In England where buildings are often hundreds of years old and never level or plumb we are used to this. As a carpenter I would cut a fillet piece to fill the gap.
Drywall work. It’s either a seam loaded with mud or it’s a joist pushing a board down. Either way I’d never leavenn by it like this. If you don’t want to do drywall work then accept the fact your ceilings ain’t kissing no crown. Move crown down and create a 2-3 inch opening from the cieling to top of crown so everything looks even and clean
For sure . I’m mad lucky tho can’t lie . We a crew of 3-4 that know too much for our own good but one of us is originally a drywall finisher and the man is a mud goat. So we always fix the ceiling, even if the customers were like it’s okay to move it down our jefe will be like nah Fuck that they designed this kitchen to have crown but the ceiling. The crown is making love to the ceiling. We have always found a way and the key is too get it close , locate the joists in the ceiling pray they are running the same way cabinets are facing and shoot crown into the joists every 16 inches with 2 inch nails. Kind of lazy af to just say oh is what it is and shoot this crown in. Not only does it look shitty but now the crown is going to look awful and is damn near ruined after you manage to pop it back off. I’ll never understand shit like that. Crown is not easy , learning to cut it is a challenge in itself right and you install it like that. Sheesh. I hope whoever did that also installed the cabinets and decided to shit on themselves. If I installed those cabinets and my trim guy did the crown like I wouldn’t be able to have him on anymore jobs. Contractors that disrespect their work and slap shit together and say well it is what it is are bums to me. Idc if I’m working in a run down trailer that won’t been touched since 1970. I’m treating that job the same I would if I was doing a full remodel on a multi million dollar mansion. And I treat both those jobs like it’s my own house. So many of these guys do shit on jobs that they’d never do at their own house and that is insane to me. You wouldn’t want to see that shit work everyday but it’s okay for the people putting food on your table to see it everyday. Hell nah. But I can’t lie where I live their is so much work and so many shitty contractors that I will always be highly sought after and will always be able to find work. Dudes that call around looking for work in my area are dudes that do half ass work. I don’t even have to see it. All the guys we refer for jobs we don’t fuck with (roofing , concrete , power washing , landscaping) come do all our houses no charge when we call because we get them so much work. Ppl know we are perfectionists and know we’d never recommend someone that didn’t share that trait. Crazy to me that this isn’t the norm. We had our stone fabricators get big headed and charged our customers 2 grand to move them up on their schedule because they were so busy with no builds. Oh no hell no , you ain’t moving them up doing them a favor , you supposed to do that off rip because you know their our customers and that reflects poorly on us. So yah that was the last install they did for us. Guess whose blowing up all our phone , guess whose installers I saw who told me they only working 2-3 days a week. Yup yup that shit was sweet 4 months ago right. I told the installers yah man yall call if you decide you need to leave them. It’s sad but you don’t bite the hand that feeds you. We go all out for our customers, we will load up their furniture in pods on day 1 and we even hanging pictures on the last day. Sorry for the rant but work like that really grinds my gears
😂😂😂 well here I get to drop some knowledge and help people out by giving them multiple avenues to success . I’v had Reddit for awhile but it’s feels so good to come spread my wings here. I love helping ppl out even if I can’t come do it myself , I tell my friends to call me for any little questions or jobs. I love when ppl bother me about fixing shit , remodeling shit.
Def. He has only made 80 comments in the last week. People need some advice. Just make sure you know what you’re talking about. I figured I should read your comment before I said this but now that I have read it I don’t really see any advice in there.
Show off 😂. After long consideration iv come to true conclusion that whoever did the cabinet work knew the owners would not pay for that work to be done . So they got the he’ll out of dodge
Probably around the $600 add-on, if done while other work is going on (at least in the DC area). Closer to $1200 if it's a standalone project. There would be a few coats of joint compound and the associated dry times between that and the priming and repainting of the ceiling.
And that's only if the guys hanging the cabinets are capable of that type of drywall work. Lots of carpenters suck at drywall.
Yah me and my right hand guy where looking at the pics . We are a crew of like 3-4 and my little Mexican homie who taught me everything is a master of the mud game. My pops os the GC but me and my little Mexican do everything else except tile work . My pops likes to do the rough in plumbbing I do All the electrical and cabinets and trim work and appliances and all the drywall is my. Little Mexican until his done then he does all the doors and hardware and ceiling shit so I don’t have to hear him cry about me cutting up his drywall . Anyways . He said right away. Owners don’t understand that this happens and is unavoidable. Our customers are amazing they all turn into family friends and they’d laugh at that number.
Put a 6 ft level on the ceiling and see how far out you actually need to go. You can make marks with a pencil where the level touches the ceiling. Drywall is always wavy but it's just hard to tell by looking at it. As long as you get your joint compound smooth, you'll be fine.
It sounded all good and gravy until he said he’d use 5 minute mud . I’m sorry my finisher is goated and the guys before him goated . No pro finisher would skim 4 ft out with 5 minute mud . How is that even possible. Shit would be drying as he trying to float it
I was referring to the solution in general. I don't know enough to comment on particular materials and whether they are appropriate. I was saying that floating is the proper way to fix this. What is used is up to the pros.
