Villa Deco Foam Crown Molding
Mike Denny

We make crown molding easy!

FacebookPageBloggermetaweblog

Search

December 7th, 2:31pm 0 comments

Whats The Big Deal With Crown Molding?

 

Someone once said that “without crown molding, your room is just the inside of a box!”  Ok, that was me who said that, but it’s true!  When you look up to the ceiling do you see “box” or do you see “something wonderful framing out your unique design and accentuating your magnificent lifestyle?”  People who already have crown molding in their homes wouldn’t dare settle for anything as primitive as bare naked ceilings!  It makes that much of a difference!  For some reason most people think crown molding is expensive and reserved only for the wealthy, high-end hotels and Starbucks!  Wrong!  Myth buster here, its cheep!  Ok, inexpensive is the correct word.  Why is crown so “inexpensive” now?   Because it’s easy enough now to do it yourself!  Installation is 80% of the cost of crown molding and if you install yourself, well you get the idea.  The new foam crown moldings available make installing a no brainer.  Could it get any easier than installing with caulking?  But wait, that’s not all!  If you act now, you can toss out all those tools as well because today’s foam moldings come with pre cut corners!  Things have changed, and today crown molding materials are lighter and look better than any wood-based molding collecting dust at the local Hardware Mega Store.  No more excuses now!  So do it yourself and save.

Items you will need before you begin:

- Miter box for making straight cuts not miters - Hack saw or fine tooth saw - Caulking gun – Water based, paintable caulk (Dap Alex Plus) - pencil - Tape measure.

Optional materials that may come in handy:

- 400 grit sand paper – Spackle (the stuff with consistency of peanut butter, not the lightweight stuff) – damp rag to clean up caulking.

Preparing your room for crown molding installation

– Grab a broom and get all those spider webs off the ceiling and wall.  Then do a dry run with a section of molding and see that it fits at a 45 degree angle to the wall and ceiling keeping the contact surfaces also flat against the wall and ceiling.  A small pencil mark on the wall indicating the bottom of the molding will help when you are gluing/caulking it up.   

Measuring your molding for installation 

- Measure in linear feet.  Too many people mistakenly order molding in “square feet”.  Hint: a 10x10 room needs 40 linear feet of molding.  It is a good idea to add 10% extra. Forget mitering, order the corners pre cut.  Any good company will precut the corners for you, it takes only seconds.  You work on seaming the lengths together.    

Crown molding butt joints 

- Only MDF comes in 16 foot lengths and unless you are comfortable with waisting 40% of your molding you are going to have seams.  The new foam moldings come in smaller lengths and therefore reduce waste in a big way.  MDF and wood moldings require a big ugly scarf joint at the seam because of expansion and contraction.  Foam moldings don’t have the expanding and contracting issues wood does; therefore a butt joint is just fine.  Butt joints are straight cuts put together, that’s it, done, end of subject.  Any imperfections you can easily hide with spackle and some sanding.    

Installing your cut crown molding 

- Start in the corner and work your way around the room.  A ¼ inch bead of caulking on the 2 contact surfaces of the molding will be enough to permanently hold the molding up for the next 35 years.  Once the caulking is on the molding, get up on a chair and align the bottom of the molding with those pencil marks on the wall.  Push into place and be sure the contact surfaces are flat against the wall and ceiling compressing that caulking into the molding and wall.  Wipe away any visible caulking with your damp rag and move on to the next section starting at your first butt joint.  The first wall may take you 10 minutes.  You have now just mastered the learning curve and off you go. 

Things to consider before installing your crown molding

- Inside corners are easy to hide imperfections and if you are short or off by up to ¼ inch then caulking will hide almost anything.  Outside corners are what show off the profile and where you need to focus your attention. 

Finishing touches.   

Once the molding is up let the caulking cure for a couple hours.  You can make adjustments for 15 minutes or more after install.  Next take another tube of caulking and just cut the very tip of the dispenser so that it produces a small 1/8th inch bead.  That bead will fill in the seam where the caulking meets the wall and the ceiling.  Follow with a wet finger to smooth.   Now you have your professional finish and a smooth transition between wall, molding and ceiling.  Paint the molding with a slightly more glossy finish than the wall.  Water based latex paint only, any color that matches your unique style.  Remember there are no rules when it comes to crown molding, its all about personal preference.

Video

Watch how easy it is for Erin to install foam crown molding on Youtube!
Click here

 

 

Posted