Carpentry and Woodworking - Crown Molding Contractor

Hello,

I'm having a contractor install crown molding in my home and there have been a few issues. First, everything I've read on the internet recommends having crown installed into the studs and joists, but he's hasn't been nailing into the studs at all. I'm using an ultralight MDF material (not sure if this makes a difference). Secondly, he's having trouble with the fact that the walls aren't square/plum. It took five hours to finish 1 and 1/2 rooms and then he stopped and said he need to comeback with a tool that will allow him to cut beyond a 45 degree angle with his miter. Thirdly, he feels the 16' pieces of crown are too long and creating issues with the install. He wants to cut them into 5' foot sections and hide all the joints. Lastly, he's making a huge mess. My walls were just repainted and now they'll need to be touched up because of all the scratches from the crown and messy caulk work. I'm tempted to stop the project and to have someone else come in and finish. Any suggestions/help would be much appreciated.

It is usually easy to nail into studs, but not always easy into joists, depending on how the roof runs. there are ways to securely nail without hitting wood.

I have never seen a square or straight wall in 24 yrs in business.

I could say the guy has no idea what he is doing, but talk to him. I was in his place many years ago.

And sometimes "nail drivers" try to step from framing into finish work, and it is deeper water than they thought. With tough times I find many other carpentry phase workers are trying their hand in stuff they have no idea as to what is happening. Finish work requires an eye for detail. Framing can be slammed back into position with a 24 ounce hammer.
Be gentle, but find out if he has ever done this type work before, and also does he have a helper? Gotta have one with long crown. And like Bill says, there hasn't been a square room built to my knowledge (except the ones I build) :)

Depending on the size of the crown, he could be nailing into the top plate of the wall on the bottom of the crown. As for the ceiling joists, it depends on the direction of the joists. When I nail crown to a ceiling where the joists are parallel to the crown and have no solid framing, I will angle two nails into the sheetrock close to each other in opposite directions to get a better hold. Anyone who wants to cut a 16 foot piece of crown into 5 foot sections to make it easier to install really has no clue....time to cut your losses it seems to me....sorry

well...I had the contractor finish the job yesterday. He kept the sections long, and with a different miter was able to get all the angles right. He also used some shims to get all the angles right. He used 2inch nails and the crown was about 4 5/8 inches total size. I'm not sure if that allowed him to get into the top plate. He had to pull one section out and the nails did seem to hold pretty securely just into the sheet rock. I guess I can go back and nail to studs if there are problems in the future.

Thanks for the feedback, and for giving the guy another chance. If you are not satisfied, call him back. We try to do things right, but if you don't tell us there is a problem, we never know. Then you tell everyone that the guy has no idea what he is doing, etc., etc. When a phone call could have fixed it all.