Painting Crown Moulding and Ceilings



We bought MDF moulding with primer to save time with the finish painting.  When we started to lay them out for a coat of final paint, we found the surfaces were rough so we started early in the morning by lightly hand sanding 1600 linear feet of crown moulding.

We then laid them out all along the back of the shop so they could be painted using a sprayer.

 

 

We covered the back wall of the shop to prevent overspray on the wall and we rigged up tarps overhead so the moulding would not be in the direct sun while painting or drying.

After the first coat of paint, Gerry and Cliff moved into the house to paint the ceilings.

 

We moved Fred outside so he would not be in the way or in all the paint spray in the air in the house.

Time to Paint Primer Throughout the Entire House

First--thank goodness--we hired painters to spray and back roll the primer throughout the entire house.

 

 

I couldn't believe Cliff wore a short-sleeve shirt and shorts.  After painting all day, he had paint all over his arms and legs!

 

Gerry and Cliff (paint contractor) break for lunch:

 

Seeing all the walls one color really helped define the rooms. The house finally looked like a house on the inside.

 

 

I used paper bowls to mask the can light fixtures--fast and easy.

 

 

We also painted primer in the garage:

Using a very bright light, Gerry walked along all the walls and marked all the dents, flaws, etc. so he could fix them before the final painting started.  Again, this took him a couple months to complete.

 

It took months of sanding and fine tuning the finish because I wanted smooth walls:

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the corners throughout the house are bullnose instead of 90-degeee corners.  They are susceptible to dents so Gerry covered them with bondo to make them stronger.  It took a long time to prep and finish sand them.  Gerry made a sanding block the shape of the corner out of foam, then he used double-stick tape to affix the sandpaper to the block.  This gave him much better control over the shape of the corners as he sanded them smooth.

 

 

 

 

Fred supervised , as always!



 

The Central Heating Unit

The central heating unit was installed in the attic hanging from the roof rafters.

 

 

The fittings are various sizes and shapes

 

 

And Gerry had a few custom pieces made and then had to modify several of the heating ducts.

 

 

Then the fittings had to be assembled on the ?

 

 



 

The heating element was attached.

 

 

Then Gerry had to run the flexible ducting to each room:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Installing the Crown Moulding

Before hanging the crown moulding, Gerry nailed triangle shaped pieces of wood all along the ceiling so he would have a solid backing behind the moulding where ever he nailed it.  When he started to put up the first piece of moulding, we realized he was covering up the wood pieces and now we didn't know where they were located.  I went around and put small pieces of tape below each one to mark the locations.

 

 

 

The moulding is 16-feet long and most of the time Gerry is working by himself, so he used his third-hand tool and he borrowed Greg's third-hand tool, and put tape on the ends of long poles to help hold the moulding in place.

 

 

The master bedroom and the great room have tray ceilings which means double the crown moulding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the great room, Gerry put 45-degree angles in the corners to give the tray ceiling more character than just a square. 

All the corners and joints took extra work using a coping method to minimize the visibility of the seams.

 

After the moulding was hung in each room, all the corners, seems, and nail heads were caulked, painter with primer, sanded, then a final coat of paint.  


Master bedroom ceiling: