Molding & Trim

Moulding, interior trim, columns, and similar woodwork are terrific for adding character and style to a home’s interior rooms. Crown moulding, chair rail, fireplace surrounds—these are the types of elements that give a

home distinctive architectural style and character. And yet they are lacking in many of the houses that were built in the last 50 years. If this is the case with your home, maybe it’s time to add elements yourself.The one caveat here is that it’s important to be true to the style of your home.

Many different types, styles, and materials of moldings and trim are available—and most are relatively easy for do-it-yourselfers to install. This section of HomeTips will help you make informed buying decisions, and give you step-by-step instructions and helpful advice about installing mouldings and similar trim, as well as handling various types of care and repair projects.

At their simplest, mouldings are a means of applying light and dark shaded stripes to a structural objects without having to change the material or apply pigments. The contrast of dark and light areas gives definition to the object.

Imagine the vertical surface of a wall lit by sunlight at an angle of about 45 degrees above the wall. Adding a small overhanging horizontal moulding to the surface of the wall will introduce a dark horizontal shadow below the moulding, which in consequence is called a fillet moulding. Adding a vertical fillet to a horizontal surface will create a light vertical shadow. Graded shadows are possible by using mouldings in different shapes: the concave cavetto moulding produces a horizontal shadow that is darker at the top and lighter at the bottom; an ovolo (convex) moulding makes a shadow that is lighter at the top and darker at the bottom. Other varieties of concave moulding are the scotia and congé and other convex mouldings the echinus, the torus and the astragal.

 
Placing an ovolo directly above a cavetto forms a smooth 's' shaped curve with vertical ends that is called an ogee or cyma reversa moulding. Its shadow appears as a band light at the top and bottom but dark in the interior. Similarly, a cavetto above an ovolo forms an 's' with horizontal ends, called a cyma or cyma recta. Its shadow shows two dark bands with a light interior.

Together the basic elements and their variants form a decorative vocabulary that can be assembled and rearranged in endless combinations. This vocabulary is at the core of both Classical architecture and Gothic architecture.

Decorative mouldings have been made of wood, stone and cement. Recently mouldings made of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) as a core with a cement-based protective coating have become popular.