Cove molding: to cope or not?

white29

I've always mitered cove molding inside corners with good results. I recently removed some from our powder room which I was going to restore and hiding under many coats of paint and caulk is coped inside corners. Which is correct? I've already bought new moldings with intent on mitering the inside corners.

wazeaz

I would say whatever looks best. I think coping is done because if the corners are not exactly 90 degrees - coping will still give a tight look.

AtlanticWBConst.

Stain grade trim stock: Cope.

Paintgrade stock: You can get away with: mitering.

If you are dead set on the method or coping: Knock yourself out.

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davefoc

Atlantic, I've never done anything but painted moldings and I cut them all at 45 degrees. It works ok (as long as I've got a supply of painters caulk handy), but it clearly isn't good enough for stained moldings as you noted.

But I've seen various schemes advertised for carefully measuring the angle of the corner to be mitered and using that to make a precise cut that doesn't need to be coped. Do these schemes work as well as coping?

This is mostly academic curiosity on my part. I've pretty much accepted that doing stained moldings is not something that I'm going to do in this life, but I've been curious.

Chris Johnson

Coping vs. Mitering

is seperating the men from the boys

Not everyone can cope, even on paint grade it keeps the joint tight and prevents most cracking

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Chris

AtlanticWBConst.

I agree completely (110%) - word for word.

If you are a DIYer, and have the time and patience, it is definitely an area to delve into and practice on, as you will learn some of the basic skills of carpentry.

To explain my perception a little (It's not a rule, just my own approach, based on the work we do, and skill levels of DIYers):

DIYers:
Some DIYers may have difficulty trying to do cope cuts when starting out, and will do better just mitering their cuts, until they gain more confidence and get comfortable measuring, cutting, and eyeing - wood work.

On the work we do:
Custom high-end work and certain projects deserve cope cutting on the trim work, whether painted or stained.
I was actually, a "cope-cutting" is-the-only-way-to-go person for years, until we started doing alot of multi-unit, water damage repairs.
These have to be done very quickly(Last month -we repaired twenty units in one week)
Certain repair work, that must be done quickly, especially where the rest of the house (or multi-unit building) has mitered basic-painted-trim work: I feel that you're OK to miter the new paint-grade work.
So, we do it base on the parameters of the project.

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Chris Johnson

Atlantic...

Point taken, tract, multi-family where price is King do get mitered, custom must be coped considering the amount we are being paid to do the job right.

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Chris

tinner666

Cope. No other solution. Anything else is XXXXX-rigging.

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Frank

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AtlanticWBConst.

umm...OK...

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white29

FYI- I mitered them and they look fine. I took a quick look with a square and was surprised to see that the walls were relatively square.

tinner666

For what it's worth, the edited word was jerry.
Thought I should clarify that, because the edit made it look like I said sumtin different.

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Frank

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tinner666

Let's see some pics in 2-3 years when the material dries.

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Frank

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mrmac204

coping cove and shoe moldings is a snap- just do your outside 45, then reverse the piece on the saw, then cut away the "waste" couple of min's with a file, tada! easier to show than to describe.

as for outside corners, I just follow the "half the reciprocal" rule - its a bit of a short cut, but basically its like this- whatever is over or under 90 degrees, then take half of the opposite - by this i mean, if you have an outside corner that measures 92 degrees, well that's two degrees more than 90, so then subract 2 degrees from 90- that's 88 degrees. Half of that? its 44 - so that's your saw setting! PROVIDED that you cut your molding face up or face out depending on whether you use the mitre or bevel function of your saw.
so when the mitre gets bigger, the degree of cut gets smaller - get some scrap and try this, it works

Don't give up on coping! you will get faster as time goes on, and it makes a terriffic looking inside corner

Mac!

tinner666

You're right about this too, but it sure goes against the grain. Too much in my case. I seldom win bids on these. I figure coping in and I'm too high.

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Frank

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mrmac204

sometimes I take my "coper" machine if there's a lot of inside corners to do - very fast! and super accurate

Mac!