Do it yourself crown and molding

Mimi

Just ask for

3185 Cleveland Ave. Suite K
Santa Rosa 95403
California, USA

For homeowners, builders, designers and architects who won’t settle for anything less than the finest materials

D.I.Y.

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King of Crown architectural moulding sales

"Your Home isn't finished until it's been crowned"

707-546-4744

Sales for the North Bay
Architectural Elements
mouldings & millwork

Architectural Elements
mouldings & millwork

LLC

The

King of Crown

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Serving & Supplying Sonoma, Marin and Napa Counties
+ Santa Rosa + Sebastopol + Windsor + Healdsburg + Rohnert Park +
+ Napa + Petaluma + Cloverdale + Navato + San Rafael + San Francisco +
and surrounding areas - Internet Orders Accepted

MDF (medium density fiberboard) is an engineered product invented in the the 1960's made from wood fibers and resins glued under heat/pressure which makes for a very stable product ideal for moulding. It takes paint excellently and works just like wood without probilty of warping or surface defects.
A 16 ft run of MDF typically shrinks 1/16 dependent on pre-installation storage & MC (moisture content). Nailing @ 16 o/c (on center) and glueing full contact miter joints can elimnate all but minute cracking at inside corners of long runs. Use PVA (polyvinyl acetate) glues like titebond on MDF it will weld the pieces together on a tight miter joint.
Add a 25 yr painters caulk to the interior corners to compensate for the hairline seperation on the long runs.

Wood for interiors in typically KD kiln dried so it has a lower moisture content which makes it more stable.
Never store unfinished crown molding in a place where it'll get direct sunlight or pick up moisture. KD wood is around 8-10% moisture content and any sudden change may cause cracking & warping. Look up fiber saturation in a search engine for more info.
Shrinkage in wood varies and with KD molding it is nominal. A 15 foot run wood typically shrinks by about 3/32" but can be as high as 1/16 per foot. When installing for fine finishes it's best to cope inside corners & add a 1/16 under 8' up to an 1/8 @ 16' when possible.
Put your finish on it as soon as you can so it seals and create less shrinkage as it stabalizes to your specifc indoor MC (moisture content) typically 8-14%

MDF or Wood?

The above link is a web site dedicated to installing crown written by one of the local installers we recomend and use at King of Crown.

If you have any questions on your project e-mail our installer here:

Or look over the AE FAQ forum on installing mouldings

The best resource for understanding finish carpentry using a miter saw are these DVDs below available at Amazon

If you are going to install your own crown mouldings one tool you'll find important to have a this Starret protractor, they are available in the store or click on the image for an Amazon link

Set the above protractor on a corner and it will give you the exact miter cut angle setting for your saw,
perfect corners every time.

For bullnose corners:
On base I suggest using the rounded corners pieces we have available to match our profiles (below) but for Crown the segmented 2 pc. 22 deg. corner in my opinion looks too chopped up, use a classic corner that's where crown really shines.

Nails & Glue types:
Use 16 gauge nails for your finishing nailer for base & crown to the wall typically 2" to 2 1/2". 18 ga. brads for the outside corners 1" to 1 1/2". Use a pva glue (titebond for example) for MDF and wood mouldings apply it to all corners.

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Amazon Link

Filling & Caulking: Use an acrylic latex caulk for all of the edges and inside corners of your paint grade moldings, like the type to the right. For the outside corners and nail holes use a vinyl filler like the lightweight spackle to the right. One tip on filling MDF nail holes, MDF will mushroom a tiny amount with 16 ga. nails so either use a sharp chisel or 100 sandpaper to knock those down before filling.

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Installing casing and baseboards

Word Document download