Flexible Foam Crown Molding

pshammond

Can anyone help.... I am trying to find a crown molding that will work for a radius in a stairwell. The rubber crown molding will not work because the ceiling and the wall are not at 90 degree angles. The ceiling curves up as the wall curves around so I am not able to attach the crown molding to both surfaces. Someone told me that there is a flexible foam molding that you can flex to both the ceiling and the wall and curve as well. Then you drywall mud the molding, sand and paint. Has anyone heard of this? I was also told that there is a "cast" type product that you can cast a crown molding. Thanks for your help - this is driving me crazy!

King of Crown

Welcome,
I have never heard of the stuff, but maybe someone else has. you might be able to curf the back of rubber crown, and that might give it some more play to bend upwards as well, or if you are thinking of putting joint compound on foam crown, just kerf the crown on the top so that you are removing material on the top, allowing it to bend up, then fill it in with joint compound.
I have never done it, but it would be cool if it worked.

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Real nice guys

D.C.

We use EPS foam shapes all the time for stucco and drywall accesories. You have to order ahead of time.They can be custom made to any profile, and mesh coated ahead of time or on site, then finished like the rest of the wall. If your profile is small enough and your radius large enough, it should bend-in for you, but you'll ahve to mesh coat on site.
Heres our local supplier/fabricator.
http://www.pro-foam.com/architectural.phtml

pshammond

Thanks for your help - I'm the designer on this job and I thought I could get one of the finish carpenter's I know to help me out - but so far no luck! One of them suggested that we build a soffet to make a 90 degree angle - put the crown at the bottom of the soffet and flex molding at the top... No one wants to build the soffet! I might just have to tell my clients they are S.O.L.
Thanks!

Woz the Painter

I believe I remember seeing a site here last fall, it was aTexas company that specialized in styro-foam crown. Maybe someone else remembered it also.

Tom R

Why don't you (or said 'finish carpenters') 'build' your own crown??, - - that is, - - install it as 3 'separate' pieces, - - to simplify, say, - - first install a 'flat' batten (at a 38 degree angle) up in place, - - then second, install a 'cove' molding along the bottom of that, - - then third, install a 'shoe' molding along the top of it.

The 3 separate pieces, - - as individuals, - - will 'conform' much easier to your curves than a standard single piece of pre-formed crown.

Use any combination of moldings your 'eye' sees fit!!

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snapper21

Don't know if anyone wants to go through the trouble anymore but,,, ever had a steam box? Building it is simple and you can use it for quite a while before having to rebuild. I love to do it and it is a nice thing to play with. Build a plywood box to desired dimensions, cut a hole for an everyday kmart steamer hose to come through and walah you got it. steam an hour per 1/8" and it should wrap for you. Play with it to see how much time your box requires per 1/8 but an hour is a good rule of thumb. less sq ft the better. I have a 12' x 4" box and a 8'x 4" box and you'd be amazed what you can do with them. If not for jobs for fun.

heavyparts

It was on a This Old house Show and your right all they did was mud the back side and wipe the excess off I too im looking for it for the 2 year basement remoldel

Red Hat

Don't know if you can bend this stuff spiral-wise but you can definitly bend it into a circle. The name of the company is Arcitectural Oranaments. I personaly hate this stuff. I have had the ocaasion of installing it twice now and both times I swore I would never use it again unless I priced the job to the moon. I did that the second time and I still can't stand the stuff. It comes in 14's and you can take the ends and almost make a complete circle out of it before it snaps. Probably good for your application. Thats the plus. The minuses that I have found are as follows. It is so flexible that it picks up wall imperfections incredible easy. Even if your careful as soon as you get down on the floor you can see it waver. It does not sit well on a chop saw. I use a Dewalt 708 with a Freud Diablo 96 tooth blade. Even with crown stops the material bows up away from the saw's deck and up the fence. Spagehtti noodle comes to mind .Deflection..deflection..deflection. It makes you want to put your hand right at the edge that you are cutting...DANGEROUS. It copes for ****..sorry no other way to say it. The material is a close cell foam material and while it is flexiable it is brittle and also very stubborn. Where you can take a nice piece of wood and cope it, then back cut it a little bit and then force it to the mating inside corner (overcutting the lenght 1/8) this stuff gives you the bird. If you don't cope the exact outside profile there is going to be a gap. You can't use sand paper or a rasp to fine tune the cope. I was left with my razor knife...time consuming..not cost effective!!! The material is so purous that on inside corners it tends to split and snap when you go to nail it...after you have widdiled it away to nothing with your knife. On the outside corners there's nothing soild in the molding to nail to. You can't place a 4d or 6d hand finish into the top of the of the mitre to draw it together it just pulls back away from itself. I had to glue clamp every outside corner. Again not cost effective. If you can't find the stuff on the web you can call Lynn Lumber in Massachusetts in the city of Lynn. They stock tons of the stuff...fancy, fancy profiles...Good luck and price acordingly. Oh..I forgot to mention that the manufacture recomends that you butt joint (instead of scarf jointing)the pieces together and use Pl400 to join them..if you don't get it perfect you'll see it in the finished product. Pl400 and finish trim ....thats a good idea!

pruane

try these guys
flextrim.com

I get it from my local guy. It isnt cheap but it works.

supercrew

i dont get on here enough but this thread caught my eye. i think ive used what Red Hat was referin to. it was a 2-3 hour wood job that turned into an all day job+. it was a 30*15 L that recieved a cap. it was ?dental? with a VERY picky homeowner that oversaw all HER finish work. the imperfections in the product made it incredibly difficult to not only cut, but to line up the ?teeth? at the corners which SHE deemed necessary(it was a dentists wife, go figure). anyway, it sure did conform to EVERY aspect of the wall(granted, it was 14' tall walls) from bowed studs to the knock down. it was REAL fragile and chipped out so much, i think the homeowner paid about 3 times over for materials(her choice, we tried to talk her into wood from the start)

i also worked with the flex moulding that was mentioned. like said IT MUST be ordered to the radius. you CANNOT get straight crown and expect to bend it around curve. will NOT work and/or look professional. after trying the heat/kerf/anysuggestionfromanybody i contacted the manufacturer and they told me you must order ANY radius.

IMO i would go with the rubber flex, just research the product and find out the limits and see if they fit

edco

we use a lot of flexible mouldings here.i can't remember the name of the comp. that makes it,but i can find out and post it.our lumber supplier get's it but it takes a little time,3-4 wks.it comes in different styles for crown,casing,base,shoe or whatever.if you're doing a radius wall you have to specify if the wall curves out or in,concave or convex.it's not fun to work with.you have to heat it up by putting it out in the sun or wherever you have the most heat.use plenty of adhesive and c/sink screws to fasten it.