Can we talk molding installation?

[simpsongal]

I really want to add the luxurious, architectural look of molding to my house. Right now we have builder basic base boards and trim around the windows & doors (you know, the kind in 80% of houses).

I'm okay with leaving the base boards, but I'd like to add crown molding, and picture frame molding rectangles to the formal living room, and picture frame squares to the area below the chair rail in the dining room. I'm also thinking of doing some picture frame molding w/decorative corners on the ceiling of the dining room + ceiling medallion.

Does anyone have DIY advice? Or some suggestions for looks/enhancements beyond the typical look? I was thinking of buying pre-primed pine. My FIL has a miter saw and I think I might need to buy a coping saw for the crown. Would you rent a nail gun? Or use liquid nails & a few finishing nails?

TIA!

[lemondrop]

If you don't have experience cutting, I'd probably hire this out as well. Just doing basic baseboard molding can be a PITA.

On our baseboards, we just used finishing nails, but gravity wasn't working against us on that.

[ssmjlm]

You definitely will want a compound miter saw and a nail gun. If they're large rooms I would possibly hire out or watch lots of youtube videos. We did just our 1/2 bath with crown (the rest of the 1st floor already had it, but not the bathroom for some weird reason) and it wasn't bad, but larger expanses can be harder.

As for picture frame moldings, the biggest issue with those is measuring and layout on the walls for sizing and spacing.

[decoraholic]

We did picture frame molding in our dining room as well as crown. We mitered the crown and just caulked where the seam is. You really can't tell, but I did have to do a couple passes with caulk on a couple of the corners to make it look good. If you have a compound miter saw, it will make the crown a lot easier. Just be prepared that you may mess up, but buying another piece of crown is a lot cheaper than hiring it out!

I'd try out the picture frame molding first because the cutting is a little less difficult. If I were to do it again, I'd assemble each rectangle first, then nail it to the wall as a completed rectangle. Just use some wood glue at the corners to assemble it into a rectangle. Don't worry too much if when you nail it there are gaps due to the wood being slightly warped or the walls not straight. You can fill these in with caulk before you paint.

For the crown, use test pieces to make sure you get your angles right before cutting the actual piece, and cut the crown slightly long on the first cut. You can always cut it shorter, but can't grow it longer . Outside corners are trickier to cut, but there's tons of how to's online that explain how to measure and cut crown, so if you follow those carefully you should be good to go. We hand nailed ours, but a nail gun is easier. Try to nail into a stud if you can.

[kaylie]

I'm DIYing our whole house, but probably over the next two years. I plan on it being a pretty involved and time consuming process because I want to do it right. You'll need a 12'' compound miter saw (10'' will be too small if you want to do anything over 5'' or so), coping saw, air compressor and nail gun.

This is my new molding blog obsession: thejoyofmoldings.com/
The guy is a molding nut and he breaks it down pretty well.

[simpsongal]

Great website, Kaylie! I'm a little scared of doing the crown. Maybe I'll start with the dining room and see how it goes.

[kaylie]

I'm actually thinking of doing our mudroom first for practice. I've already done a bunch of baseboards and a couple of door casings, but the crown is definitely a bit more intimidating. I don't want to do a lot of the wainscoting or major door casings until we redo our floors, so I'll probably mostly be working on the crown for now. If you have time and patience, it seems very doable.

[FoxInFiji]

My Dad is a carpenter and until recently he was a professional milwork carpenter making and installing custom trim. He owned his own company and would restore a lot of historic homes and churches by cutting new trim matching the old style exactly.

The best looking way to do corners is to cope the ends not mitered joints. Mitered joints are hard to line up perfectly and are more likely to "open" up over time from wood contracting and expanding. Good coping takes practice and some skill but is DIYable.

Blocks in the corners tend to look cheap and only work with very formal homes anyway.

Don't use an over the top fancy crown molding (even if it's your favorite in the store) if your existing baseboard, rails, and stiles is simple and plain. It will look odd and not fit with the rest of the house.

Always get real wood trim even if it's painted white. Particle board trim is difficult to cut, chips easily, and gets damaged from regular wear and tear (not an issue for crown though).

Painted white trim can hide a lot of poor cuts but it's always best to get it as good as you can before you start caulking it and painting.

Cut the harder side first (ie. coped end), check to see how it fits, recut end if necessary, then cut the other end straight (so a coped end would be on the next piece). You'll have less waste that way because coping two ends perfectly is nearly impossible.

HTH!