Crown molding separates the wall and ceiling seams. Crown molding consists of grooved wooden strips that resemble floor molding except they are three-dimensional. You can install crown molding on any wall including a wall with plaster. Plaster is a coating placed over drywall as a finish coat and it is placed over wood lath. Wood lath is the wood frame built over the studs in a wall. Not all walls have wood lath.
Instructions
1. Place a scrap piece of molding in place and mark the bottom of the molding on the wall. Do this in several places around the room. Stretch a chalk line over the marks and snap the line to create your "installation line." This is the line that shows you where to place the bottom of the crown molding when you install it.
2. Locate the joists and studs with a stud finder and mark their locations. If the plaster is over lath, you will not be able to locate the studs with a stud finder because the entire wall has wooden strips located behind the plaster. If this is the case, you can skip this step.
3. Measure the length of the wall with a tape measure and cut the first board to length on a miter saw. Make sure both ends of the molding are square.
4. Place the molding on the wall, butt it up against the corner and place the bottom of the molding on the chalk line. Starting from the center of the molding, drive 8D finish nails through the molding with a hammer approximately ½-inch from the top of the molding and ½-inch from the bottom of the molding. Drive the nails into the studs and joists. If you have lath, evenly space the nails every 10 inches. If you need to splice two pieces of molding together to compensate for the length of the room, cut a 45-degree scarf cut on each end of the boards you will splice together with the miter saw.
5. Install each additional piece of molding as you move around the room in the same manner as the first. When necessary cut 45-degree angles through the boards for inside corners and outside corners to ensure a tight fit around the corners in the room.
Tags: bottom molding, molding wall, around room, chalk line, Crown molding