disaster while hanging crown moulding on kitchen cabinets!

[Nathan Callender]

Okay, well, in the grand scheme of things, this isn't too bad, but I have been hanging crown molding on our kitchen cabinets and I just realized that I just cut a miter incorrectly. Unfortunately, I'm using hardwood molding so I'm hand nailing these up, and it's a real pain to get them up, and worse to try to get them down. I've attached pictures of what I did. I think I can take it down and recut the miter and be okay, but I'd really like to avoid having to take it down. Can anyone suggest a way to work around this or somehow cut the correct miter while the molding is on the cab?

And, I honestly have no clue how I goofed up on this - but obviously I did!

[David Sharp]

It looks like you might have enough length to cope the next piece.

[Thomas love]

Wrong angle and too short to cope. Take it down and redo it , no voodoo or magic to fix that

[David Helm]

There's always the board stretcher option!!!!!

[Ben Hatcher]

use the cutoff from this piece, glue it to the end of what you've got up perhaps using a backer board and a few short pins to secure it. Now it is long enough to cope the adjacent piece to. Once it is painted, you'll never notice.

[george wilson]

Is he going to paint hardwood? Take it down and do it right. Being a good craftsman means,among other things,having the gumption to re-do something.

[Troy Turner]

How much of a gap is there going to be when you put the other piece up? Too much for a little caulking? I like Ben's idea if you're painting it. If you're staining though, probably going to have to chalk this up and talk it down. Can you reuse it else where on the cabinets?

[Ben Hatcher]

Ha, from the picture I assumed it would be painted. Even if it is stained, it might look ok but anyone who looks closely enough will be able to tell it is a patch. If it were my house, I'd let it go. If it were a paying job, I'd replace the piece and chalk it up to the price of experience.

[Chip Lindley]

Prior Planning Prevents...Particulary Poor Performance! (but, it's how we learn!)

Now that you understand what went wrong, Use the cope-cut method and do it right.

And, an air brad nailer would make things go much faster! Hammer dings on nice crown moulding are a No-No!

[Shawn Morley]

Looks to me to be about a 1/4" short as well, I'd take it down and redo it.

Curious, why are you hand nailing it and not using an 18ga nailer?

[Jason White]

Perhaps you could glue on some type of "return" and die into the wall?

Jason


Okay, well, in the grand scheme of things, this isn't too bad, but I have been hanging crown molding on our kitchen cabinets and I just realized that I just cut a miter incorrectly. Unfortunately, I'm using hardwood molding so I'm hand nailing these up, and it's a real pain to get them up, and worse to try to get them down. I've attached pictures of what I did. I think I can take it down and recut the miter and be okay, but I'd really like to avoid having to take it down. Can anyone suggest a way to work around this or somehow cut the correct miter while the molding is on the cab?

And, I honestly have no clue how I goofed up on this - but obviously I did!

[Josiah Bartlett]

Perhaps you could glue on some type of "return" and die into the wall?

Jason

Or use corner/plinth blocks and trim it into place with a Multimaster type tool.

[Karl Brogger]

Take it down, redo it, and next time look at it before you nail it in place.

Anything other than that will look like diarrhea.

[Peter Quinn]

Looks like you got upside down and backwards mixed up. Up side down, but not backwards? Are you cutting flat with a compound saw or standing up against a fence? Either way there is great value in cutting test pieces, and there are lots of good reasons to dry fit the crown before the nails get involved. Were you planing to miter an inside corner, and if so did you have any reason to believe it would meet correctly? Or enough reason to get nails involved? Are you even sure the inside corner is 90 degrees and teh cabinets are plumb? Lots of things to go wrong with that simple equation, I'd want a preview with some short samples.

I guess from looking at the situation I am wondering how that molding came to be nailed in with the cut made incorrectly, and further I am suggesting you slow down, check your work, remember that nails aren't permanent, but they aren't much fun to remove. That part I'm sure you are aware of at this point. I tell you this not to insult you but as a former rammy guy in a hurry to get things nailed up who has made almost every mistake possible in multiples, it is much simpler long run to slow down a bit.

I can think of no way short of a very ugly hack to repair that error in the air, so I would be inclined to take it down, think carefully about what went wrong, and start by making both sides of an inside and outside corner with your instrument of choice, label them, and use these to keep your head straight in the future. The test pieces can even be just a similar molding in a cheaper format from a local big box, doesn't have to be the fine hardwood that has cost you dearly. Its easy to get turned around when cutting crown, but its cheaper to make your mistakes on scraps or junk, and better to go up the ladder with a few small test pieces to check the actual field conditions than to nail in a long piece and discover the corner is a bit whacked.

[Dan Karachio]

Two cents. Redo it or it will haunt you forever - every time you go in the kitchen. Alas, it is the mistakes that teach us more than almost anything else.

[Steve Rowe]

Like most of the others; I would take it down and redo. Any repair would stick out like a sore thumb. The corner block suggestion is a viable option but, everytime I see these it just screams, whoever did this didn't know how to hang crown.:o
Steve

[george wilson]

Dan's thoughts are mine,too. Every time you look at the molding,your eye will go right to the mistake.

[Dan Karachio]

Dan's thoughts are mine,too. Every time you look at the molding,your eye will go right to the mistake.

We have all been there in one way or another! You are certainly not alone.

[Nathan Callender]

Thanks for everyone's input. I finally came to my senses, and I took it down and am redoing. This is the first time that I've worked with crown moulding, so it's been a true learning experience so far. However, I'm hopefully getting close to getting it right this time around. :-)

Yes, it's a sick feeling having to pull it down. I was using a miter saw, and I must have flipped the piece upside down. I even checked when I nailed it up, and I must have just not been thinking about it properly. Anyway, the gap that some people have seen is actually for a runner that will fill the gap and make the moulding flush with another cabinet.

Oh, and yes, I've learned my lesson about air nailers - I'll be buying one of those in the near future. :-) However, I am putting up hard maple moudling, so I was under the assumption that one would run the risk of splitting the moulding by using a brad nailer. Is that not the case with hard maple?

[Jon van der Linden]

Thanks for everyone's input. I finally came to my senses, and I took it down and am redoing. This is the first time that I've worked with crown moulding, so it's been a true learning experience so far. However, I'm hopefully getting close to getting it right this time around. :-)

Yes, it's a sick feeling having to pull it down. I was using a miter saw, and I must have flipped the piece upside down. I even checked when I nailed it up, and I must have just not been thinking about it properly. Anyway, the gap that some people have seen is actually for a runner that will fill the gap and make the moulding flush with another cabinet.

Oh, and yes, I've learned my lesson about air nailers - I'll be buying one of those in the near future. :-) However, I am putting up hard maple moudling, so I was under the assumption that one would run the risk of splitting the moulding by using a brad nailer. Is that not the case with hard maple?

For whatever reason I hate the rectangular holes that air nailers leave. Probably from seeing too many of them on cheap products.

Regarding the cutting of the moulding, try coping it next time, it will leave you with a feeling of accomplishment.

[Thomas love]

I use a 23 gauge pin nailer and some glue on the inside and out side corners. The pin nailer allows you to put nails in places that an 18 gauge nailer would make a mess of .... like the outside corner, or the backside of inside corner depending on whether the cabs go to ceiling or not. The entry point of the pin is barely visible.
tom