Installing Floor Molding or Learning how to cope
- on 12.27.08
- Home Improvement
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There are very few truths in the world that can more readily be applied to every thing we do more than those expressed by the old English idiom, “God is in the details”. For those of us that believe in the glass is half empty rather than half full, then the idiom is “The devil is in the details.
As a home owner and a woodworker, I tend to have a very critical eye towards any home improvement or woodworking project whether in my home or some one else’s home. Now I can forgive the home owner who either thru lack of experience, budget or tools doesn’t complete every project perfectly. However, there is no way that I can ever over look a poorly done job done by a so called professional.
During a visit to a friend’s home, they very proudly showed off some work that had recently been completed for them by a professional carpenter. The entire job consisted of installing floor molding in a bath and linen closet, after our friends had redecorated the rooms. While our friends were very happy with the workmanship, I was appalled. The inside corners of the molding were already opening up. I suspect that the reason for this was that the carpenter had mitered the corners instead of coping them.
Not every home owner may know how to properly cope a mitered corner, but professionals should. So in case the guy who installed our friends molding is reading this, or if you are a home owner looking to improve their home improvement skills, here is the correct way to install floor molding.
In every room in your home, there are basically two types of corners, inside corners and outside corners. An inside corner is where the two opposing walls turn into each other, normally at a 90 degree angle, while outside corners, the walls turn away from each other. We are only concerned with the inside corners here. You will note that I used the term normally to talk about the angle of the opposing walls. The fact is that there are very few perfect corners in any home. Every corner will be either greater or less than the desired 90 degree angle.
Couple this with the fact that wood will normally expand and contract with temperature changes. Molding is no exception to this concept, molding normally will move along the length of the molding. So a miter cut into an inside corner will often open and close as the temperature and humidity change in the room, making the miter a poor choice for the inside corners molding.
Coping molding is easier than coping with a lot of the other things we have to deal with every day. Cutting the first piece of molding is really easy; all that is required is that the end be cut at a normal 90 degree angle.
The second piece is coped or let into this piece. Lets assume that you are going to cope a piece of molding that meets the straight cut piece from the left.
Take this piece of molding to your miter saw, I choose to use my Compound Miter Sawcompound miter saw, but any miter saw will do. Since we are installing this piece from the left, turn you miter blade to the left 45 degree stop. Install you molding so that the back of it is against the back of the saw, and cut off the right end of the molding.

So here is where the coping skills come into play. If you were to take a pencil and highlight the line that forms the left edge of the cut you just made, the area to the right of that line is the profile of the molding. With a saw correctly named a coping saw,,we are going to cut out this area to the right of your line. With all of the material removed, the two pieces will meet correctly. I have found that I often have to tweak or sweeten up the coped end with either sand paper or file.
Continue to use the same concept all the way around the room. There is no set rule as to which piece gets the straight cut and which is coped.
I prefer to always cope the piece to the left, but that is just personal preferences. If you choose to cope the right hand board, just turn your saw to the right 45 degree stop, instead of the left stop. If you are more of a purest, then you may prefer to use a Manual Miter saw instead of the compound Miter saw, either way the concept is the same.





