These days a lot of moldings are available in market and they come in a wide array of colors, textures and styles. With the passage of time and development in the technology, such moldings are also there which are covered in decorative fabric or paper so as to coordinate or match with your paint or wall covering.
By adding a decorative molding, you can improve the looks of a room, ceiling looks higher and as a result your room also starts looking larger than earlier. The great deal is to use finger jointed molding than a seamless molding.
Tools needed for installing a molding:
Level
Measuring Tape
Nail Set
Hammer
Miter Saw
Drill and Drill Bits
4, 6, 8 penny nails
Primer
Coping Saw
Base Molding
Crown Corner Molding
Window Molding
Crown Molding
Shoe Molding
Paintbrush
Putty Knife
Safety Glasses
Wood Putty
Wooden Shims
Before starting the work, check the size of the molding you want for your door and window casings.
Door Molding:
Firstly, measure the moldings required for the door sides and then miter the top at 45o angle.
Using 4 penny nails, attach the molding on inner edges and the on the outside by 6 penny nails.
Make sure to secure the miter joints using 4 penny nails.
Hammer all the nail heads using another nail and holding it over the head of 1st one. Then fill the holes made by the nails using a spackle.
Window Trimming:
It will be a more challenging task to do as a window have 4 aspects, the apron below sill, the sill, the jam and the casing.
Starting with the sill cut the sill of adequate size using a fine quality wood and then notches the ends so as to fit it securely at the bottom of the window. You may have to create a shim to fit it tightly using 8 penny nails.
While installing the top extension against the window trims, make sure to fit it tightly and if required, you may also use shims.
Put the side pieces into proper position using finishing nails.
Then you need to install the casings of window in same order as did for the doors i.e. starting from sides and then continuing till the top.
Finally, cut the apron of same size as the portion which makes the outer sill and start working on it from the sides to the top piece.
Floor and Wall Molding:
All over and along the floors, trim the walls with molding or baseboards. It is imperative not only for the purpose of decoration but it also blocks the air flow under walls and it is very common in the mobile houses. In some case you might have to use 2 molding pieces, painted baseboard and a molding which match your flooring.
Before cutting the baseboard, measure the size of the walls. Usually for inner corners 45o cut is taken while if not square in size, you need to cut a piece of molding at 90o and then using a coping saw, trim the other piece. Make sure to secure it using a 6 penny nails. Chair rails can also be done in similar manner.