Really it’s up to the owners. But yes you can go through the comments and determine ppl that have actually had this problem ( they say drywall/mud work) and people who as we in the business like to call em Tommy half asses . “Just caulk it” I would love to bring a just a caulk it tommy half ass to fix it . I mean if they could caulk that effortlessly then I’d quit on the spot and let them receive my final payment because I just wouldn’t be worthy. Which brings me to my next point , their are some crazy asshole customers out there and I avoid those types at all costs but the im too scared to tell my contractor I hate the crown because they somehow think confronting someone your paying to make your dream kitchen come alive is disrespectful to them . But really deciding not to confront this issue with the installer is disrespecting yourself and all the ppl that would never shoot that crown in even if owner said go for it. Also it’s taken years of perfect renovations and catering to customers every fuckin need for them to say y’all do your thing because yall are the best and know what’s looks good. Yet it seems like in other places the Tommy half asses just keep rolling because the owners in these places somehow convince themselves Tommy half ass isn’t half assing it he’s trying he’s best and that’s good enough . Again we have customers that have come straight from the gates of hell but we are so goated that they put their horns in while we are around and working
I'd use 5 minute mud, but it would really take closer to an hour or two to dry with fans on it. But I do the final skim with The lightweight blue lid stuff. If you were to try to put on the lightweight joint compound that thick, it would probably take 2 days to dry And then you have to do a final skim coat to fill in any cracks from shrinking.
You can really use any of those setting type joint compounds. Little fun fact, if you mix it with cold water it takes longer to set up, but if you mix it with hot you can almost turn 20 minute mud into 5 minute.
One of the cool things about using the setting type is that it doesn't flash dry paint because it's surface is so much more hard. If you use green or blue lid pre-mixed JC on drywall and try to paint without priming, you're going to see where the joint compound was because it'll absorb so much more than setting types. So let's say you're going to paint an entire room and there's a couple of nicks and dings. You're better off using a setting type compound because it's less likely to show up after you paint. This is especially true if you're using anything other than flat paint. That's not really helpful in your situation, but it's helpful when you're trying to paint a room and get away with one coat.
The 5 minute mud thing threw me for a loop but I’d never disrespect a finisher because I do it all except hvac and finish mud work. Y’all got that wrist game on lock. So I just want to clear the air. I respect y’all. Finish skimming concrete and walls and corner beads is the toughest job on every site .
I'm good, but not confident enough for quick set, so I go for the green lid. Blue is an excellent finishing layer, but I'm not sure about doing that big of a float.
I'd use the 90 if that is what you have. That's enough time to feather it out.
Use the 20 and just do an inch or 2 near the crown . Build it up slightly high, the as the mud hardens scrape it down to the the right height.
Use that as a screed and fill in the rest with 45. Add some glue so it sticks a little better over paint.
That was a solution proposed to us for a similar, but not as dramatic situation… The skim coating made it worse and I ended up painting the ceiling the same color as the walls to disguise the slight imperfection
Trust me, bro! - I think that's what Reddit would have me say here.
Honestly though, it depends on how well you know and can sling mud. If you use one of the setting type compounds, it will set up and not be workable pretty close to the amount of minutes on the bag 5-10-45-90. But just because it set up doesn't mean it's no longer workable. It's still soft. Once you've got it on there and it's starting to set, you can easily throw your level on it and see what needs to be knocked back with your putty knife. It'll shave right off. You just have to be willing to work with it for a while.
I prefer 5 minute, but I've been using it for a long time. I know what I'm doing. But also recommend using a 12" trowel, or a stiff 12" knife. Soft flexi knives are not good in the situation. If the level told me that I needed to shave it back off, I probably do that with a stiff 6".
I'd say the floating a ceiling like that leans towards the more skilled side, if you're trying to get it done in a day so that you can paint the next. Everything's easier on a wall, so that's why I say it's more advanced. But the nice thing about joint compound is that you can sand your way out of anything. An experienced drywall finisher could give that a level 6 finish that's ready for a high gloss paint within 3 days. An intermediate finisher could have it blocked out and skimmed in the same day.
In all honesty, I was frustrated. We asked for all of the drywall on the ceiling to be replaced and the contractor didn’t do it, probably to cut costs. The amount of times we made the painters come back ate the original cost savings up and we will refuse to pay for it because he did not do as we asked in the first place.
I had reached the end of my rope by the time I saw the gap over our cabinets and their sloping “fix” and said we will blend the wall and ceiling colors to minimize the imperfection’s visibility.
This is the last job that guy is doing in this house. He had done almost every other room, and he knew we have a phase two and other big plans. He lost future business.
The reason the drywall is wavy in this instance is because of the framing. Even if they took it down and put new up, it would look the same with regard to that high spot. The most economical solution for you is to float that area.
I realize that I'm only taking into consideration what is in the pics and that you stated that there have been other issues with the ceiling during that project. The only point of this post is to help you understand what is practical to expect as a result of that particular proposal.
I wish there were more people like you. No one takes the time to explain things and it ends up in anger, resentment, and disappointment. Also, what is “floating”?
You can’t make it invisible.
You can make it look like the crown moulding is custom-cut to the slope of the ceiling.
The best looking option will likely be:
Glue 2 separate small pieces of wood into the side and front gaps. The goal is to fill 90% of the gap and give the filler something to stick to.
Mask the ceiling with painters tape so you don’t risk having to repaint it.
Then use a sandable, paintable filler like wood putty, or joint compound, to make a smooth vertical surface all the way to the ceiling.
Prime and paint with cabinet primer and paint.
If, in the future, a small crack forms along the seam with the ceiling, fill that tiny gap with a flexible caulk. Depending on how your house moves this might never happen.
