Installing crown molding: A touch of class in your own home!

Installing crown molding is a home improvement task that many people balk at, because they are often deterred by the (perceived) steep learning curve, and high risk of failure. Installing crown molding can be a challenging process, but like any other skill in life, with proper preparation and careful planning you will be more than able to successfully install the molding and really transform your room. Installing crown molding requires skill, commitment and above all else, patience.

Safety precautions

installing crown molding can be a potentially very dangerous task so please ensure that you take due care at all times regardless of how cumbersome, irritating or trivial the precautionary measures may seem. Installing crown molding will involve the presence and creation of large quantities of fine dust and therefore it is vital that you have a breathing mask to protect against this.

Prolonged exposure to fine dust results in significant impairment of the lungs often typified by trouble breathing, prolonged bouts of coughing and damage to the eyes. That same fine dust can also irritate the eyes over time so please ensure that you wear adequate eye protection as well.

Planning

As the cliché goes:
"Fail to prepare, prepare to fail."

In the context of installing crown molding, never has truer or more eloquent words been spoken and a well-thought of, and carefully planned as well as executed design model will ensure a smooth process with the minimum of delay, interruption or stress.

Make sure you draw up an inventory of all the possible materials and tools you will require. It is all too easy to forget in the midst of installing crown molding what it is that you need and so if you need to backtrack every few minutes then the chances of much progress being made are pretty minimal! Please ensure that part of the planning process is devoted to carefully measuring the room, so as to get the exact dimensions of the room. Carefully measuring the dimensions will determine the amount of material actually required for when you begin installing crown molding.

Make sure you have a small percentage of the actual material required as a backup; this so called "waste margin" will be a minimum backup supply in the event that you make a miscalculation.

Once you have actually measured the room and noted the dimensions, make sure you draw a straight line across the walls so as to clearly establish and mark the bottom extremities of the crown molding, and please note that it is perfectly normal for ceilings to have some bumpy, uneven surfaces at the interstices of the ceiling and the wall.

This interstices is very important to take care of because it is much more visible to the eye than the other parts of the room so therefore you need to ensure that you take extra care whenever measuring up this part of the room.