Crown Molding choices..

[mrFinpgh]

I'm looking at putting up crown in my office.  It's a small space with 2 outside walls that are plaster over brick.  There is only about 4.5" of space between the ceiling and the top of the window casing, so I'm thinking to shoot for around 3.5" of crown.

I have a couple problems I'm trying to solve, though.

Materials - as I see it, I am probably going to either need to do a three piece buildup and screw the apron into the plaster/brick, or go with a polyurethane foam molding.  I don't know much about those foam moldings, other than marketing claiming I can put it up with PL adhesive and pins.  That's appealing, but it sounds like a potential PITA if I ever needed to remove it (which, hopefully, I would not).  Anyone have any ideas about which would work out better for my conditions?  I'm fine with coping or messing around to get the miters right (I have some very, very, wavy walls).

The other issue is whether I'm better off with a small reveal between the window casing and the crown, or coming right down on top of the casing.  Are there any rules of thumb worth considering here?  I did some mockups of both, and they both look alright, but I find the larger crown to be a bit crowded looking, even if I like the profile of it better.

Thanks,
Adam

 

[chrisrosenb]

What style are your window casings?
What is the ceiling height?

 

[Brice Burrell]

The size of crown is usually dictated by the height of the ceiling and to a lesser extent, size of the other moldings in the room(s).  Three piece crown build ups really only work on higher ceilings, say 9' and up.  The 3 1/2" crown is about right for an 8' ceiling.  BTW, crown is measured by its actual width, so a 3 1/2" crown as it sits angled on the wall may only come down from the ceiling maybe 2 5/8".  Also, you can glue and pin wood or MDF crown if you want. 

 

[mrFinpgh]

What style are your window casings?

Lead covered?  : 

I'm not sure what you'd call the trim in this house.  Here's a picture of a corner of the casing in that room.

[attachimg=1]

What is the ceiling height?

Just shy of 8'5"

-Adam

 

[mrFinpgh]

The size of crown is usually dictated by the height of the ceiling and to a lesser extent, size of the other moldings in the room(s).  Three piece crown build ups really only work on higher ceilings, say 9' and up.  The 3 1/2" crown is about right for an 8' ceiling.  BTW, crown is measured by its actual width, so a 3 1/2" crown as it sits angled on the wall may only come down from the ceiling maybe 2 5/8".  Also, you can glue and pin wood or MDF crown if you want.

So that's somewhat interesting - the ceiling is about 8'5", but I have 9.5" baseboard.

For a three piece, my thinking was a 3/4" cornice, a small colonial crown, and an apron, likely using speedbase.  This works out to about a 3.5" drop from the ceiling to bottom of the apron.

Do you think that the glue and pins would be sufficient to hold the crown in place?  I've generally had good luck with a pinner for some other work, but I always feel like I'm slightly underbuilding.

-Adam

 

[Brice Burrell]

You won't need much glue to hold crown in place, and I'd use a 18ga. brads rather than a 23ga pins.  I don't know if pins would even penetrate plaster all that well, I've never tired. 

You could be a small mock-up of a three piece build up and see if you like it. 

 

[mrFinpgh]

You won't need much glue to hold crown in place, and I'd use a 18ga. brads rather than a 23ga pins.  I don't know if pins would even penetrate plaster all that well, I've never tired. 

You could be a small mock-up of a three piece build up and see if you like it. 

The pins go in okay as long as you don't try to angle them too much.  I had a fair number bend back out on me when I angle past about 25 degrees. 

I suppose it would be easy enough to get my hands on a brad nailer.  I made a few mockups the other night, and the three piece definitely looked the best, even though it was less than 4" in height.  The cornice just looked so much stronger than any of the one piece moldings. 

Brice - I noticed you're in Pittsburgh, too.  Do you have a favorite place to get moldings locally?

-Adam

 

[Brice Burrell]

Allegheny Millwork, they have a nice selection moldings.  In the Southside right off the 10th St. bridge, they have a decent showroom and are open on Saturdays.

 

[JimD]

I would put a backer against the brick either just construction glued in place or you could use a few tapcons or percussion nails.  Probably safest to just wedge it in place until the construction adhesive sets. 

I'm not familiar with the place you mention in Pittsburgh although I used to live there.  But you want to buy moldings where the trim carpenters buy them, not the home center - unless you need only a small mount.  I buy 16 foot sticks for half or less what the home center gets.  I have to buy them during the week but I can do that if I plan ahead. 

 

[mrFinpgh]

I opted not to do crown in there.  The ceiling is 5/8ths of an inch out over 6 feet. 

What I did end up doing was taking a trip to Mars Lumber (allegheny millwork doesn't have double ripple base cap) and picking up a nice bead and cove molding, which I'm going to use to frame the top and exposed upper left on the beadboard.

Thanks for the feedback.

-Adam