Crown mouldings

[Mike Sayre]

Hello..Does anyone know of a easy way to do crown mouldings so that you dont got a gap between it.Its getting stained so caulk is not a option..Its a new house so walls cant be off that much ( hopefully) lol All i was told is measure and cut upside down.Is there a tool at home depot,lowes, or elsewhere i can buy,order to do a perfect cut...I have a brand new dewalt miter saw if that helps.....

[phil harold]

Hello..Does anyone know of a easy way to do crown mouldings so that you dont got a gap between it.Its getting stained so caulk is not a option..Its a new house so walls cant be off that much ( hopefully) lol All i was told is measure and cut upside down.Is there a tool at home depot,lowes, or elsewhere i can buy,order to do a perfect cut...I have a brand new dewalt miter saw if that helps.....

1. Yes you roll the crown, just make sure at the corners you are in the proper spring position
2. Walls are not straight and corners are not exactly 90°
3. Learn to cope inside corners
4. When cutting upside down the fence on you mitre saw becomes the wall
5. The carpenter makes the perfect cut, your dewalt will assist you.
6. Good luck, to install crown molding takes time to get all of the aspects/tricks perfected and each installation is different

[Caspar Hauser]

Cutting crown upside down, i.e. the fence of the Mitre saw being the wall and the bed of the saw the ceiling is the easiest way to go when cutting crown, a stop of some kind to maintain a consistent angle relative to the fence is useful. You can cut crown flat, your saw should have a couple of odd angles 31. something degrees and so on on both the mitre and bevel scales for this purpose. Outside corners are relatively easy to sneak up on. Inside corners tend to be trickier, the best way is not to mitre them (they almost invariably open up) but instead cope cut them, back bevel your cope cut, test and adjust with a sharp chisel/knife/rasp and test again. Try to arrange matters such that the coped joint is pointing away from the predominate direction of view, any small errors will be less noticeable.CH

[David Thompson 27577]

...............................................Is there a tool at home depot,lowes, or elsewhere i can buy,order to do a perfect cut...I have a brand new dewalt miter saw if that helps.....

Yes, there is a fixture that you should buy. It holds the crown in the correct position -- while it's upside down and backwards. I have the one from Bench Dog (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=19489&rrt=1), but I'm sure that there are others that are as good or better.

[Sam Layton]

Hello Mike,

In my opinion you don't just start installing crown molding without knowing a little about it. I suggest you spend some time researching on the net. Look at U-Tube videos, and they will show you how to do it. There are numerous jigs and fixtures on the market that claim to make it easer and error free... I am in the process of installing crown in my house. I am using a "Cut-N-Crown" jig. I am happy with the way it works. It holds the crown in the correct position while you cut.

There are things you need to know such as spring angle of the crown, inside and outside miters, etc. I did two rooms mitering the inside and outside corners. Getting the correct measurements was hard for me working alone. The outside corners are easy enough. I had just about enough trying to cut the inside miters and making them fit...

For the living room I coped the inside corners. What a difference. For me, coping inside corners are the only way to go. I used my miter saw and jig to cut the correct angle, then a hand coping saw to cut the cope. I cut a few copes on some scrap wood, using a file to refine my cope, and off I went. It made the job so much easer and looks better.

So do your research, and go to it.

Sam

[Mike Sayre]

Man oh man you guys are so helpful here ...When i bought my miter saw i bought crown moulding jigs extra for this reason...I am guessing the jig either holds them down or puts the next board in the same location before the cut or both..I am guessing the only other thing after i go to home depot and buy a nice coping saw and find a cut-n-crown jig is do i stain the wood first before i put it up ,what type of nails should i use i got a braid nailer and another nailer that i can use up to 2 1/4 inch little nails. and do i put the pieces up in one piece or cut the boards in half do the corners then put in the center...i only need 4 boards all inside corners my room is like 10x9

[Walter Plummer]

" do i put the pieces up in one piece or cut the boards in half do the corners then put in the center..."
The first piece is the easiest. it has square cuts on both ends. The second and third only cope one end. The last piece needs copes on both ends. Go for cutting them to fit without adding joints. That said, a lot of guys I worked with liked to fit the last copes separate and make a joint somewhere in the middle. Practice your cope cuts right and left. Everyone does one side or the other better. Run the crown the direction you cope best and don't nail the last 2' of any piece till you have a fit to it. Usually you can knock the crown up or down to help make the joint fit and then nail both side of the joint.

[phil harold]

Mike I would say hire a pro but since it is just a mall room you could get alot of information from here: www.installcrown.com and do it yourself
But still there is unemployed carpenter that would do that room for 200 bucks

[Forrest Bonner]

While I usually just make a lot of sawdust - being a hobbyest at best - I first put up an angled backer board nailed to the top plate which is always there. Then the crown moulding can be nailed to it instead of using very long nails to get to the top plate and shorter nails into studs.

I also don't personally like the resulting look of coped inside corners. I prefer the longer way of mitering one side and using scrap (from the same lot of moulding) to sneak up on the correct adjacent miter angle. Your 'real' piece then should fit snugly. Takes longer and your measurements have to be very good so if you are trying to make money this is not the way to go.

Forrest