Corners &Cutting Crown
Place the two pieces with the inside miter cuts into each inside corner of your room to gage how true the corner is. I have yet to find the perfect inside or outside corner, but some have come very close and others have been quite far. . . It's a rare occasion that for any corner that looks like a 90° that you will cut an angle different then 45°. The only time you will need to adjust the angle on the cut is if the wall angle is great then ±3° of 90°.
Locating Wall Studs
Once you have checked your corners the next thing to do is locate the wall studs and the ceiling joist. Since most of the time you will be installing the crown as an add on, there won't be any forehand preparation. Staying about an inch above the chalk lines you snapped, using a 10d finish nail you can start to probe for the wall studs. Once you find one, you can measure about 16" to locate the next. Most often in older homes the spacing of stud will not be as uniformed as you'd like. You can also use a "stud finder", but the nail I feel is still quicker and less expensive to buy.
Measuring and Cutting for the Crown
You perform the same task when looking for ceiling joists. If you make a small mark on the ceiling where your crown will project to from the wall, you can just move in about the same 1" and start to probe for the ceiling joists.
The one condition that you will run into is that on the sides of the room where the joists run parallel to the wall studs there will not be anything to nail to. Like I have already discussed there are some steps you can take to deal with this.
Once you've found all the ceiling joists and wall studs it's time to start to measure for your crown moulding. Hopefully, the pieces of crown moulding you've purchased are "longer" then any one wall that you will be installing them on, if not you will have to make a splice joint. Lets just say for the moment that the pieces you have are long enough to cover the walls in one piece.
Cope or Miter?
You will need to make the same type cut whether you are coping or mitering your moulding on each piece except the first. Starting from one corner measure across the room to the other corner. Whatever that measurement may be, add 1/8" to it. This will ensure that you don't cut it short the first time and the piece could be sprung into position. If you are going to "cope" the corners of your crown, you can cut the first piece you install square on both ends if it fits from wall to wall. You can accomplish this by laying the moulding face side up on the base of the saw and one edge press firmly (squarely) against the fence and make a 90° cut. The next piece you cut will be "coped" into this piece.
If you will be "mitering" the corners, you will need to cut a mitered joint on each end of this piece. This can be accomplished by holding the crown in the saw like it would be in its final position against the wall. The only difference being that the ceiling would be the base of the saw and the wall against the fence. It effect, you hold the moulding upside down and backwards when cutting it this way. This is all well and good only if your crown "fits" in your saw. . .
The photo to the right shows the Dewalt 705 cutting a piece of crown about 5" wide. You can also notice that the crown is "labeled" to show the top and bottom or ceiling and wall sides respectively. This saw has a nice option where you can mount "crown stops" to help support the crown on the base. They ensure that the crown stays at the correct angle while cutting. The adjustable height fence is also a welcome feature.
It just about eliminates the need to build an auxiliary fence. The cut above also applies to coped joints as well. The first step in a coped cut is to make a cut like the one described above. The picture to the left shows the moulding after it has been cut on a 45 ° angle. Use a pencil to trace the outline of the profile so you can see it better when you make the cut with your coping saw. Enter the moulding from the side that you feel most comfortable cutting from. Follow the line as best you can. It's good to try and cut to the "waste" side so that if your cut goes astray, you still have some stock left to recover. Once you have completely cut the waste you can use a rat tail rasp to clean up the concave curves and a 4 in hand to clean up flat areas and convex curves. The completed cope would look like the picture below.
The joint to the right shows a good example of a mitered joint in the corner of a pre-stained crown. Other then a small amount of touch-up, this joint is very acceptable.
©JOSEPHFUSCO.ORG
1997-2008
All written, photographic and drawn materials property of and copyrighted by josephfusco.org 1997-2008.
No materials may be used in any way without the written permission of Joseph Fusco.
