Based on the size of your room, you’ll wish to give yourself some time to finish it. This includes adequate time to buy the material, give it some paint (before you start the installation), install it, and then perform some paint touch-ups. To cope with a crown molding, you must begin by installing the crown molding then go ahead with the coping crown molding.

Materials needed

  • Caulking Gun
  • Tape measure
  • Cordless drill
  • Brad nailer
  • Miter saw
  1. Start with the Crown Molding preparation

Normal house construction can make it hard to add a nail across the crown molding directly into something that can sustain the molding’s weight. And nothing is boring like a molding piece falling on you.

Therefore, before you start your project, make sure you have a finish nailer that can push 3-inch nails. A 3-inch nail at the crown molding center can pass through the two horizontal lumber pieces used in framing the upper side of the wall. But if you only have a brad nailer that can accommodate 2-inch nail capacity, then you must get some little creativity.

To ensure that there’s something hard to push the nails inside, you can begin by cutting small triangular wedges. Then, screw them on the wall to give you a good and proper piece that even a 1-inch nail can pass through.

  1. Install the First Pieces

Once you’ve pre-painted the molding and it has dried, start installing the first pieces of the wedges. The cope crown molding makes the fitting pieces together at the corners inside easy compared to mitering.

When coping with any molding, be it crown molding or base molding, the piece on one part of the joint must be cut straight while the other side should be properly cut to be lined up with the molding profile.

When you think of installing the crown molding, make sure you consider your door’s location. You can install the pieces in such a way that visitors coming to your room may not be able to look at the coped joint directly.

  1. Nail Across the Molding On To the Triangular Pieces of Blocks

Make sure you don’t go a step further and nail the trim throughout the length of the wall. Be sure to keep the ends free as this will give you an easy time to adjust the fit of the joint that is coped.

  1. Now Begin The Cope Crown Molding Process

After installing the pieces, its now time to cope crown molding. The steps are straightforward and here’s what to do:

  • Start by measuring the length from the inside part of the trim pieces you initially installed
  • Crown molding is a bit thicker at the upper side in comparison to the lower side. You can measure from the upper side of one piece to the upper side of the other one if you need some consistency.
  • Then mark the molding at this measurement. Once you are done with taking the measurements, mark it on the molding piece then use a miter saw to cut it at 45 degrees.
  • Also, you can cut the molding in an upside-down manner on the miter saw if you wish. Doing this helps you hold it on the fence at the desired angle. Additionally, since the molding is a bit “thicker” on the upper side, the upper side of the coped piece might be a bit short compared to the bottom. This will help you remember the direction of the cut angle.
  • Sketch the edge where the miter cut joins with the trim’s face. The main reason for constructing the 45-degree cut is to come up with a molding profile. The molding profile helps you to cope it using a hand saw. To ensure the profile stands out perfectly, you can use a pencil to trace the edges where the raw wood and the painted surface meet.
  • Use a coping saw to cut. Coping saw is vital as they only consume a little practice to master. Therefore, make sure you practice first using some scrap pieces. Remember that crown molding will certainly hang along the wall at an angle.
  • Check fit then trim any parts if possible. Use a piece of scrap molding to do this then fine-tune them using a rasp or the coping saw.
  • Having completed making these cuts, make sure you add some wood glue on the end sides of the coped pieces. Place the molding in a good position then fix it on the triangular blocks on the room’s wall. If the coped joint doesn’t fit properly on the corner, then you can use a shim to fix the gap between the pieces.

Finishing Touches

To finalize the installation process, ensure you run a paintable bead caulking on the edges. You do this on the molding you initially constructed meets the wall and the ceiling board. You can also caulk the joints along with the corners then fill the nail holes. Then paint over the caulking.

Is it better to cope crown molding?

It is simply the best practice to cope inside corners on crown installed at the wall/ceiling. Mitered inside corner joints very often fail and open up. Coping done well looks as good as perfect miters and is a more forgiving joint. Coped joints can be cut a skosh long and sprung into place tightly for a perfect fit.

Can crown Moulding be coped?

To cope Crown Moulding for inside corners, you will need a mitre saw, a coping saw, a mitre box, a pencil and safety goggles. A coped joint is sometimes used when crown mouldings meet at inside corners. Coped joints help cover irregularities more effectively than mitred joints.

What angle do you cope crown molding?

Cut a 45-degree miter on the end of the crown (as you did for an outside corner) and nail it up. Next, make a 45-degree cut in the opposite direction on another piece. Adjust the saw to zero degrees and lay the piece flat and face-down on the saw table. You‘ll need to remove your wood guide fence for this.

What does it mean to cope crown molding?

Coping is cutting the crown’s profile on the end of one piece with a coping saw to fit over the face of an adjacent piece of molding.

How do I cope with my old house with crown molding?

Can you cope MDF crown molding?

Absolutely cope it. You will find that coping MDF is very easy. Don’t back cut very much to help eliminate the thin edge chipping. You will still occasionally get some chipping, but a little caulk is all that is needed.

How do you handle base molding?

How do you deal with outside corners on crown molding?

Should I cope or miter inside corners?

It is best to practice on scrap pieces of baseboard before coping the long piece of molding you intend to install. If done perfectly, coped joints are preferable to mitered joints, since they are less likely to reveal gaps due to imperfect wall angles or seasonal expansion and contraction of wood.

Why is crown molding so difficult?

The hardest part of installing crown molding is cutting the corners. You can’t do it like any other trim pieces because the molding sits at an angle between the wall and the ceiling (Image 1). Using a coping saw (Image 2) is the easiest way to cut the corners because a coped joint is tighter than a mitered joint.

How do you cope without a coping saw?

How do you make the perfect miter cut?

How do you get a perfect 45 degree cut?

Why does my miter saw not cut straight?

The primary reason why a miter saw might not cut straight is an inability to clamp the material down. The machine is designed to pull the material towards the blade during each cut, and if there’s a malfunction in this process, it might result in inaccurate cuts.

How do you cut an awkward angle?

How do you find the angle for molding?

What angle do I cut trim?

You should be looking to cut majority of your angles for interior trim are 90° and 135° degrees. If it’s your standard inside corner at 90°, you should cut each piece of trim at a 45° angle so that when the two pieces of trim form a corner piece, you have yourself 90° angle.

How do you cut the correct angle?

Use a straightedge to bisect, or cut in half, the corner diagonally. The diagonal line represents the miter angle. So if you have a 90-degree corner, you’ll cut it in half with a line drawn with a straightedge to get two 45-degree miter angles. Make a model by placing two similar pieces of scrap wood on the drawing.