Crown Molding...

Does anyone have crown molding that is opening up at the seams?

I am the prev poster that had new crown molding installed in our house and it is opening up at all of the seams and cracking. It is painted wood and according to the contractor "this happens with wood."

Just wanted to see if this is happening to anyone else and what you have done to fix?

Thanks!

Re: Crown Molding...

If the seams are separating, that's just the wood shrinking a bit. A bit of caulk should take care of that. White caulk as-is does great for white molding. Most molding can be painted over, so you can touch it up after it's caulked. The caulk is flexible, so it will give a little when the wood shifts.

Re: Crown Molding...

Maybe you need to caulk it. Also, I think the contractor did not caulk it properly when he put the mouldings.

Re: Crown Molding...

this happened to me. The painter caulked it all, but i guess it can still happen. My FIL said just to put more caulk in the seams. I was told that when it gets warmer out the wood will expand and the cracks will be less visable....

Re: Crown Molding...

lululu i abolsolutely ADORE your home!! I am glad to at least hear that I am not completely alone in this. The contractor also claims that it is the size of the crown molding that we chose - had we gone with something narrower it would have been as bad...now he tells me! Ours looks pretty similar to yours - I think it's 5'' or so...

Maybe in the spring time I will do some touch-ups, but I really want to get on with our lives and enjoy Ethan while he's young and not waste all our time on renovations... DH always says people aren't going to come into our home and say "oh look at those cracks" - he is prob right.

lululu did you use a contractor? or did you do the work yourselves?

Re: Crown Molding...

It has happened to ours this winter as well. We were told that certain caulks are better than others, so we are going to try a different one than what was used.

It is frustrating b/c it looks terrible right now!

Re: Crown Molding...

You' re not alone. This happened with ours as well. DH installed it and caulked it too. It just need to be re-caulked. Expansion and contraction is normal for wood throughout the seasons.

Message edited 3/1/2007 2:59:24 PM.

Re: Crown Molding...

DH and I noticed this also in our house..We thought maybe the contractors messed up or something. Good to know it's not hard to fix!

Re: Crown Molding...

I have to warn that the more caulk you add to the seams the chunkier the cracked areas will become. The contractor caulked the cracks several times and painted over the caulking to seal it in. As a result the cracks are still reappearing and it appears chunky - I forgot to mention that in my original posting.

Re: Crown Molding...

this happens in winter and believe it or not the wood will expand again in the summer and the seams will be invisible. Caulk is the best way to solve this problem. You don't need to paint the caulk when its done. that might alleviate the problem mentioned above.

Message edited 3/1/2007 9:19:35 PM.

Re: Crown Molding...

Hi there...this is peabody's husband and I know a thing or two about crown moulding. The moulding is a living piece of wood that will expand and contract in response to it's environment. By this I am saying that it will expand in the summer due to the high humidity and moisture in the air but in the winter it will shrink due to heat in your home. This is a natural ocurance but if it was installed properly it should not be that big of a deal. The best fix for most do it yourselfers is some white phenoseal which is a glue and caulk in one which is water soluable and easily painted. Try it and see what you think.