Help Putting up crown molding?

Question

I am trying to put up crown molding in a room and it is not going well. The inside corners of the room are 90 degrees and no matter how I cut it nothing works the corners never match. The back of the crown molding I'm using is flat in the middle but the ends on each side slope away at a 45 degree angles. Im using a compound miter saw to cut. Can somebody please tell me where I am going wrong and how to get it to work?

Answer 1

Try the web site askthebuilder, it has an excellent section on crown molding.

Answer 2

Well Jeff:there's a lot of explanations here on "how to" but, you'll never understand how to do this without someone there to show you and, experience.
I've been a carpenter all my life and I have a hard time. I helped build half the houses in Las Vegas too.
I've put up a lot of Crown mold, it takes some experience, the tools and knowledge. It can't be done overnight.
Now you know there's three different angles your working with and when you reverse it, you have to do it all backwards.
You can now buy the pre-cut crown mold from Home Depot that look like a nice crown mold.

Take some wood you won't miss and some of these explanations and practice on it. be careful and take your time, remember what your doing, write it down if necessary.

Answer 3

I think that if you do the entire wall, it will look odd. Is it a solid wall or does it have an opening in it? If it's solid or there is a door/window opening in the center, you could do some type of feature molding which would not extend the entire length. We did a project once that had a fireplace in the middle of a wall, but it was flush with the wall; and did not protrude into the room. The owner wanted to accent that wall and draw the eye toward the fireplace. We measured the wall, divided by 2 which gave us the center which was dead center of the fireplace. We then added equal distances each way; leaving an open area of wall at either end. We mitered the crown back to fill the opening where it would normally butt into a perpendicular wall. It looked pretty neat, and didn't cost much money. If you wish, I can send an email to you with a sketch.

Answer 4

Cut the crown in position! That means that when you put the molding on the saw, look at the fence of the saw as if it were the wall. The base of the saw will be the ceiling. Now set the molding on the saw just like you will install it in the room. Also make a crown stop. A piece of plywood about 6" wide to run from one side of the saw to the other (longer actually). With the molding sitting on the saw in the proper position, push the plywood up to it. Screw or clamp the plywood done right there.The plywood will hold the crown in the same position for every cut. Now all you have to do is miter cut your inside corners just as if you were installing baseboard. Just remember two things, make and mark your measurements up on top where you can see them, and because your crown is upside down, it is also back-words. The cuts for the left side are on your right, cuts for your right side are on the left.

Check out the following link, he has lots of DVDs on the subject and a great site.

Answer 5

i just put some up on a cabinet and it should work the same. I cut a 2x4 at the angle that i needed the crown molding to be at then i used it for a jig by placing the 2x4 on the saw and set the molding on the home made jig

Answer 6

It's sort of hard to explain ---....
Your inside corners need to be coped with a coping saw.
Your outside corners get mitered only.

It's tricky at first. But you can get really good at it after some practice.

Your outside corners can be tricky too because they are never really 45 ' angles... just being off by one degree will show in the miter. Protractor? No one uses them, they are a pain... it's easier this way...

Place two scrap pieces of wood on the outside corner you are working on... place them on the ceiling, interseting each other with one on top of the other.

Draw two lines onto the bottom piece of wood as if you are tracing the piece that is intersecting it.

...Take the wood down off of the ceiling, take the marked wood and bisect the two lines you drew, corner to corner, use a straight edge ...and you have the corner's true middle angle. Now just line up your miter saw to that angle.
Hmmm--- what? Are you cross eyed yet?

It's simple, once you figure out what I just wrote.
I think you may need a book with pictures to get a real good idea.

Good luck

Answer 7

your corners are a little more or less than 90deg. get an accurate protractor and your life will be much better. do a search on how to install crown molding and do some reading.

Answer 8

if you know how to coppin one of the ends this will probably help you........
try running one molding straight to the corner without cutting it,then 45 the molding that you are joining to it......cut or coppin the cut edge and this makes a more professional look fit.....try a small piece first and see how it works............

Answer 9

the word "Coumpound" means "TWO DIFFERANT" angles Now take a short piece and hold it so that those 45 degree slopes lay flush ,one on the wall and one on the celling. Next all the tima standing on your ladder move the moulding tward the corner of the room and visualize what that "Coumpound" angel needs to be. My saw came with a booklet of what all those angles should be.Whitch leads me to my next suggestion. SURF THE NET. Some where those should be avaliable. If nothing else go to Delta Woodworking and ask.

Answer 10

Here's a trick........

If your corners aren't lining up exactly right, take a piece of deadwood put in the corner against the bottom of both pieces of the crown and tap it up till the joint aligns.