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Chair Rail Molding And Stairs
I have just returned from my 4th trip to
Home Depot (25 minutes each way). We are trying to put a chair rail up the
stairway. We chose the typical "chair rail" that has a larger
rounded edge on top with a smaller round edge on the bottom. We have a 5
foot straight piece that needs to be tied into the angle going up the
stairs. We have tried every imaginable way to connect the two pieces
smoothly and are about to give up. Home Depot tells me that a 38 degree
angle should work. We just don't see where this larger rounded edge is
going to tie in smoothly to the straight edge. Any help you can offer
would be greatly appreciated!!! Thank you...........The Grogans
You
will need to figure out the angle between the stair "nose
line" and the floor. If that angle is 38 degrees (which sounds
about right) then the angle for cutting the ends of those stair rails
will be HALF of 38 degrees, or 19 degrees.
But consider this:
What I have done when trying to make a decent-looking connection between
different moldings, or where the angles are impossible to determine, is
to use something completely different.
That is, I use a plain block of wood for the corner, and cut it so the
adjacent pieces of millwork only need a plain square cut. This simple
block of wood should be something of high quality (like clear pine) and
bigger than the sections of trim that butt into it. You can sand the
edges so they are rounded slightly, or carefully bevel them with a file
or use a router.
But this might look boring, so you can dress up that plain block with a
rosette, or make a small frame from really small trim, or stencil
something floral on it, or cut out some flowers from scraps of wallpaper
and paste them on, or you can get some metal letters (the kind for the
outside of your house) and put your initials on the blocks... I could go
on and on...
There are entire systems of interior trim that use these
"transition blocks", and all the millwork is just cut square.
In your case the transition block will be a trapezoid, a four-sided
object that is not a rectangle.
Bruce W. Maki, Editor.
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