Moulding Uses

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C. Moulding and Millwork

Technical Bulletin C-3
Profile Mouldings – Definitions and Uses

Crown Profiles

Crown and Bed Mould
Used where walls and ceiling meet for a dramatic effect, crown mouldings are used to cover larger angles. Crowns are always “sprung” while best are either “sprung” or plain. A “sprung” moulding has the interior corner beveled off to better fit a right angle joint. Usually applied where a larger angle is to be covered.

Cove Profiles
A concave profile used at corners, particularly as a ceiling cornice. Small coves may be used as an inside corner guard.

Baluster
Vertical handrail components used to protect people from falling through the handrail or guard rail system. Also known as spindle or stair stick, balusters can be made from wood, stone, metal and plastic and in a variety of shapes & sizes.

Quarter Round
Can be used as a base shoe, inside corner moulding or to cover any 90 degree recessed junctures. Often used to cover the line where roof and siding meet on exteriors.

Scotia
A deep concave moulding more than 1/4 round.

Casing Profiles

Used to trim both sides of doors, windows and large openings.

Adams Casing
Used to cover the gap between a wall surface and door or window frame. Casings define the overall character of a room and are often the most visible part of the trim.

Back Band
A rabbeted moulding used to surround the outside edge of casing.

Base Cap
A decorative member installed flush against the wall and the top of an S-4-S baseboard. Also used as a decorative piece on uneven floor & wall junctions.

Brick Mould
A common exterior door and window casing which provides a surface for brick or other siding materials to butt against. Many windows and some doors have narrow built-in exterior casing. The thickness of the small edge is typically 11/4″ but can be as narrow as 11/8″, which is the same as storm and screen door thickness. It may be used to form a rabbet for screens, storm sash, or a combination door.

Rake Mould
A moulding applied to the rake or the exposed inclined ends of a gable roof; term is sometimes applied to any moulding installed in a direction other than horizontal or vertical; also known as a barge moulding.

Sill Profiles
The horizontal member forming the bottom of a window or exterior door frame; as applied in general to construction, the lowest member of the frame of a structure, resting on the foundation and supporting the frame.

Historic Sill
The bottom horizontal moulding of a window surround designed to match the style and look of colonial window sills.

Additional Profiles

Base Shoe
Applied where base moulding meets the floor to protect the base moulding from damage.

Chair Rail
An interior moulding applied about a third up the wall from the floor, paralleling the base moulding and encircling the perimeter of a room. Originally user to prevent chairs from marring walls. Used today as a decorative element or a divider between wall covering such as wallpaper and paint or wainscoting.

Dentil
A series of small rectangular blocks projecting from a piece of moulding.

Drip Cap
Applied over the exterior window and door frames to keep water from seeping under the siding and directing it away from the door or window. Also makes an attractive contemporary interior door and window casing.

Half Round
A moulding with a profile that is a half circle with many purposes such as shelf edge, panel mould, screen mould or a bead.

Panel Mould
A decorative pattern originally used to trim out raised panel wall construction. It is most useful when fabricated into
a frame, surrounding attractive wall covering for a paneled effect walls. It can be applied on top of a smooth trimboard or cut in short lengths to make decorative patterns.

Pediment
An architectural non-structural element used for decorative purposes over window and doors.

Pilaster
A rectangular, circular or semi-circular member used as a simulated column in entrances and other door openings and fireplace mantles; usually contains base, shaft and capital.

Plinth Block
A block at the base of a pilaster; a block of wood placed at the bottom of side door casing to terminate the casing as well as the base. Since the door casings and bases are moulded, plinth blocks offer a good looking, sturdy member which solves the problem of joining casing and base mouldings with different profiles. Plinth blocks are thicker and wider than the abutting members.

Stop
In door trim, a stop is nailed to the faces of the door frame to prevent the door from swinging through. As in window trim, a stop holds the bottom sash of a double-hung window in place.

Tansom
A horizontal crosspiece over a door or between a door and a window above it; a small hinged window above a door or another window.

Wainscot
A lower interior wall surface (usually 3 to 4 feet above the floor) that contrasts with the wall surface above it; an interior wall composed of two different interior wall surfaces, one above the other.

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Moulding Uses

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