Comments on: Win a $3000 Gift Card

by: Dari Hayes

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:04:37 +0000

Alright, here’s a GREAT tip that I hope wins me that contest for the home repair money. I haven’t seen (read) anything like this but it’s very important with regard to caulking and painting. When I paint my 50 year old frame house, I always run across a situation where I have bare wood to prime and caulk. I have found that if I go ahead and prime the bare wood first and then caulk, that the caulk adheres much longer. Caulking bare wood will cause the bare wood to absorb the moisture from the caulk and reduce its adhering power. Moral: never caulk bare wood.

by: Ben Erickson

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:20:52 +0000

Rhonda,
I plan to write a detailed article on coping in the future, so check back. Molding that run horizontally around the room, like baseboards and chair rails, are joined at the inside corners by coping and at outside corners by mitering. To cope an inside corner, one piece of molding is installed butted up to the wall in the corner with a simple square cut. The other piece, which is at 90 degrees to it, is cut with a miter saw to a 45 degree angle with the long edge of the miter on the back side of the molding. Use a coping saw to cut along the short edge of the miter on the front of the molding by holding the saw at a bit over 90 degrees to the face of the molding. The coping cut that results will be a negative profile of the shape of the molding and should fit snugly up to the already installed piece. If there are high spots that keep it from fitting tightly, use a utility knife to carefully trim the coping cut back until it fits. Crown molding is coped the same way, but when cutting it on the miter saw, put the crown in upside down and at the same angle against the base and fence of the saw as it will be when it is installed.

by: Rhonda Conley

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:19:57 +0000

How do you cope? I am referring to molding. I understand coping is the term used to cut wood molding in a way that follows the curves of the wood molding shape. Please give me the where, when, why, and how to cope so I can add molding to my centenial home. Saving a centenial home is one way to keep America green.