On the picture below you can see how molding looked like when dry wall ceiling was removed: on one of the walls almost half of the crown was gone and another half was so cracked that it was about to fall down. Our goal was to reinforce the cracked part and reproduce the missing parts of the crown.

Picture 1

First thing we did we carefully removed the cracked part of the crown molding and falling corner of the ceiling (pictures 2 and 3).

Picture 2

Picture 3

Removed parts needed to be handled very carefully since we had to use them to cast missing parts of the artwork. We put plenty of plaster mix on the back of the triangle shaped part of the ceiling (Picture 4) and pressed it against the spot it was before, so the plaster mix could go between the laths and hold the piece together with the rest of the ceiling. But before we did that, we used the part to make cast of its ornamental part to replicate the ornaments for the similar shaped missing parts of the ceiling the you can see in the center of Picture 5. Detailed description of the technique for making cast and then casting various parts of the crown molding is described in our article How to reproduce old damaged crown moldings.

Picture 4

Once the larger missing parts of the crown molding were reproduced by using the same technique mentioned above, we started to put the crown together piece by piece (Pictures 5 and 6). Again, behind all the pieces there is plenty of plaster (cannot be seen on the photos) to hold the moldings tight against the walls.

Picture 5

Picture 6

In order to prevent molding from further falling it needs to be screwed to the wall and ceiling beams. The same plaster mix is used to fill the gaps between the pieces as it is shown on Picture 7. When filling the gaps and covering holes from screws with plaster one needs to carefully follow the original surface design and lines of the molding so there is no sign of repairs.

Picture 7

On the remaining pictures you can see that the entire crown molding was reproduced seamlessly. After applying few layers of joint compound on repaired parts Restoration of falling old plaster crown molding was completed and artwork was ready for painting.

Picture 8

Picture 9

Picture 10