DIY Crown Molding Day 3: Backer Board Install

I’m not sure if going in and out from the garage cutting molding did it, or if my raging cold is from my kids bringing it home from school. Either way, I haven’t had the energy to keep up with my project progress until now. Day 3 was five days ago, but alas it seem like just yesterday…

I started by using a pencil to mark lines on the ceiling at a 4″ distance from the wall. I also made 5″ marks on the ceiling and the wall to mark where the outside edges of where the crown would eventually be. I made the measuring easier by cutting 4″ and 5″ blocks of wood as measuring guides.

Thank goodness it was a Saturday, because I really needed my trusty assistant for the next part of the project. We started on one side of the room with my flaky stud finder marking joists on the ceiling where we could screw the backer boards in. Then I drilled pilot holes into the wood while we held the board to the ceiling and drove 3″ screws in with a power cordless drill-screwdriver. This was a slowly choreographed maneuver where Tricia and I were juggling 2 drills, some screws, the wood, etc. on step ladders. Each piece of backer board was carefully measured, then I went out to the garage to cut it and back inside to install it.

When we made the turn onto a wall where no ceiling joists were available we got into a rhythm. We brought a big board inside and drilled all the holes on the ground. Next we drilled and screwed one end to keep the board on the ceiling. I then drilled all the ceiling holes for the rest of the board to mark where we might (or might not) need anchors. Then we took down the board, and I poked Buildex EZ Ancors into every hole. If it hit a stud, no anchor, otherwise I screwed the anchor in. No need for the stud finder.

My trusty assistant happily holds the wood

There is one angled wall in the living room that caused me fits and starts. It definitely took some extra time to figure out the angles needed to miter the corners.

Funky angled wall in the living room

Apart from the fact that I needed Tricia to head to the store for another box of anchors (now trip #3 to a store for this project), this phase was relatively painless, and the last backer board was going in before dinner.

We also painted the molding pieces so that we could get down to the fun of actually putting it up. We decided to paint inside the house so there would be an appropriate temperature for drying and a long lasting finish. We put all the pieces on saw horses to make it easier to paint the edges and prevent our backs from breaking.

The molding gets painted semi gloss Atrium White

Coming up next, I’ll review the install of the molding itself which adds hours of indecision to this ‘simple’ project.

DIY Crown Molding Project: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4,5 | Day 6