Crown molding

Last updated
Diagram of a wall

.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}
crown molding
dado rail
dado
skirting board Wall.svg
Diagram of a wall
  crown molding
   dado rail
   dado
A compound crown molding built up out of several individual trim elements Wilkenson 154.jpg
A compound crown molding built up out of several individual trim elements
Decorative pilaster of natural cherry hardwood topped with crown molding Pilaster topped with crown molding.jpg
Decorative pilaster of natural cherry hardwood topped with crown molding
Crown molding may be a complex build-up of multiple trim elements, in this case built-out slightly above a window with short 90-degree returns Crown molding at Bray House, Kittery Point, Maine.jpg
Crown molding may be a complex build-up of multiple trim elements, in this case built-out slightly above a window with short 90-degree returns
The relief on this short 90-degree return of crown molding was back-cut with a coping saw Back-cut crown molding return.jpg
The relief on this short 90-degree return of crown molding was back-cut with a coping saw

Crown moulding is a form of cornice created out of decorative moulding installed atop an interior wall. It is also used atop doors, windows, pilasters and cabinets.

Contents

Historically made of plaster or wood, modern crown moulding installation may be of a single element, or a build-up of multiple components into a more elaborate whole.

Application

Crown moulding is typically installed at the intersection of walls and ceiling, but may also be used above doors, windows, or cabinets. Crown treatments made out of wood may be a single piece of trim, or a build-up of multiple components to create a more elaborate look. The main element, or the only in a plain installation, is a piece of trim that is sculpted on one side and flat on the other, with standard angles forming 90-degrees milled on both its top and bottom edges. When placed against a wall and ceiling a triangular void is created behind it. Cutting inside and outside corners requires complex cuts at standard angles, typically done with powered compound miter saws that feature detents at these angles to aid the user.

An alternative method, coping, is a two step process that begins with cutting a simple miter on both mating trim ends, then uses a coping saw to back-cut least one of the miters along its profiled edge to provide relief during installation.

Simplified crown installation is possible when using manufactured corner blocks, requiring only simple butt cuts on each end of lengths of trim. Plastic and foam versions of crown are now available, typically with corner blocks, for easy installation by DIY home improvement enthusiasts.

Angle calculations

Fitting crown moulding requires a cut at the correct combination of miter angle and bevel angle. The calculation of these angles is affected by two variables: (1) the spring angle (or crown angle, typically sold in 45° and 38° formats), and (2) the wall angle.

Pre-calculated crown moulding tables or software can be used to facilitate the determination of the correct angles. Given the spring angle and the wall angle, the formulas used to calculate the miter angle and the bevel angle are:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triangle</span> Shape with three sides

A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices A, B, and C is denoted .

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Numerical aperture</span> Characteristic of an optical system

In optics, the numerical aperture (NA) of an optical system is a dimensionless number that characterizes the range of angles over which the system can accept or emit light. By incorporating index of refraction in its definition, NA has the property that it is constant for a beam as it goes from one material to another, provided there is no refractive power at the interface. The exact definition of the term varies slightly between different areas of optics. Numerical aperture is commonly used in microscopy to describe the acceptance cone of an objective, and in fiber optics, in which it describes the range of angles within which light that is incident on the fiber will be transmitted along it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astronomical coordinate systems</span> System for specifying positions of celestial objects

Astronomical coordinate systems are organized arrangements for specifying positions of satellites, planets, stars, galaxies, and other celestial objects relative to physical reference points available to a situated observer. Coordinate systems in astronomy can specify an object's position in three-dimensional space or plot merely its direction on a celestial sphere, if the object's distance is unknown or trivial.

In geometry, a solid angle is a measure of the amount of the field of view from some particular point that a given object covers. That is, it is a measure of how large the object appears to an observer looking from that point. The point from which the object is viewed is called the apex of the solid angle, and the object is said to subtend its solid angle at that point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inverse trigonometric functions</span> Inverse functions of the trigonometric functions

In mathematics, the inverse trigonometric functions are the inverse functions of the trigonometric functions. Specifically, they are the inverses of the sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant, and cosecant functions, and are used to obtain an angle from any of the angle's trigonometric ratios. Inverse trigonometric functions are widely used in engineering, navigation, physics, and geometry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trigonometric substitution</span> Technique of integral evaluation

In mathematics, trigonometric substitution is the replacement of trigonometric functions for other expressions. In calculus, trigonometric substitution is a technique for evaluating integrals. Moreover, one may use the trigonometric identities to simplify certain integrals containing radical expressions. Like other methods of integration by substitution, when evaluating a definite integral, it may be simpler to completely deduce the antiderivative before applying the boundaries of integration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great-circle distance</span> Shortest distance between two points on the surface of a sphere