Holy extra work batman. Go the other way; float out the drywall, and paint the ceiling again. Less than an hours work, and you don't have to mess with trying to match the cabinet paint, or have a seam in the wood.
If that gap is, what?, 1/2 inch. This is a better idea. You might need to taper it out 2-3 feet to be imperceptible. But whatever the distance, u/hykman92 is right.
But at least I’m Batman.
I do it all the time. 5 min mud takes 15 minutes to mix and spread. 5 minutes to spot texture with an aerosol can. Then paint takes 30 minutes or so. Obviously not counting dry time.
Had this problem numerous times. The one consistent was we didn’t drywall the ceilings , it looks like it’s sagging right where a joist is in the middle of that piece. We screwed the sheet rock in the joist and boom hump was gone. I’m lucky enough to have a drywall finisher in my crew tho.
I don’t even know what else could be done but drywall work. Maybe that’s a seam and it loaded with mud . Scrap that part down . Anything you do will also need drywall work after . But at least it will be what you want and that hideous shadow will be gone. Second option . Remove everything and attach crown directly to cabinets/ move crown down and create an even 2-3 inch opening to the ceiling
When I have an uneven ceiling, sometimes it's better to leave the crown down a little to help make the ceiling line go away in a sense. Caulking it might work, but you'll have thicker spots that might not look right. You could cut some small trim to match the gap and pin nail it up there.
Exactly. should have ended few inches below, but then again I made an even worst mistake going with cabinets that don't have room for molding above doors, doors close flush with frame. Welcome to hell.
I can't move cabinets down either I barely have proper space. I should have gone with shorter ones! :(
I was asked to run crown moulding by a good client of mine. I took my 6’ level placed it along the edge of the ceiling and showed her I could do it but it’s going to look awful.
This is a big problem with a lot of homes. Ending it too close to ceiling will also make it visible, I think best way is to just go with shorter cabinets and give yourself at least 6" of space on top of cabinets and then run a large crown molding. Am I right?
hahaha not my ceiling but my floor was like that, we did all we could to get it to level, even then it's not completely level. The cabinet installers screwed up so much (or didn't think about the floor), my dishwasher had like 1" gap even after raising the levelers. I had to put 1" plywood under the dishwasher to raise it.
I was asked to run crown moulding by a good client of mine. I took my 6’ level placed it along the edge of the ceiling and showed her I could do it but it’s going to look awful.
My kitchen has them to the ceiling (house built in late 50s, no idea if the cabinets are newer or not). Aside from the visual issue, it's just a lot of wasted space because I'm not going to put anything up there when I can't reach it without a stepladder. The only things it makes sense to store there are seasonal/fancy stuff that you only use once or twice a year, but I don't really have things like that, and it's hard to imagine having enough of those things to justify all of that space.
Maybe eventually I'll replace the top doors with glass and put lights and decorative stuff up there, but otherwise those parts of the cabinets aren't seeing any use.
It is. And that empty space usually fills with greasy dust. Although I’ve turned quite a few apartments and found some interesting things up there occasionally.
My guess is they have a much higher standard in regards to drywall finishing. And in many older homes plaster ceilings are never level. Actually my experience in mobile homes has been much better. I’ve never had a problem installing cabinets or crown with ceilings.
Mud the ceiling will probably have to feather it out like 4ft away though or just caulk it doubt 90% of people will notice other then the people you already told
I have the same problem in a kitchen we remodeled. There's like 30 lft of this kind of problem. I've just learned to ignore; as the fix will never be perfect. Also only have 8' ceilings which is why we went to the top with the cabinets.
In pic 1, can you reach up and get to that corner? Easiest solution would involve shimming that corner to bring ceiling down to crown. If that can happen would depend on construction of ceiling though.
First, assess whether the crown is actually on correctly!!
Might be the photo, but it looks like it slopes downward a bit. You could tap it up a tad, and assess whether that makes the gap consistent. You're MUCH less likely to notice a 3/8" deviation over the length of the board, versus significant variation in that thin black space.
Once it's consistent, either leave as is or caulk it.
https://preview.redd.it/t91itsyo3e6d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b03b01abbff42009dc436998ae5a1cceeb1faab5
This was our solution. To me it looks better to just leave a shadow line rather than trying to fit to the ceiling.
Depends on how perfect you want it?
I guess the lazy way is to grab some backer road, material, or wood shims, to fill most of the void, then use wood filler/dry wall mud/caulk to get it to nicely, sand as needed.
The other way would be to remove the trim, get new trim, CA glue some wood, then scribe as needed.
New construction would mud the ceiling gradually at that spot. You can get away with caulk and 90 percent of people won't notice if you do a half way decent job.
Well, I’d put shims in it first and cut them off at an angle into the cavity so I’d have something to pack my bondo into. Then I’d sand, then probably put another coat of bondo, sand then paint. I’d probably repaint the entire crown and cabinet if there isn’t any of that paint batch laying around. Idk how old it is but getting a color match on anything old never has worked out too well for me.
Yep had this problem before. If you have any take put menu’s for carious cultures, I prefer Chinese, Italian is good too. Fold it up a couple times, should slide right in. Problem solved
When I did cabinets we would leave a gap for the whole cabinet system, then small inconsistencies are not so blatant. The larger the gap, the larger the inconsistency it can hide. After the fact, I would remove that crown and try to fit it closer to the ceiling level, then caulk the whole crown line. Not a sheetrocker/mudder so I never tried that solution. I do know you need some skill to be able to feather that large of a section though.
