Well, whatever smuck built the homes in my community, specifically the drywallers, thought its best to not have sharp lines where two walls meet at a 45º angle. Instead, they taped the seam with atrocious seams that round the proverbial corner.
This would be okay if one’s wife wasn’t asking you to put in some crown molding. As such, I am curious as to how to handle this. When I go to cut down some crown molding on the miter saw,
I know the meeting joints will be 22.5º angled cuts, but when I go to install them I am guessing I will run into a problem with the ends fitting tightly against the wall. Anyone have a trick up their sleeve to handle this? Divorce is not an option. 🙂
Oops, its inside corners.
Edited 11/20/2007 8:59 am ET by Nuke
Replies
Wow! You are so screwed?
It's one of those things one has t see to wrk out. You might cut a 1" piece at the inside corner, or howerevr wide the curve is mudded, and tie in the sides to it. This would amount to being 1" to nothing at some point up the crown.
Buy Flexi crown!
The tapers probably used a rubber paddle on these corners instead of a trowel or knife. Maybe you can do your cuts and use a dremel with a sanding drum or a 4 inch grinder to gently round each corner. If it is paint grade a little latex caulk and you should be all set. If it is stain grade, have fun and go slow>
Have a good day
Cliffy
Three thoughts:
1) I'm glad it's you and not me. ;-)
2) Make a squared-off block to sit in the corner, like a plinth block, and run your molding straight up to it.
3) Run the crown to within a few inches of the corner and then run some plaster molding in the corners to match the crown. (You'll still end up with a weird looking profile at the bottom, tho'.)
4) OK, I just thought of another one. Modify the profile: Run some square stock along the line where the bottom of the crown would be, with the thickness of the piece being enough to "square" off the corner. You could even run it a little lower than the bottom of the crown if it looks good on your profile. Cope the back of it to fit into the rounded corners, so it's rounded on the back, but at a simple 45° on the front. Then just apply the crown to this base as you would normally.
Don't you love it when all the options basically suck?
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
I like #2.
I was kinda thinking what cliffy said - Cut the pieces long, then sort of "cope" the bottom edge to follow the wall profile.
Could you do something like this:
http://www.askthebuilder.com/555_Installing_Fancy_Crown_Molding_Corners.shtml
?
It looks like the tapers made your decision about crown molding for you.
If you'd like some help getting off the hook, I'll be glad to call your wife and explain to her that it's impossible to make a good looking fit out of it. I have a deep resonant voice which usually convinces people that I know what I'm talking about...on the phone, anyway.
BTW, I'll offer this service to anyone on the board, to get you out of a jamb with your wife. I can be a building inspector or anyone else you'd like to have on your side. You'd just have to agree that, whatever the outcome, I could record the call and post it as an audio file here on BT. ;-)
Hmmm, think you could do the Voice o' Gawd for my ex?
My admittedly half-arse solutin to such trim conundrums (as when crowning old plaster) has been to install appropriately thick square back stock and deal with the boogers in that piece.
}}}}
Would you like that on the phone or out of a dark cloud with thunder and lightening?
My admittedly half-arse solutin to such trim conundrums (as when crowning old plaster) has been to install appropriately thick square back stock and deal with the boogers in that piece.
I was thinking of something along those lines but I couldn't get my mind around the whole thing. Maybe this is what you and others are suggesting...or...not.
Basically it's: 1. Take a utility knife and cut the taped, mud radius out of the corner, with a squared edge, slightly below where the crown would fit. 2. Then make up a piece of square stock which will fit in that space and protrude past the radius so that the radius describes itself on the bottom end of the block. 3. Last thing is to fit the crown to the block.
I do a combination of basically what you describe, plus a fair bit of hacking, rasping, whittling & sanding to the back side of the back stock. Of course, when the wall is hard plaster instead of drywall almost all of the irregularities must be accomodated by the wood. Easing the bottom-outside corner of the back stock helps the awkward transition from crisp crown to the more "organic" wall, and of course caulk works wonders. Reveals are generally a half-inch or more -- this ain't fine architecture!
If trim color has to contrast much with the wall (thankfully, I haven't had to do this with stain grade), I paint the back stock wall color. That's perhaps the goofiest looking part of the whole deal, so I push for low paint contrast between wall & trim. I've had some of these turn out such that that I was grudgingly proud of it -- others not so much. Complimets I've gotten from real trim carpenters I ascribe to the fact that they were glad they didn't have to do it.
}}}}
PS: That thunder 'n lightnln' option sounds real good. I'm thinking that a wee dram of LSD in her coffee might just set it off real nice.
I might get hell for this....
What about putting up 3 piece crown? The flats (can be fancy baseboard) can be worked to get you around the corners, inside & out and then lay your crown onto the flat planes of the base you just installed? It doesn't have to be monstrous, but the fancy cutting for the curves can be done to the flats which may be easier than working the crown. I do like the looks of 45ing the corner with the 2 22.5s and this can be worked into it as well. I've always found it easier to put up multi piece crowns than single since the flats are stiff enough to span past a stud if necessary and the when you put up the crown you have all the nailing needed in the flats you just put up.
I like to get the actual radius of the wall drawn onto the floor or a scrap piece of plywood.
I treat is as putting crown around a clock. You just have to divide the radius into minutes. Divide it as many times as you like but keep the pieces equal in size.
And be sure to make all the cuts from the same piece of crown so the profiles match up as you turn the corner.
An example would be a bottom length of 1/2" and a top length of 7/8". Figure your angles on your drawn out view. Or 1/8" on the bottom and 1" on the top.
This also works for the quater round drywall corners, I use it alot for base. Crown doesn't get used alot around here.
Matt- Woods favorite carpenter.
Are you sure you described your walls correctly? Two walls meeting at a 45 degree INSIDE corner?
That's going to have the tops of your crowns meeting many inches from the actual corner at way more than 22.5 degrees. 67.5 if you're lucky.
Please restate the parameters.
utility knife of sand paper ...
easy enough to hold some scrap crown to get the exact distance down from the ceiling ... and make a horizontal cut ... then dig out the offending mud.
or ... cut the crown ... then sand the "square" back "round".
I try to remove the easiest material .. in this case ... the mud.
U repainting? For a repaint / paint grade crown ... I'd make a guesstimate mark ...
then bash it to my liking with a dull framing chisel and my hammer ...
force the crown into place ... then caulk and hide it all with paint.
This last tried and true method is the fastest and easiest.
in the end ... no one's the wiser ...
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa