Is there anything really difficult about installing crown molding? The builder of my house wants to charge $450/room. I went to Home Depot and saw 8 foot strips for like $3. I would only need like 6 strips per room. I'm not that much of a handy man, but I think all I would need is an air nail gun and a saw that will cut the corners right so it connects well. Anyone ever do this? and did you think it was that difficult?

Cutting the corners so it connects right is harder than it sounds. Beyond that, it's not very hard. You don't even need a pneumatic nailer. A hammer, nails, and a nail set would do just fine (if take a little longer), as long as you're careful not to ding the moulding.

On the other hand, does installing it include painting it? A good painter will fill the nail holes, possibly twice, and paint the moulding, along with the rest of the wall and ceiling several times. Going back and doing that yourself could be a big burden, if they won't paint it, or you had to do it after the painters came. I'll guarantee that painting will be the biggest burden.

Cutting the correct miters can sometimes get people. But basically it is that easy.

The cuts can be tricky if it's very wide. You'll need a good miter saw. Take a look at these.

http://www.altereagle.com/How_to_install.html

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Installing_crown_moulding.html

The problem comes when the room's not square. It can be a real challenge. I've seen a number of professional carpenters continue one molding all the way to the wall and then cope the abutting piece instead of trying to get the miters right. And it's not because they're idiots, it's because the joint is tidier that way, with fewer gaps and stick-out points.

it does include painting. i'll have to research about cutting the corners. I need to learn how to use tools anyway.

This house is costing so much more than I originally planned w/ all the upgrades.

Honestly, that's where contractors make the bulk of their money: in change orders. It really pays to plan everything out well to begin with. You'll never be 100% perfect, but the fewer change orders you have, the less you'll spend, exponentially.

thanks for those links mach.

No problem. I understand the problems that you're facing with feature creep. My brother had similar problems when he had his house built a few years back. I tried to help him install his molding but had to leave because I couldn't stand to see what he was doing. For me, how he was installing the molding was wrong but he was fine with how it looked. He was under huge pressure to move into the house

I'm not sure if they rent things like miter saws where you are at but get a good one, a few lengths of the home depot molding, and see if you are ok with the results in one room. Then make a call on if you want to invest in new tools, wait, or have it installed.

As mentioned previously, check how true and square the walls are. It will drive you to distraction trying to cut and fit 45's if the angles are off.

Really the "right" way to do the inside corners of the crown molding is by coping the end of one of the strips of molding, like Bitt mentioned. Coping rather than just cutting a miter will give you a MUCH tighter connection in the corner, and it will not pull away/separate over time. Really, coping is simple. It just involves butting one of the strips up against the wall, and then mitering the second strip then cutting along the contour of the molding at an angle perpendicular to the miter cut. Here's an example.

Really, I think coping is an easier way to make it look great - but if you've never done it before, it takes a little practice. The tools involved to do it right are a miter saw, coping saw, and a file that can get into the contours of the molding.

- trs

Oddly enough, the corners on crown molding are NOT mitred when installed to the highest standards -- they are hand coped instead (or by machine using a really new product..). This takes extra labour, but gives joints that don't open up with seasonal wood movement.

But who uses wood nowadays for painted moldings? If using a synthetic material, or even a wallboard-based product, the joints can be mitred and then filled with wallboard mud compound for seamless joinery.

Cheers

The tools involved to do it right are a miter saw, coping saw, and a file that can get into the contours of the molding

Then there's the way Tommy does it on This Old House, which is to make a template of the molding, and use a power tool to do it, cutting the labor time to a fraction of the normal. That was a cool machine.

You could use decorative corner blocks to avoid coping the corners. I've seen some nice ones at various home improvements stores.

And Lowes.com has a small video clip concerning miter and coping techniques.

I was looking at the links and wondering about the coping discussions. Things make a little more sense now.