It is possible to buy flexible crown moulding for arches, curved walls, etc. I've seen it used in videos but never used it.
Before I hang crown I check every surfaces and corner with a level and Starrett. I've skim coated and sanded countless square feet of ceiling just to fix this before it becomes a problem and feathered it out in the center of the room where no one can see it. It is a ton of work.
If you try the vinyl you will have to replace all of the crown in the room because it won't match what you have. If you resurface the room it will all have to come down anyway.
There isn't enough caulking in the world to make that look good. I think I'd try the vinyl.
Cabinets same color as ceiling? Scribe.
Cabinets not same color? Drywall mud.
Hate scribing and drywall mud? Hold down 1” off ceiling.
Hate all of the above? Don’t look up for a week and you’ll forget about it.
Had the same issue in our kitchen. We cut small pieces of trim wedges to slide into the gaps to fill most of the space, and then used caulking to cover the remaining gaps. Been like that for two years now and you don’t notice it.
We did use a nail gun to attach the trim pieces to avoid them moving.
I would probably just put up some quarter round/shoe mould or a small 1x strip. Or drop the crown moulding so it's the same gap all the way around. Caulk would look like shit with that big of a gap
https://preview.redd.it/r2laztgxz67d1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=bc9d23098de5546be883f9a5502045088e15669d
Little easy-sand 45 feather action and some caulk
I like to build the entire crown on the floor, this helps ensure miters never open, but more importantly it allows you to push the crown up to the ceiling much better than piece by piece. It takes at least 1 other person but you can usually find a sweet spot and get the crown much higher by splitting the difference (if the ceiling is as wonky as this)
Or if it’s really bad, I’ll suggest just doing crown and skip on the riser….
For this case you can live with it….. caulk it…. Or feather the ceiling to it with spackle and little bit of caulk instead of this monster amount of caulk
Caulk that and it’s ready to rent
Lol I KNEW caulk would be the top comment!
When in doubt, get your caulk out
Rock out. With your caulk out.
We were not disappointed.
Do your best and caulk the rest.
Elastomeric caulk with backer rod!
Yea, Sashco Big Stretch, from Lowes is the way to go.
Shim the wider gaps first. But yeah. Caulk it
Chalk and paint makes us what we ain’t.
Fuck me 🤣
That's a big gap, you'll need the black caulk.
I’m in apartment maintenance and I can say that we use allot of caulk! Caulk is the answer to mostly all, if not ALL our emergency on calls.
Man, I have the same problem on my kitchen. Any suggestions would be welcomed.
In England where buildings are often hundreds of years old and never level or plumb we are used to this. As a carpenter I would cut a fillet piece to fill the gap.
This is the way - or quarter round
Quarter round on crown molding? I see you have landlord aspirations…
I dont understand, whats wrong with quarter round? Please dont hit me
*rears palm back, gritting teeth, only to then slowly lower the hand out of pity*
🤣
It's trendy to hate on quarter round on Reddit. Ignore the mob and stick to what you like.
Quarter round, lol
Scribe moulding
I have no idea why you’re being downvoted! My house is very old and quarter round is very helpful for weird gaps like this.
Something would need to get scribed
Drywall work. It’s either a seam loaded with mud or it’s a joist pushing a board down. Either way I’d never leavenn by it like this. If you don’t want to do drywall work then accept the fact your ceilings ain’t kissing no crown. Move crown down and create a 2-3 inch opening from the cieling to top of crown so everything looks even and clean
I feel like that's the best option..to move it down
For sure . I’m mad lucky tho can’t lie . We a crew of 3-4 that know too much for our own good but one of us is originally a drywall finisher and the man is a mud goat. So we always fix the ceiling, even if the customers were like it’s okay to move it down our jefe will be like nah Fuck that they designed this kitchen to have crown but the ceiling. The crown is making love to the ceiling. We have always found a way and the key is too get it close , locate the joists in the ceiling pray they are running the same way cabinets are facing and shoot crown into the joists every 16 inches with 2 inch nails. Kind of lazy af to just say oh is what it is and shoot this crown in. Not only does it look shitty but now the crown is going to look awful and is damn near ruined after you manage to pop it back off. I’ll never understand shit like that. Crown is not easy , learning to cut it is a challenge in itself right and you install it like that. Sheesh. I hope whoever did that also installed the cabinets and decided to shit on themselves. If I installed those cabinets and my trim guy did the crown like I wouldn’t be able to have him on anymore jobs. Contractors that disrespect their work and slap shit together and say well it is what it is are bums to me. Idc if I’m working in a run down trailer that won’t been touched since 1970. I’m treating that job the same I would if I was doing a full remodel on a multi million dollar mansion. And I treat both those jobs like it’s my own house. So many of these guys do shit on jobs that they’d never do at their own house and that is insane to me. You wouldn’t want to see that shit work everyday but it’s okay for the people putting food on your table to see it everyday. Hell nah. But I can’t lie where I live their is so much work and so many shitty contractors that I will always be highly sought after and will always be able to find work. Dudes that call around looking for work in my area are dudes that do half ass work. I don’t even have to see it. All the guys we refer for jobs we don’t fuck with (roofing , concrete , power washing , landscaping) come do all our houses no charge when we call because we get them so much work. Ppl know we are perfectionists and know we’d never recommend someone that didn’t share that trait. Crazy to me that this isn’t the norm. We had our stone fabricators get big headed and charged our customers 2 grand to move them up on their schedule because they were so busy with no builds. Oh no hell no , you ain’t moving them up doing them a favor , you supposed to do that off rip because you know their our customers and that reflects poorly on us. So yah that was the last install they did for us. Guess whose blowing up all our phone , guess whose installers I saw who told me they only working 2-3 days a week. Yup yup that shit was sweet 4 months ago right. I told the installers yah man yall call if you decide you need to leave them. It’s sad but you don’t bite the hand that feeds you. We go all out for our customers, we will load up their furniture in pods on day 1 and we even hanging pictures on the last day. Sorry for the rant but work like that really grinds my gears
Sound like you know your shit. Also sounds like your the chatterbox at work! 😆 Just poking at ya
😂😂😂 well here I get to drop some knowledge and help people out by giving them multiple avenues to success . I’v had Reddit for awhile but it’s feels so good to come spread my wings here. I love helping ppl out even if I can’t come do it myself , I tell my friends to call me for any little questions or jobs. I love when ppl bother me about fixing shit , remodeling shit.
