Crown installation technique experiment

[BUB 209]

I had to install crown in a 16' X 10' room on Sunday. I thought I'd try something new, so I cut a small cross section of the molding and went around the room, marking the top and bottom of the finished fit on ceiling and wall about every five feet, making sure the back of the sample was as flat to the drywall as possible. In the corners, I made the marks intersect on the ceiling. It seemed to help with the installation in that when something was off, the reference marks revealed exactly what the problem was.

[Dave Jackson]

The marks you made in the corners where the crown meets the wall should also be connected by snapping a chalk line to keep the crown running straight. If you just pick certain areas along the wall to make reference marks, eventually you'll hit a high or low area in the ceiling. Then, when the crown is installed to the reference marks, it will appear wavy. A sharp chalk line will keep things right. If the walls are already finished, you can use white baby powder in the chalk line instead of the red or blue chalk to make cleaning up easy. --dave