Installing Crown Molding

In the right room, installing crown molding can create a dramatic impact. The finishing touch of molding enhances a room the way the right frame accentuates a painting.

When working with crown molding, it helps to measure precisely and understand angles.

Facts about Crown Molding

Homeowners most often use decorative trim made from milled or reformed wood. Crown molding is also manufactured from other materials, including plastic, plaster, pressed foam, and sometimes, simply for a faux effect, a paper stock that’s easily painted. Pine, spruce, and poplar are easier woods to work with than oak, and less expensive.

Crown is a type of molding that is most commonly used where the ceiling meets the interior walls. It can be applied:

• Along all four walls.
• As an accent above a fireplace, window, or entryway.
• As a framing device for a special architectural detail, such as a cabinet or alcove.

This trim is not attached flush against the ceiling or wall, but rather inserted into the angle where the ceiling and interior wall merge.

There are generally two components to a single piece of crown molding:

• The broad wave at the top of the piece is known by the classic architectural term, cyma recta, which means “upright” or “wave.” This portion is also called the ogee. During installation, this end is closest to the ceiling.
• The decorative strip that gives the molding its character is the dentil. Most of the time during installation, this piece is on the bottom.

Some installers combine different crown accents with an ogee, a dentil, and a thinner piece of trim to use as a rail. For this article, we’ll look at using a single molded piece.

Installing Crown Molding Basics

What You’ll Need

• Selected molding
• Stainable wood filler
• Scrap wood, including a couple of molding pieces
• Retractable tape measure
• Heavy pencil
• Snap chalk line
• Painter’s tape
• Stud finder, if you can’t hear the studs when wall-knocking
• Saw horses and plywood for a saw table
• Ladder
• Miter saw
• Coping saw
• Brad nailer, or a drill to start holes if hammering finishing nails by hand
• Patience. This is a weekend project.

Basic Tips for Installation

1. Draw a diagram of your room, and measure each wall twice. You’ll shop for molding pieces that are as long as each wall.
2. When selecting boards, check for nicks, tone variations, and blemishes that can’t be easily sanded out.
3. Have the assistant at the home improvement store make your general cuts for the length of strips you need, but not the angled cuts.
4. Set up your workstation within the room for better flow.
5. Locate and mark the studs on the wall.
6. Practice a few angle cuts on scrap wood to test measurements and get the feel for the saw.
7. Tack molding scraps into the wall/ceiling seam to determine the placement, snap a chalk line, and run painter’s tape along the wall as a positioning guide for the molding’s bottom edge.
8. Start on your longest wall and work to the right. Some experts believe this is easier because you can set the miter saw to the left and have a better view of your measure marks for a more accurate 45-degree cut.
9. Before cutting, take care that the mark matches the direction of the miter.
10. Coping is a lot easier if the miter cuts are accurate. Coping permits two pieces of molding to fit together at a corner. If you’re off by a little bit, shave off the extra with the miter saw. The coping saw is more for fine work.
11. Set the boards along the wall/ceiling seam against the tapeline and secure where the studs were marked.
12. Scrap away rough corners with a utility knife, fill with wood putty, then sand.
13. Prepare molding for painting or staining.

For more information on installing crown molding, visit the website for “This Old House.” General contractor Tom Silva explains the nuances of the project and how to cut the corners right.

More Tutorials

• Reader’s Digest’s The Family Handyman offers detailed instruction step-by-step.
• The DIY Network offers an installation tutorial at both high and low bandwidth speeds.
• The manufacturer of Cut ‘N Crown offers a demo of its product and how it makes installing crown molding easier.
• A woodworker’s website,Alter Eagle, which includes a tutorial, videos, and plenty of tips.

Molding: Not Just for Ceilings

There are many uses for decorative wood trims. Once you become more experienced with installation, consider other projects, such as:

• Door and window framing
• Mirror framing
• Cabinet accents
• Shelf surround
• Chair railing

• Apron Sinks
• Interior Painting Techniques
• Front Entry Porch Pictures

• Glass Tile Backsplash Ideas
• How to Install a Bathtub
• Build a Kitchen Banquette
• Sliding Wood Closet Doors
• Wood Plank Look Ceramic Tile

• Styrofoam Crown Molding
• Simple Crown Molding
• No Nailing Crown Molding
• How to cut Crown Molding
• How to Install Crown Molding