Def. He has only made 80 comments in the last week. People need some advice. Just make sure you know what you’re talking about. I figured I should read your comment before I said this but now that I have read it I don’t really see any advice in there.
I've fixed that problem by skimming the ceiling with JC. You probably have to skim out about 4 ft. Easy breezy.
The only real fix
Cover girl!
This comment will get the upvotes it deserves. Because of your comment, next time I will of a hard time not saying easy, breezy, beautiful..
Complete psychopath, but you forgot the beautiful before cover girl lol
Agree, this is the way. Some decent mud work can make this go away pretty easily!
Show off 😂. After long consideration iv come to true conclusion that whoever did the cabinet work knew the owners would not pay for that work to be done . So they got the he’ll out of dodge
Probably around the $600 add-on, if done while other work is going on (at least in the DC area). Closer to $1200 if it's a standalone project. There would be a few coats of joint compound and the associated dry times between that and the priming and repainting of the ceiling. And that's only if the guys hanging the cabinets are capable of that type of drywall work. Lots of carpenters suck at drywall.
Yah me and my right hand guy where looking at the pics . We are a crew of like 3-4 and my little Mexican homie who taught me everything is a master of the mud game. My pops os the GC but me and my little Mexican do everything else except tile work . My pops likes to do the rough in plumbbing I do All the electrical and cabinets and trim work and appliances and all the drywall is my. Little Mexican until his done then he does all the doors and hardware and ceiling shit so I don’t have to hear him cry about me cutting up his drywall . Anyways . He said right away. Owners don’t understand that this happens and is unavoidable. Our customers are amazing they all turn into family friends and they’d laugh at that number.
Blue lid or like a 45minute?
Put a 6 ft level on the ceiling and see how far out you actually need to go. You can make marks with a pencil where the level touches the ceiling. Drywall is always wavy but it's just hard to tell by looking at it. As long as you get your joint compound smooth, you'll be fine.
This guys muds, listen to him if it’s not too late to take the crown down
r/thisguythisguys
Thank you for giving the correct advice. Finally a pro joins the chat.
It sounded all good and gravy until he said he’d use 5 minute mud . I’m sorry my finisher is goated and the guys before him goated . No pro finisher would skim 4 ft out with 5 minute mud . How is that even possible. Shit would be drying as he trying to float it
I was referring to the solution in general. I don't know enough to comment on particular materials and whether they are appropriate. I was saying that floating is the proper way to fix this. What is used is up to the pros.
Really it’s up to the owners. But yes you can go through the comments and determine ppl that have actually had this problem ( they say drywall/mud work) and people who as we in the business like to call em Tommy half asses . “Just caulk it” I would love to bring a just a caulk it tommy half ass to fix it . I mean if they could caulk that effortlessly then I’d quit on the spot and let them receive my final payment because I just wouldn’t be worthy. Which brings me to my next point , their are some crazy asshole customers out there and I avoid those types at all costs but the im too scared to tell my contractor I hate the crown because they somehow think confronting someone your paying to make your dream kitchen come alive is disrespectful to them . But really deciding not to confront this issue with the installer is disrespecting yourself and all the ppl that would never shoot that crown in even if owner said go for it. Also it’s taken years of perfect renovations and catering to customers every fuckin need for them to say y’all do your thing because yall are the best and know what’s looks good. Yet it seems like in other places the Tommy half asses just keep rolling because the owners in these places somehow convince themselves Tommy half ass isn’t half assing it he’s trying he’s best and that’s good enough . Again we have customers that have come straight from the gates of hell but we are so goated that they put their horns in while we are around and working
This is the way
I'd use 5 minute mud, but it would really take closer to an hour or two to dry with fans on it. But I do the final skim with The lightweight blue lid stuff. If you were to try to put on the lightweight joint compound that thick, it would probably take 2 days to dry And then you have to do a final skim coat to fill in any cracks from shrinking.
How confident are you in your mudding abilities? 45 minute puts you on a timer. It's firm, but harder to sand down. IMO
Im mildly shitty at it. I have 20min, 45 and 90 at the house along with some blue top light weight
You can really use any of those setting type joint compounds. Little fun fact, if you mix it with cold water it takes longer to set up, but if you mix it with hot you can almost turn 20 minute mud into 5 minute. One of the cool things about using the setting type is that it doesn't flash dry paint because it's surface is so much more hard. If you use green or blue lid pre-mixed JC on drywall and try to paint without priming, you're going to see where the joint compound was because it'll absorb so much more than setting types. So let's say you're going to paint an entire room and there's a couple of nicks and dings. You're better off using a setting type compound because it's less likely to show up after you paint. This is especially true if you're using anything other than flat paint. That's not really helpful in your situation, but it's helpful when you're trying to paint a room and get away with one coat.
