I’m installing crown molding in a bedroom. I’ve followed the Spring 2005 issue of Fine Homebuilding — Projects around the house. What I’d like to know is how much of a gap would be considered acceptable between the wall/ceiling and the molding. I’ve been told to use acrylic latex caulk to fill the gap.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Fine Homebuilding is excited to be the official media partner of the 2024 Building Science Symposium series! This event offers builders, tradesmen, architects, designers and suppliers to discuss topics ranging…
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
The gap should be very small. You will almost certainly have a little gap here and there where the plaster has some irregularites. Then you use the painters caulking on the top and bottom to make it a nice smooth crown.
Since you seem new to finish work, especially crown, I would recommend that you look at some more info. Check out this website http://www.garymkatz.com/index.htm and I would either buy his book "trim carpentry" its in the publication section or see if a local library has it.
Also, to do crown the right way, you should be coping the corners. Use some small scrap pieces and practice. Coping base, chair rails, etc are easy but crown is a little different to get used to since you need to cope at a steeper angle.
Thanks for the information!
I work in the automotive field...so home repair isn't my specialty. I had help from a friend who does home remodeling for a living. I had a leftover piece of backer board & molding to check how much clearance/gap he allowed for. The article in Fine Homebuilding, stated that a quarter inch should be the gap between the backer board and the crown-molding -- it looks like the one my friend cut didn't have nearly enough. That means I didn't have the "wiggle room" required to adjust the molding for a proper fit. On the other hand most of the molding fits good...just a couple of sections that I'm not happy with. I think I got the worst one down to 1/8 of an inch -- wish I could get it closer.
You done good. Most of the experts would have called it good before they got that close.
It will depend on the walls and ceilings of your house. One of the things mouldings do is straighten out the wandering lines that the carpenters built in. 1/8" is not unusual, and the wider the molding, the bigger the gap, you can fill and not have it look bad.
I have seen 1/4" on old houses with large rooms that were made to look very good.
A straight run with the gaps filled and painted looks very good, wavy molding looks horrible.
If things are way out of line, built up moldings might help