Gap between Crown moulding and ceiling

mab20009 · 06-13-2007, 02:04 PM

Greetings-

Apparantly my ceiling has somewhat of a convex bow to it. The crown moulding fits flush against the ceiling and wall at the corners, but as you travel from the corners to the center, the gap gradually widens to almost 1/2". 1/2" seems to be too large of a gap to simply caulk. The moulding is 10 feet long.

What options do I have? Do I need to remove the moulding and re-install, attempting to "bend" the moulding to reduce the gap in the center (will that look terrible)? Does the ceiling drywall need to be re-hung (would like to avoid that).

Thanks!

Jeekinz · 06-13-2007, 09:25 PM

You need to push the moulding up to the ceiling and re-nail it. It sounds like you hung it without supporting the center, and gravity took over. Most moulding is flexible enough to flex into place.

beer_geek · 06-14-2007, 09:34 AM

At 10' in length, you should be able to make the crown conform to the wall and ceiling.

cabinetman · 06-14-2007, 11:18 AM

You should determine if the ceiling really does have a curve, or is the crown loose or hanging. Making the crown fit an inordinately curved ceiling will visibly be very noticeable. You may split the difference and caulk the smaller gap.

WNYcarpenter · 06-18-2007, 10:39 PM

The crown should form to the ceiling when you nail it as mentioned. A gap is more noticeable than a hump IMO, caulk it. Normally you're the only one that knows it's there. If you can't close the gap to satisfy yourself, then I would suggest as your last option, float the gap with joint compound and repaint the ceiling.

griiiiiiiiiin · 04-10-2011, 10:04 AM

Plaster ceilings are notorious for not being level and straight. And, even a lot of newly sheetrocked walls aren't, either.

I have achieved greatly satisfying results by allowing the crown to stay straight. I use a very rigid crown that is less likely to conform to wall bowing. In areas where there is too large a gap, I simply block behind, or above, the crown moulding with either a shim or a triangular block. This gives the crown something to nail to.

Next, if the gap between crown and ceiling is larger than 1/8th of an inch, I build up successive coats of mud from top of crown toward middle of ceiling.

My first coat, I assure is packed into the gap. Nothing too large to dry in a day. the next coat, the same. And the third coat, more so.

I pull the mud on the first coat about a foot and a half toward the middle of the ceiling at a slight angle, to assure tapering. The next coat goes a bit further, and the third coat could be literally three feet out.

This may sound like a lot of work, but it renders much more professional results. With a little proficiency with a mud knife and sandpaper, you'll never even be able to tell what happened. And once the ceiling is painted a flat white, or whatever color, with your crown a gloss of some degree, not only do you appreciate the crown, but the clean, crisp line it creates as well.

See attached resulting image of crown placed on notoriously rolling plaster ceiling and filled in this manner.

Hope this helps.

TBFghost · 04-10-2011, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by griiiiiiiiiin

Plaster ceilings are notorious for not being level and straight. And, even a lot of newly sheetrocked walls aren't, either.

I have achieved greatly satisfying results by allowing the crown to stay straight. I use a very rigid crown that is less likely to conform to wall bowing. In areas where there is too large a gap, I simply block behind, or above, the crown moulding with either a shim or a triangular block. This gives the crown something to nail to.

Next, if the gap between crown and ceiling is larger than 1/8th of an inch, I build up successive coats of mud from top of crown toward middle of ceiling.

My first coat, I assure is packed into the gap. Nothing too large to dry in a day. the next coat, the same. And the third coat, more so.

I pull the mud on the first coat about a foot and a half toward the middle of the ceiling at a slight angle, to assure tapering. The next coat goes a bit further, and the third coat could be literally three feet out.

This may sound like a lot of work, but it renders much more professional results. With a little proficiency with a mud knife and sandpaper, you'll never even be able to tell what happened. And once the ceiling is painted a flat white, or whatever color, with your crown a gloss of some degree, not only do you appreciate the crown, but the clean, crisp line it creates as well.

See attached resulting image of crown placed on notoriously rolling plaster ceiling and filled in this manner.

Hope this helps.

This guy has got it right. Keep your crown straight and float the ceiling down to it.

onlinehandyman · 04-13-2011, 12:00 AM

I like the idea, but the concern that I have here would be cracking. Sounds like you would develop a line between the wood and the compound. Think I would run a bead of caulking once the compound was dry.

Willie T · 04-13-2011, 08:01 AM

In my opinion crown should always be installed using a handheld jig similar to this. It assures that all the crown is installed at the identical angle, and that it doesn't get a chance to sag anywhere.

This is not my original idea, BTW, someone else on one of our forums posted the idea, and I latched onto using it.

tcleve4911 · 04-13-2011, 08:17 AM

Hopefully, he's got his crown done by now......

The post was from 2007....

Hey Willie...thanks for that pic of the crown jig. I learned that trick from Gary Katz at one of the JLC shows and crown has never been easier....

...and to all you doubting Thomas's out there....it works.
I struggled with snapping lines, measuring down off the ceiling, lasers and a guesswork until I tried this. It really really works....