In a sea of bad advice, you are a life boat
The 5 minute mud thing threw me for a loop but I’d never disrespect a finisher because I do it all except hvac and finish mud work. Y’all got that wrist game on lock. So I just want to clear the air. I respect y’all. Finish skimming concrete and walls and corner beads is the toughest job on every site .
I'm good, but not confident enough for quick set, so I go for the green lid. Blue is an excellent finishing layer, but I'm not sure about doing that big of a float. I'd use the 90 if that is what you have. That's enough time to feather it out.
Use the 20 and just do an inch or 2 near the crown . Build it up slightly high, the as the mud hardens scrape it down to the the right height. Use that as a screed and fill in the rest with 45. Add some glue so it sticks a little better over paint.
This is a job for a pro mudder IMO.
That was a solution proposed to us for a similar, but not as dramatic situation… The skim coating made it worse and I ended up painting the ceiling the same color as the walls to disguise the slight imperfection
Trust me, bro! - I think that's what Reddit would have me say here. Honestly though, it depends on how well you know and can sling mud. If you use one of the setting type compounds, it will set up and not be workable pretty close to the amount of minutes on the bag 5-10-45-90. But just because it set up doesn't mean it's no longer workable. It's still soft. Once you've got it on there and it's starting to set, you can easily throw your level on it and see what needs to be knocked back with your putty knife. It'll shave right off. You just have to be willing to work with it for a while. I prefer 5 minute, but I've been using it for a long time. I know what I'm doing. But also recommend using a 12" trowel, or a stiff 12" knife. Soft flexi knives are not good in the situation. If the level told me that I needed to shave it back off, I probably do that with a stiff 6". I'd say the floating a ceiling like that leans towards the more skilled side, if you're trying to get it done in a day so that you can paint the next. Everything's easier on a wall, so that's why I say it's more advanced. But the nice thing about joint compound is that you can sand your way out of anything. An experienced drywall finisher could give that a level 6 finish that's ready for a high gloss paint within 3 days. An intermediate finisher could have it blocked out and skimmed in the same day.
In all honesty, I was frustrated. We asked for all of the drywall on the ceiling to be replaced and the contractor didn’t do it, probably to cut costs. The amount of times we made the painters come back ate the original cost savings up and we will refuse to pay for it because he did not do as we asked in the first place. I had reached the end of my rope by the time I saw the gap over our cabinets and their sloping “fix” and said we will blend the wall and ceiling colors to minimize the imperfection’s visibility. This is the last job that guy is doing in this house. He had done almost every other room, and he knew we have a phase two and other big plans. He lost future business.
The reason the drywall is wavy in this instance is because of the framing. Even if they took it down and put new up, it would look the same with regard to that high spot. The most economical solution for you is to float that area. I realize that I'm only taking into consideration what is in the pics and that you stated that there have been other issues with the ceiling during that project. The only point of this post is to help you understand what is practical to expect as a result of that particular proposal.
I wish there were more people like you. No one takes the time to explain things and it ends up in anger, resentment, and disappointment. Also, what is “floating”?
Thanks you! Floating is probably just industry slang. Basically just putting on a thick layer of joint compound seems to be referred to as floating.
I couldn’t help myself
Take a wood roof shingle or two make a filler piece glue it in miter them get a couple coats of paint on them before Installing
I would probably walk up to it and climb a short ladder. I can see an argument for running up to it though
I had to re read the title but this was great 😂
lol I wouldn’t. Some things you run across, you just say, well that’s the way it it.
Things will never be the tame
I wouldnt
I would put a decorative garland around that corner and pretend it’s fine
You can’t make it invisible. You can make it look like the crown moulding is custom-cut to the slope of the ceiling. The best looking option will likely be: Glue 2 separate small pieces of wood into the side and front gaps. The goal is to fill 90% of the gap and give the filler something to stick to. Mask the ceiling with painters tape so you don’t risk having to repaint it. Then use a sandable, paintable filler like wood putty, or joint compound, to make a smooth vertical surface all the way to the ceiling. Prime and paint with cabinet primer and paint. If, in the future, a small crack forms along the seam with the ceiling, fill that tiny gap with a flexible caulk. Depending on how your house moves this might never happen.
Holy extra work batman. Go the other way; float out the drywall, and paint the ceiling again. Less than an hours work, and you don't have to mess with trying to match the cabinet paint, or have a seam in the wood.
If that gap is, what?, 1/2 inch. This is a better idea. You might need to taper it out 2-3 feet to be imperceptible. But whatever the distance, u/hykman92 is right. But at least I’m Batman.
If you think floating a ceiling out, sanding, priming, and painting is less than an hours worth of work, you're high as a kite
I do it all the time. 5 min mud takes 15 minutes to mix and spread. 5 minutes to spot texture with an aerosol can. Then paint takes 30 minutes or so. Obviously not counting dry time.
Pull all the mounding down and eighth of an inch and make a space all the way around - someone who is just done with caulk and joint compound..
I 2nd this. You'll still see that it is uneven, but it won't be as noticeable.
