We want to add crown molding and baseboards to our dining room. Is it difficult? Should we just try that ourselves?
“Here’s my tip on crown molding: Hire it out!” says Paul Ryan, carpenter and host of Weekend Handyman on the DIY Network. “You can do crown molding yourself, but it is very difficult because it doesn’t lie flat against the walls; it angles out.” Paul proceeds to explain that this creates complicated compound miters at the corners, which means you need a compound miter saw set at a 3.75 degree angle, though the outside angle will be different…and of course creating the proper “cope” is another story entirely -- a long one. Yeah, you know what? Take it from him and let someone else do the job. What you can do, suggests Paul, are your own baseboards. “You still need a compound miter saw, which you can buy or rent for a day, but the angles where the baseboards meet at each corner are pretty straight 45 degree cuts.” Or, do what one couple in South Orange, New Jersey, did, “We bought a cheap plastic mitering tool at Home Depot for eight bucks that just holds the wood so you can saw it by hand with a regular, wood-handled saw,” says Jennifer. “We did the baseboards in our basement in just one day.” Buying tip: Get 20 percent more wood than you think you need; you can always return a piece later, but you won’t want to run out for more in the last, dog-tired stretch of the job.
by Amy Spencer
6/19/08
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