The great-circle distance, orthodromic distance, or spherical distance is the distance along a great circle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Circular segment</span> Slice of a circle cut perpendicular to the radius

In geometry, a circular segment, also known as a disk segment, is a region of a disk which is "cut off" from the rest of the disk by a secant or a chord. More formally, a circular segment is a region of two-dimensional space that is bounded by a circular arc and by the circular chord connecting the endpoints of the arc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equation of time</span> Apparent solar time minus mean solar time

The equation of time describes the discrepancy between two kinds of solar time. The word equation is used in the medieval sense of "reconciliation of a difference". The two times that differ are the apparent solar time, which directly tracks the diurnal motion of the Sun, and mean solar time, which tracks a theoretical mean Sun with uniform motion along the celestial equator. Apparent solar time can be obtained by measurement of the current position of the Sun, as indicated by a sundial. Mean solar time, for the same place, would be the time indicated by a steady clock set so that over the year its differences from apparent solar time would have a mean of zero.

In probability theory, the Borel–Kolmogorov paradox is a paradox relating to conditional probability with respect to an event of probability zero. It is named after Émile Borel and Andrey Kolmogorov.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Projectile motion</span> Motion of launched objects due to gravity


Projectile motion is a form of motion experienced by an object or particle that is projected in a gravitational field, such as from Earth's surface, and moves along a curved path under the action of gravity only. In the particular case of projectile motion of Earth, most calculations assume the effects of air resistance are passive and negligible. The curved path of objects in projectile motion was shown by Galileo to be a parabola, but may also be a straight line in the special case when it is thrown directly upwards. The study of such motions is called ballistics, and such a trajectory is a ballistic trajectory. The only force of mathematical significance that is actively exerted on the object is gravity, which acts downward, thus imparting to the object a downward acceleration towards the Earth’s center of mass. Because of the object's inertia, no external force is needed to maintain the horizontal velocity component of the object's motion. Taking other forces into account, such as aerodynamic drag or internal propulsion, requires additional analysis. A ballistic missile is a missile only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight, and whose remaining course is governed by the laws of classical mechanics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sine and cosine</span> Fundamental trigonometric functions

In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle. The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side that is opposite that angle to the length of the longest side of the triangle, and the cosine is the ratio of the length of the adjacent leg to that of the hypotenuse. For an angle , the sine and cosine functions are denoted simply as and .

There are several equivalent ways for defining trigonometric functions, and the proof of the trigonometric identities between them depend on the chosen definition. The oldest and somehow the most elementary definition is based on the geometry of right triangles. The proofs given in this article use this definition, and thus apply to non-negative angles not greater than a right angle. For greater and negative angles, see Trigonometric functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassini projection</span> Cylindrical equidistant map projection

The Cassini projection is a map projection described by César-François Cassini de Thury in 1745. It is the transverse aspect of the equirectangular projection, in that the globe is first rotated so the central meridian becomes the "equator", and then the normal equirectangular projection is applied. Considering the earth as a sphere, the projection is composed of the operations:

In mathematics and statistics, a circular mean or angular mean is a mean designed for angles and similar cyclic quantities, such as daytimes, and fractional parts of real numbers. This is necessary since most of the usual means may not be appropriate on angle-like quantities. For example, the arithmetic mean of 0° and 360° is 180°, which is misleading because 360° equals 0° modulo a full cycle. As another example, the "average time" between 11 PM and 1 AM is either midnight or noon, depending on whether the two times are part of a single night or part of a single calendar day. The circular mean is one of the simplest examples of circular statistics and of statistics of non-Euclidean spaces. This computation produces a different result than the arithmetic mean, with the difference being greater when the angles are widely distributed. For example, the arithmetic mean of the three angles 0°, 0° and 90° is (0+0+90)/3 = 30°, but the vector mean is 26.565°. Moreover, with the arithmetic mean the circular variance is only defined ±180°.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Differentiation of trigonometric functions</span> Mathematical process of finding the derivative of a trigonometric function

The differentiation of trigonometric functions is the mathematical process of finding the derivative of a trigonometric function, or its rate of change with respect to a variable. For example, the derivative of the sine function is written sin′(a) = cos(a), meaning that the rate of change of sin(x) at a particular angle x = a is given by the cosine of that angle.

Solution of triangles is the main trigonometric problem of finding the characteristics of a triangle, when some of these are known. The triangle can be located on a plane or on a sphere. Applications requiring triangle solutions include geodesy, astronomy, construction, and navigation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Position of the Sun</span> Calculating the Suns location in the sky at a given time and place

The position of the Sun in the sky is a function of both the time and the geographic location of observation on Earth's surface. As Earth orbits the Sun over the course of a year, the Sun appears to move with respect to the fixed stars on the celestial sphere, along a circular path called the ecliptic.