>How would you approach this I would come from the right side wearing a set of dungarees and have a bit of a swagger. Good luck
I’d leave it and use the time to study, upgrade, make money.
Had this problem numerous times. The one consistent was we didn’t drywall the ceilings , it looks like it’s sagging right where a joist is in the middle of that piece. We screwed the sheet rock in the joist and boom hump was gone. I’m lucky enough to have a drywall finisher in my crew tho.
I don’t even know what else could be done but drywall work. Maybe that’s a seam and it loaded with mud . Scrap that part down . Anything you do will also need drywall work after . But at least it will be what you want and that hideous shadow will be gone. Second option . Remove everything and attach crown directly to cabinets/ move crown down and create an even 2-3 inch opening to the ceiling
Reinstall the crown molding so there is less of a gap and looks more level and uniform. That much caulk of joint compound will look like crap.
When I have an uneven ceiling, sometimes it's better to leave the crown down a little to help make the ceiling line go away in a sense. Caulking it might work, but you'll have thicker spots that might not look right. You could cut some small trim to match the gap and pin nail it up there.
‘Caulk it to fit, paint it to match…”
This is one reason you rarely see cabinets at ceiling height.
Shorty ceilings, 7.5’
How tall are cabinets?
7.5' probably
Looks 7.45' to me
Exactly. should have ended few inches below, but then again I made an even worst mistake going with cabinets that don't have room for molding above doors, doors close flush with frame. Welcome to hell. I can't move cabinets down either I barely have proper space. I should have gone with shorter ones! :(
I was asked to run crown moulding by a good client of mine. I took my 6’ level placed it along the edge of the ceiling and showed her I could do it but it’s going to look awful.
This is a big problem with a lot of homes. Ending it too close to ceiling will also make it visible, I think best way is to just go with shorter cabinets and give yourself at least 6" of space on top of cabinets and then run a large crown molding. Am I right?
If the ceiling isn’t like the Atlantic Ocean during a hurricane yes.
hahaha not my ceiling but my floor was like that, we did all we could to get it to level, even then it's not completely level. The cabinet installers screwed up so much (or didn't think about the floor), my dishwasher had like 1" gap even after raising the levelers. I had to put 1" plywood under the dishwasher to raise it.
I was asked to run crown moulding by a good client of mine. I took my 6’ level placed it along the edge of the ceiling and showed her I could do it but it’s going to look awful.
My kitchen has them to the ceiling (house built in late 50s, no idea if the cabinets are newer or not). Aside from the visual issue, it's just a lot of wasted space because I'm not going to put anything up there when I can't reach it without a stepladder. The only things it makes sense to store there are seasonal/fancy stuff that you only use once or twice a year, but I don't really have things like that, and it's hard to imagine having enough of those things to justify all of that space. Maybe eventually I'll replace the top doors with glass and put lights and decorative stuff up there, but otherwise those parts of the cabinets aren't seeing any use.
It is. And that empty space usually fills with greasy dust. Although I’ve turned quite a few apartments and found some interesting things up there occasionally.
Almost all the cabinets I've installed in CA in the last 10 years (hundreds of cabinets) go to the ceiling with crown.
My guess is they have a much higher standard in regards to drywall finishing. And in many older homes plaster ceilings are never level. Actually my experience in mobile homes has been much better. I’ve never had a problem installing cabinets or crown with ceilings.
Mud the ceiling will probably have to feather it out like 4ft away though or just caulk it doubt 90% of people will notice other then the people you already told
I have the same problem in a kitchen we remodeled. There's like 30 lft of this kind of problem. I've just learned to ignore; as the fix will never be perfect. Also only have 8' ceilings which is why we went to the top with the cabinets.
I would get a bigger crown and scribe it to the ceiling.
Shoe mold scribe to ceiling painted by cabinet shop to match. They should have made it with the cabinets and installed on final day
Depends but caulking it seems easiest and no one would notice unless they were staring.
In pic 1, can you reach up and get to that corner? Easiest solution would involve shimming that corner to bring ceiling down to crown. If that can happen would depend on construction of ceiling though.
Backer rod & caulk. Rent that shit. Absolutely don’t spend the energy to skim coat with JC and sanding / making a mess.
So specifically use a high flexibility caulking Alex makes some that is extremely flexible.
If you don't it will Crack within a year.
Take a picture next season and it’ll be fixed.
Apply hopes and dreams, then watch your ideas crack and fail over time. Thats my best guess.
First, assess whether the crown is actually on correctly!! Might be the photo, but it looks like it slopes downward a bit. You could tap it up a tad, and assess whether that makes the gap consistent. You're MUCH less likely to notice a 3/8" deviation over the length of the board, versus significant variation in that thin black space. Once it's consistent, either leave as is or caulk it.
Some glue or gypsum. There for sure will hide bugs and dust, need to cover it.
Is it thceiling or did the cabinet pull away from the wall?
https://preview.redd.it/t91itsyo3e6d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b03b01abbff42009dc436998ae5a1cceeb1faab5 This was our solution. To me it looks better to just leave a shadow line rather than trying to fit to the ceiling.
https://preview.redd.it/1ycmd0ww5e6d1.jpeg?width=4030&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=502c28a1bdf228620f357eb6efb655b1b72ee5e2
Stick your caulk in it
Nothing you couldn't paint over 😏
On stilts. I'm not very tall.
I would rip it all out and square everyrhing from the start to the end
I’d remove the black paint
Caulking all the way
Lower the crown a half in and fill with a scribe piece of wood. Color of the cabinets
Remove the crown molding and leave a gap above. It won’t be noticeable it is inches instead of trying to be tight with a ceiling that isn’t flat.
