Ceiling Trim Problem

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alexjag33

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I have a very noticeable outer corner in a kitchen- this outer corner is on a built-in pantry coming out of the wall. See my crude ascii illustration. This is a top view.



___________
..........|
..........| Pantry
..........|________
...................|
...................|



I attempted to put crown moulding around the whole room. Problem is, there is a very noticeable rise in the ceiling height just before the moulding reaches the pantry corner. The moulding at the corner therefore does not touch the ceiling at all there, but has about 1/2 inch of nothing on top of it. Looks cruddy.

I cannot adjust the ceiling height without a *lot* of effort.

I was thinking of tearing down the moulding around just the pantry and leaving it up around the rest of the room. But what *should* I use there so that the equally cruddy-looking wall-ceiling transition isn't visible around the pantry?

The ceiling is glued-on ceiling tiles. The walls are wood panels.
 
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I have a very noticeable outer corner in a kitchen- this outer corner is on a built-in pantry coming out of the wall. See my crude ascii illustration.



___________
........|
........| Pantry
........|________
.................|
.................|



I attempted to put crown moulding around the whole room. Problem is, there is a very noticeable rise in the ceiling height just before the moulding reaches the pantry corner. The moulding at the corner therefore does not touch the ceiling at all there, but has about 1/2 inch of nothing on top of it. Looks cruddy.

I cannot adjust the ceiling height without a *lot* of effort.

I was thinking of tearing down the moulding around just the pantry and leaving it up around the rest of the room. But what *should* I use there so that the equally cruddy-looking wall-ceiling transition isn't visible around the pantry?

The ceiling is glued-on ceiling tiles. The walls are wood panels.


Hi Alex,
I understand the situation.

It's too bad you did not check the perimeter of the room prior to starting, as it may have 'suggested' to you that you start lower and use a filler strip above that could be 'adjusted', or scribed to the ceiling as needed.

In this case you do have some small options that may make the gap less obvious.

If the ceiling tiles can be removed (if you have extras) you could shim them, starting a couple of courses away, so that the ceiling 'drops' slightly to lessen the gap.

The other option is to use a filler strip above the gap and paint it so as to shadow it from the crown molding. If that sounds confusing, I'm sorry, but I can't explain it any better.

Basically you'd be trying to 'fool the eye' with a shadow line, but it would be easier to do if you did not have such a different material on the ceiling.

Hope some of this helps somehow.

Regards,
Howard
http://www.howardemerson.com/
 

alexjag33

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Raised?

The pantry itself meets the ceiling- it's the moulding that I'm having issues with. Raising the pantry wouldn't do any good.

There is a sharp rise in the height of the ceiling (along the mould path) about 12 inches before the corner is reached.

The ceiling height is pretty consistent around the room- it's just that one corner where it raises up.
 
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The pantry itself meets the ceiling- it's the moulding that I'm having issues with. Raising the pantry wouldn't do any good.

There is a sharp rise in the height of the ceiling (along the mould path) about 12 inches before the corner is reached.

The ceiling height is pretty consistent around the room- it's just that one corner where it raises up.

Alex,
Of course you could just angle the molding so that it meets the ceiling, right? I know that's not the right way, of course, but what would 'give that away' in terms of it looking bad?

Would you see an ever widening gap between the crown bottom edge and the top of a cabinet door?

What I'm getting at is which would look worse? Tapered gap to the ceiling or gap below on the cabinet? Which one would catch the eye first/worse?

I still think that a tapered scribe on top would be the less of all evils, but I'm not there to see it.

HE
 

hj

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crown

The problem is that angling the molding will be VERY visible, and scribing the molding would mean he would have to trim all the rest of the molding to match the "narrower" section.
 
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The problem is that angling the molding will be VERY visible, and scribing the molding would mean he would have to trim all the rest of the molding to match the "narrower" section.

No kidding?

Read the rest of what I said in that post.

It's very clear that he's up against 'the wall' in trying to make this look right, and there's no easy fix, and eventually something will not look right.

If he had a painted ceiling then scribing,(by adding a piece to the top edge of the crown) to the ceiling and some careful paint work could minimize the problem, but it's basically a no-win situation, which was understood from the start.

HE
 

little buddy

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corner blocks

I'm wondering if you couldn't use inside and outside corner blocks and just butt your crown moulding against the blocks. I forgot if you said you had already put the rest of the crown up. They do this a lot in older houses that are known to be out of square. I've done this around my fireplace, in my dinning room and even around my entertainment center because the crown moulding in my family room is painted but is stained going around my entertainment center. It's only an idea, I have no regrets on mine. Good luck
 

Statjunk

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This is a relatively simple task. If you're handy do 1) otherwise do 2)

1) Slide in a 1/2" sheet of drywall just above your crown. Then a 3/8 sheet and finish it off with a quarter inch. Feather the whole thing out with mud. You should end up several feet from the crown by the time you're done.

2) Call a drywall guy.

I would do #2.


Tom
 
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This is a relatively simple task. If you're handy do 1) otherwise do 2)

1) Slide in a 1/2" sheet of drywall just above your crown. Then a 3/8 sheet and finish it off with a quarter inch. Feather the whole thing out with mud. You should end up several feet from the crown by the time you're done.

2) Call a drywall guy.

I would do #2.


Tom


Tom,
The original posting said "The ceiling is glued-on ceiling tiles. The walls are wood panels."

It has to be done with the moldings, or the glued-on tile ceiling will have to be removed to change the contour.

No simple solution.

HE
 

Statjunk

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Whoops missed that one.

I guess no time like the present to update to drywall! Sorry had to do it.

Tom
 

alexjag33

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Corner Blocks

I think that a corner block is going to be the best solution for me.
 

GabeS

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Fill in the high spots with quarter inch sheetrock glue and screwed in the void. Then use plenty of mesh tape and compound mixed with plaster and feather everything out.

It's just a wave in the ceiling that happens to be in the corner. Just build it out and feather like I told you. It should work perfect.
 
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