45 degree stuff? That's tricky at the joints. You'll need a good miter saw. Hopefully you're using wood and not the oversized plastic crap, which will always look like oversized plastic crap, unfortunately. (I've seen foam crown molding as big as about 16" high. Like putting a giant BMW logo on a Yugo, it tries to express classiness but only makes matters worse.)

If you are using wood and plan to paint it, I'd suggest primer and a first coat before you put it up. Then fill the nailholes with lightweight spackle, spot prime, and do a finish coat. Otherwise you'll be faced with trying to paint that tiny underside right up to the wallpaper, without getting any on the wallpaper.

[philo]

Thanks

So I don't screw up the mitering, I'm just going to use corner blocks.

If you say the adhesive is messy I'll skip it...I figure that if I get the brads into a number of studs, it's not going to go anywhere.

[philo]

The crow molding is just pine and my wife is going to paint it first, then once I have it installed, I'll have to touch it up.

I do have a stud finder but there is noting like poking a brad through the drywall to confirm where the stud is. All exploratory holes will be behind the molding so they will not show.

I marked the spot on the ceiling with pencil and will just erase it or paint over it when done.

[philo]

House was built in 1898 but they complied quite well to the 16" standard. Most of the studs were right where I expected them to be. There was one wall where after find two of thew studs, the 3rd one was not where I expected it...so I just started from the other wall and all was OK

[philo]

Thanks , will skip the glue And what

Yep, I will nail it to the studs...as I found most of them. Just found it odd that the on-line tutorial just showed them nailing it to the drywall...seemed like a bad idea.

yes

That's tricky at the joints. You'll

Not going to miter it, just cut it off straight and use corner blocks

Hopefully you're using wood Yes...pine

easy to get a nail through

Yep will be painted first, easy top touch up later.

Then fill the

[philo]

After dealing with suppliers who did not have corner blocks in stock I said "screw it " and made my own.

Got them in and had a lot of things to do today so only got one (of four) pieces of crown molding up. Considering that nothing is square in this 117 year old house it turned out pretty well...some small gaps near the ceiling which I will caulk and paint.

Passed the "wife" test so I'm OK.