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Crown molding is decorative trim that spans corners where walls meet ceilings
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and it can do more to enhance the elegance and beauty of your home than any other single trim element
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But if you've ever wanted to install your own crown molding, I've got good news for you and bad news
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The bad news is that crown can be considerably more difficult to install than it looks
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The good news is that this job can be made much easier with something simple
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invented by an energetic dentist from Florida named Athos Comaitis. This video is all about the simple product that Athos designed after he got fed up
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with one of the biggest challenges of crown installation in his own home
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I discovered Easy Crown, that's what Athos designed, this past spring, and I've been sampling the product ever since, and I know it helps a lot
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both for DIY homeowners and even professionals. Easy Crown is a simple metal and wood assembly that serves one important purpose
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It provides regular, obvious, and secure nailing surfaces for anchoring crown molding as it goes up
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So instead of bumbling around trying to locate wooden framing members underneath drywall
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and many times there isn't any wood where you need it, Easy Crown puts generous nailing surfaces front and center just where you want them
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If you've never installed crown molding before, you might be surprised to learn that
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finding and making use of solid support surfaces underneath drywall for nails
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is often the most challenging part of the job. The reason is simple. Houses are almost never framed with crown molding installation in mind
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There may or may not be any hidden wood where you need it
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It's also not unusual for every room to lack solid wood along two sides of every ceiling
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namely those sides that are parallel to the ceiling joists. And if this wasn't enough of a hassle, houses built with insulated concrete forms, that's ICFs
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or structural insulated panels, SIPs, don't necessarily have nailing surfaces anywhere handy for crown molding
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This is where Athos' simple solution helps. Easy Crown uses a sheet metal base with angled wooden nailing blocks mounted to it
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Fasten the sheet metal to the wall and ceiling, then nail the crown molding to the wooden blocks that are part of the system
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It's really simple and highly effective, but it does raise a question
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How does mounting a strip before trim goes down make things easier
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I mean, if there's insufficient wood to hold the crown molding in the first place, doesn't that mean that you've got the same problem with the Easy Crown
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Well, no. And here's why. The big advantage comes from the fact that you can drive anchoring screws into Easy Crown
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anywhere you want along its length and width. If there's wood underneath for some of those screws in specific places
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drill through the sheet metal, that's easy to do, and drive screws into the wood
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If no hidden wood exists, simply use thread-in drywall anchors for the job
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Drill a hole in the Easy Crown, just where you want it to be
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extending right through the drywall. This smaller hole marks the exact spot you'll need to install the drywall anchor
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Next, remove the drill bit from your drill, replace it with one equal to the root diameter of the drywall anchor
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that's the diameter at the base of the threads, drill a larger hole in the drywall, where the smaller hole is now
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then drive the anchor in all the way into the hole until it's flush with the surface
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With Easy Crown secured in this way, the crown molding itself can then be mounted with nails or brads
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driven into those angled mounting blocks that are part of the system
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That's a big help, certainly, but Athos did one more thing to make Crown easier to install
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Besides sidestepping the challenge of finding anchoring surfaces for crown molding, there's also the challenge of cutting precise inside and outside corner joints
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Gap-free joints here are essential, but they can be really tricky to produce
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especially if you don't have a high-end miter saw on your side
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And this is where Athos got thinking again. He designed corner blocks that eliminate the need for any angled cutting required on the lengths of crown molding
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Just straight, square cuts on the end are all that's needed. Install the corner blocks on the wall first, then butt the square-ended crown tight up to it
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And that's it! If you're installing crown molding that will be painted, fill any cracks and nail holes now with latex caulking
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If your crown is to be stained and or left uncoloured, I find it easiest to pre-finish the crown before it goes up
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Just don't forget to sand any trim, and that includes crown, destined to be stained beforehand
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All trim, no matter how smooth it seems to be from the store, will always benefit from sanding before finishing
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I use an electric drill accessory called a sanding mop for this, and it works really well and fast
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As someone who built his own house, I know from experience that the more you do for your place, the more you like it
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Easy Crown is one of many simple, inexpensive products that make it much easier to achieve home improvement success
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Even professionals are starting to use this product now, because all the time it saves them