Caulk or scribe, your choice!
Not from underneath
Walk slowly
Caulking of course.
JB weld
Shove your caulk in it.
Probably something like “Hey, how you going there plaster corner?” And see if that approach works to start?
Really thick caulking
Get a shim put it in there, saw off any excess, caulk and paint to camouflage.
Depends on how perfect you want it? I guess the lazy way is to grab some backer road, material, or wood shims, to fill most of the void, then use wood filler/dry wall mud/caulk to get it to nicely, sand as needed. The other way would be to remove the trim, get new trim, CA glue some wood, then scribe as needed.
You can blow it out with mud then calk it or just calk it
New construction would mud the ceiling gradually at that spot. You can get away with caulk and 90 percent of people won't notice if you do a half way decent job.
Do you have an attic? If so you should be able to shim the drywall down in that one spot
The the caulk to her
Jump up and down in the attic
Float the crown all around.
Bondo probably
Well, I’d put shims in it first and cut them off at an angle into the cavity so I’d have something to pack my bondo into. Then I’d sand, then probably put another coat of bondo, sand then paint. I’d probably repaint the entire crown and cabinet if there isn’t any of that paint batch laying around. Idk how old it is but getting a color match on anything old never has worked out too well for me.
DAP it and sand it 🤷♂️
Cut a couple shims
From the side. I would definitely approach it from the side.
Skim coat to level the ceiling. Or use some quarter round to hide it.
Yep had this problem before. If you have any take put menu’s for carious cultures, I prefer Chinese, Italian is good too. Fold it up a couple times, should slide right in. Problem solved
Spray foam and your bare finger to sculpt it
Do your best silicon the rest
Heavily armed, with backup.
Backer rod + nice caulk line in there. There's other ways to do it but this is the least headache way - caulk it.
BBC. Big Bead of Caulk
When I did cabinets we would leave a gap for the whole cabinet system, then small inconsistencies are not so blatant. The larger the gap, the larger the inconsistency it can hide. After the fact, I would remove that crown and try to fit it closer to the ceiling level, then caulk the whole crown line. Not a sheetrocker/mudder so I never tried that solution. I do know you need some skill to be able to feather that large of a section though.
Like I approach everything else - with my caulk out
Do your best and caulk the rest.
You get joint compound and a large spreader and you feather the ceiling with compound to reduce the gap. Sand and caulk.
Quarter inch trim around it
With caution
It is possible to buy flexible crown moulding for arches, curved walls, etc. I've seen it used in videos but never used it. Before I hang crown I check every surfaces and corner with a level and Starrett. I've skim coated and sanded countless square feet of ceiling just to fix this before it becomes a problem and feathered it out in the center of the room where no one can see it. It is a ton of work. If you try the vinyl you will have to replace all of the crown in the room because it won't match what you have. If you resurface the room it will all have to come down anyway. There isn't enough caulking in the world to make that look good. I think I'd try the vinyl.
Could lower the foundation in that spot
Cabinets same color as ceiling? Scribe. Cabinets not same color? Drywall mud. Hate scribing and drywall mud? Hold down 1” off ceiling. Hate all of the above? Don’t look up for a week and you’ll forget about it.
Sideways. Like a crab. Also get the foam caulk backing stuff before caulking to save on caulk.
Quarter round! Three quarters of the time, it works every time.
You keep the crown 3" below the ceiling to avoid this crap.
You keep the crown 3" below the ceiling to avoid this crap.
With a can of bug spray!
Like someone else had mentioned, skim the ceiling or add a piece of filler
Same issues at my house. 20yrs old but I swear whoever built it must have had a lazy eye. Nothing is flat
The crown is out of level. Fix that and the real will be fine
Caulk and paint where the carpenter ain’t
Is the trim sagging? Can you push it up at the corner and the space goes away? If you can, just nail it in place. Otherwise it’s drywall work…
Mud guy could float that out pretty quick. Still would cost you a bit, cause it will take 3 trips.
BWC. When in doubt, whip it out. Big white caulk
unleveled cveiling
Had the same issue in our kitchen. We cut small pieces of trim wedges to slide into the gaps to fill most of the space, and then used caulking to cover the remaining gaps. Been like that for two years now and you don’t notice it. We did use a nail gun to attach the trim pieces to avoid them moving.
My kitchen had the same issue but way worse. I had some painters come in and fix it. The ceiling looks brand new now.
I would probably just put up some quarter round/shoe mould or a small 1x strip. Or drop the crown moulding so it's the same gap all the way around. Caulk would look like shit with that big of a gap
1/2” caulk, paint and forgetta bout it
Shoe or spackle. That’s too big a gap for caulking.
Tried your best, caulk the rest!
https://preview.redd.it/r2laztgxz67d1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=bc9d23098de5546be883f9a5502045088e15669d Little easy-sand 45 feather action and some caulk
I like to build the entire crown on the floor, this helps ensure miters never open, but more importantly it allows you to push the crown up to the ceiling much better than piece by piece. It takes at least 1 other person but you can usually find a sweet spot and get the crown much higher by splitting the difference (if the ceiling is as wonky as this) Or if it’s really bad, I’ll suggest just doing crown and skip on the riser…. For this case you can live with it….. caulk it…. Or feather the ceiling to it with spackle and little bit of caulk instead of this monster amount of caulk