I always thought a 15-degree miter was fine for crown until a job in Denver.

Used to just set my saw to 15 degrees for every inside corner, never had a big problem. Then I did a whole house in Denver with 9-foot ceilings and the gaps were huge. My boss showed me how to use the crown spring angle, which was 38 degrees on that trim, and it changed the game. Anyone else run into this with older houses?

4 comments

4 Comments

anderson.taylor1mo ago

Yeah, that spring angle thing is a killer on old trim. I had a similar mess in a 1920s bungalow where the original crown was closer to 45 degrees. I just assumed it was standard and cut a whole room wrong, had to eat the cost of the material. Now I always check with a bevel gauge first, even if it takes an extra minute. You ever run into that with really old, thick plaster walls throwing things off too?

erickelly1mo ago

Plaster's a nightmare to cut into cleanly.

marybutler5d ago

Oh man, that thing about thick plaster walls is exactly what messed me up last year. I was working on a Victorian row house and the walls were so uneven from years of patch jobs that my spring angle was off by nearly 10 degrees in some spots. What finally saved me was using a scrap piece of crown to scribe the actual angle against the wall and ceiling before cutting anything. I'd hold a short offcut in place, mark where it touched on both surfaces, then transfer that to my miter saw. It felt like a pain at first but I only had to redo one piece instead of a whole room. Did you end up finding a trick for checking those plaster bumps before you start?

evan_davis1mo ago

Actually, I find plaster easier to work with than drywall.