Installing crown molding isn’t difficult or time-consuming. Most DIY homeowners can master the job with a little practice. However, it does require a lot of accurate measuring, cutting and nailing. If you take precise measurements and follow these simple guidelines, you can easily add the beauty of crown molding to your home. The key is to plan before you start, have the proper tools and have patience.

There are two options to installing the crown molding pieces, to miter or cope the inside corners. In a coped corner, one piece is butted against the wall, and the joining piece is trimmed to fit over the crown profile of the butted piece. If you cope correctly, the coped joint is virtually indistinguishable from a perfect miter joint. Decide whether to cope or miter is based mostly on the profile of the molding. Traditional ogee profiles allows for strong joints that look perfect even in non-square corners. If the molding has a complex pattern or profile, it is best to miter the inside corners. Outside corners are always mitered.

To make the task easier and have good results, it’s imperative to have the right tools and equipment such as a pneumatic finish nail gun and a good quality miter saw. The first step in installing crown molding is to correctly set up the miter saw and any jigs or accessories needed for the job. Make sure that the cutting blade and the rear saws rear fence is square to the base of the saw.

To check whether the blade is square, place a speed square on the saw table and lower the blade until the vertical leg of the speed square comes into contact with the side of the blade. Make sure the blade makes full contact with the square all the way up to the arbor nut. If there are any gaps between the blade and the edge of the square, adjust the saw according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Check that the rear fence is square to the base of the saw. If you are cutting wide molding cut an auxiliary fence from scrap material and attach it to the rear fence to increase the fence height and add support for the molding stock as it is being cut. The auxiliary fence height should be approximately1/8 of an inch less than the saw’s cutting capacity. Make sure both the fence and the auxiliary fence are square to the saw table.

Now that the saw is square and the fence is set up you are ready to cut the molding. There are two ways to cut crown molding: in the position it sets on the ceiling or on the flat. Cutting in position means that the crown is secured on the saw the same way that it will be positioned on the ceiling and the wall, the saw table represents the ceiling and the fence represents the wall.

Cutting on the flat involves laying the back of the molding on the table base and pressing the crown up against the fence. Cutting on the flat is a safe and secure method, but it requires tricky compound cutting angles, so it is easier to make cuts in position. Always make sure that the molding is oriented to the saw fence and table exactly the same way each time a cut is made. Because there are so many molding profiles and sizes, you’ll need to tailor your setup to match the exact profile and size of the molding before you start cutting.

To ensure accuracy for each cut, use crown molding stops. Some miter-saw tables come with built-in stops designed for this purpose. If you do not have stops on your saw, make your own stops from a piece of scrap material that extends approximately six inches beyond the saw table in both directions. Orient a one foot piece of molding in the precise position on the saw. Trace the edge of the molding where it meets the fence to make a reference line. While holding the molding in this position, place the scrap on the saw table and butt it up against the molding. Then clamp or screw the scrap to the extension wings of the saw.

How to miter the inside corners:

To size crown molding for mitered inside corners, simply measure the wall lengths at the four inside corners of the room. The measurement must be accurate or there will be a gap at the miter joint. The corner consists of an inside and an outside cut.

To cut an inside right-hand corner, swing the miter saw blade to the left. The piece that will be installed will be on the left side of the blade. To cut an inside left hand corner, swing the blade to the right. The piece that will be installed will be on the right side of the blade.

For a good tight fit add 1/16 of an inch to pieces that are longer than 8 feet and add 1/32 of an inch to shorter pieces. The extra length will force the molding to be pressed into the joints for a tighter fit.

How to coping inside corners:

Coping is the process of removing material from the thickness of the molding along the profile of the miter-cut crown. When coping you don’t need to worry about the exact angle of the wall to get a tight fit. But it is important that the coped strip matches the orientation of the butted strip.

Measuring the molding length is more complicated if you plan to cope the inside corner joints. Use the same method as for mitered joints to find the full length of two opposite walls.

To make the cope cut, first make a 45 degree mitered cut on the end that will be against the wall on the opposite side of the outside corner. Use a coping saw to cut the back side of the 45 degree mitered cut off. Now the end of the piece to be installed will have the exact profile of the piece it will butt to. As the piece is either 1/16 to 1/32 long, it will snap fit into place.

Nail the molding in place using a finish nail gun with two inch nails. Fill the nail holes and you are ready for painting.

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