Crown Inside Corners

Nutty

Hello all.
While installing crown, I always cope the inside corners. However, in order to totally eliminate any gap in the corner, I use just the regular paintable caulk. Generally, it works good, but when I go back to the job site sometime later I notice the ugly cracking that occurs. It especialy happens on crown that shares a wall with the exterior of the house. So, in short it is due to the expansion/contraction. I probably did a poor job of explaining it.....but hopefully someone will understand.
My Q is this: On painted INTERIOR crown what do you use besides caulk for the inside corners? There must be something out there that resists the expansion/contraction better than the caulk. Anyone have ideas?
Thanks in advance.

Tom R

Sounds like you need to make your copes a little 'tighter' to begin with, - - and make sure you 'spring' your coped crown length into place, - - if done right, - - there really should not be a need for caulk.

Myself, - - if I 'were' to recommend a caulk, though, - - it would be a 'siliconized' paintable caulk, - - maybe someone else knows better.

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dayspring

There is a new Flexible caulk on the market. It is paintable. I agree with Tom though, Practice those copes and cut them rascals tight. I would, If time allows, let your trim set in the house your installing it in for a week to climatize to the enviroment, this will help keep the trim itself from shrinking. Now, if your supplier keeps the trim inside and in a climatized enviroment , this shouldn't need to be done. Many times a crack in a cope is caused by not having the two pieces meeting at exactly the right angle off the wall, thus they don't fit properly. I will sometimes mount a 2 x block mitred to the correct angle on the wall to help hold the angle true.

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clampman

In addition to what Day and Tom have already pointed out there are a couple other things you might try.

After checking your cope with a piece of scrap to insure there is good clearance on the back, power plane a back bevel on the top of the coped piece out to arm's length, just to make sure it will go up tight to the ceiling. Make sure there is solid backing in the corner.

When you cut the coped piece to length after the cope is done, set it right side up in the saw (top on the fence, bottom on the bed) and cut it on a 2 or 3 degree angle out of square back towards the top. By setting it in the saw this way, you will keep the bottom cut on the crown square (the only part of the cut which will be visable after you're done.)

There will now be a gap between the end of the crown at the top, and the wall, and it will be easier to install the piece.

When you mate up the piece you coped, TACK it up with nails angled AWAY from the coped corner. Work your way back to the other end using as few nails as possible. Check the spring angle on the uncoped end against your perfectly coped "sample check piece".

Drive one of the custom cut shims you have in your pouch that you cut from scrap baseboard or flooring into the gap between the crown and the wall. There will always be a top plate backing up the rock at that location. Recheck the spring angle with your practice piece to make sure your next cope will fit, then nail the whole thing off except for the last couple feet. Murphy may be lurking around so don't get too damn confident.

This sounds like a major proceedure, but it really isn't and will become second nature after a dozen fits. When you get into really large 6 and 8/4 x 7 1/2" crowns, it is pretty hard to spring it into place, especially if hardwood and you install alone. It is also more difficult to tweak the spring angle of a crown that has been tightly sprung into place. This of course is only necessary in those rare situations where the magnetic flux of the full moon in juxtaposition with jupiter and saturn has interfered somehow with your original profile cut.


Good luck.

regards,

jimc

Tom R

And I thought 'I' was going to have to say that part!!

Seriously, - - great post, Jim!!

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