Molding is a strip of material that has been dressed or planed on all four surfaces. One of the sides is often given a profile for decoration purposes. A molding is typically used as at a wall juncture where it serves to hide a gap.

A “sprung” molding is a strip that has beveled edges, allowing it to be mounted at an angle between two non-parallel planes (such as between a wall and a ceiling). Other types of molding are referred to as “plain”.

Types

There are a variety of common moldings:
Astragal - Attached to one of a pair of doors to serve as a stop for the other door. The two types are “T-Astragal” and “Flat Astragal”. The later is primarily used for decorative purposes.
Base Molding - Used at the junction of an interior wall and floor to protect the wall from impacts.
Batten - A symmetrical molding that is placed across a joint where two parallel panels or boards meet.
Bed Molding - A narrow molding used at the junction of a wall and ceiling. Bed moldings can be either sprung or plain.
Casing - The trim for both sides of a window opening.
Chair Rails - A molding placed part way up a wall to protect the surface from chairs. Primarily used now for decoration.
Corner Guard - A molding used to protect the edge of the wall at an outside corner, or to cover a joint on an inside corner.
Cove Molding - A concave-profile molding that is used at the junction of an interior wall and ceiling.
Crown Molding - A wide, sprung molding that is used at the junction of an interior wall and ceiling.
Drip Cap - This is placed over a door or window opening to prevent water from flowing under the siding or across the glass.
Screen Molding - This is a small molding that is used to hide the area were a screen is attached to the frame.

Theory

At their simplest, moldings are a means of applying light and dark shaded stripes to a structure or object without having to change the material or apply pigment. The aesthetic function is similar to that of go fast stripes applied to the side of a vehicle.

Imagine a flat vertical wall evenly lit by daylight. Adding a small overhanging horizontal step will introduce a dark horizontal band - This is called a fillet molding. Conversely, adding a vertical fillet to a horizontal surface will appear as a light band.

These bands do not need to be evenly shaded, a concave Cavetto molding will produce a band which is darker at the top and lighter at the bottom, whereas a convex Ovulo molding will be lighter at the top and darker at the bottom (other concave moldings are the Scotia and Conge, and other convex moldings are the Echinus, Torus and Astragal).

Placing an Ovulo molding directly above a Cavetto forms a smooth ‘S’ shaped curve with vertical ends, which appears as a band that is light at the top and bottom but dark in the interior - This is called an Ogee or Cyma reversa molding.

Similarly, a Cavetto above an Ovulo forms an ‘S’ with horizontal ends and appears as a dark band with a light interior - Called a Cyma or Cyma recta molding.

Together, these basic elements and their variants form a Decorative vocabulary which can be assembled and rearranged in endless combinations. This vocabulary is at the core of both Classical architecture and Gothic architecture.

A moulding fixed to an interior wall about 1200mm to 1500mm above the floor. Its purpose is partly decorative, partly protective.

Also sometimes referred to as a chair rail because it prevents the backs of straight-backed chairs from rubbing against the paintwork or wallpaper.

A baseboard or skirting board is a wooden board, normally 75mm to 300mm deep, covering the lowest part of an interior wall. Its purpose is to cover the join between the wall surface (usually plaster) and the floor, and to protect the wall from kicks and abrasion.

At its simplest, skirting board consists of a simple plank nailed, screwed or glued to the wall; however particularly in older houses it can be made up of a number of mouldings to provide an elaborate decorative feature. Even today, it is quite common to have a quarter round mould between the baseboard and floor.

Baseboard from Elite Moldings Inc.

Baseboards are usually found at the bottom of a wall where it meets the floor; they can be used in countless other applications as well. Baseboards were created to protect the bottom of the wall from abrasions and damage that can occur in day to day life. Baseboards also offer a beautiful finishing touch to an otherwise bland room or wall. They come in a variety of sizes ranging from 2 ½ inches up to over 12 inches. Baseboards can be found in a variety of materials with the most popular being MDF or medium density fiberboard. MDF lends itself to a variety of shapes and sizes while maintaining an excellent price and durability. Most baseboard applications require a quarter round to be installed at the bottom of the baseboard; Elite Moldings believes a Shoe molding is more elegant. The quarter round or shoe molding is often required when wood floors have been installed; installers leave a gap between the floor and the wall for expansion and contraction of the floor.

Baseboards can also be used in conjunction with crown molding in what is generally referred to as a 2 step or 3 step molding. This process is used when you want to make the molding look bigger but not make the ceiling look shorter or when a more elegant look is desired from the cornice molding. In this process, the baseboard is installed first on the ceiling or upper wall and the cornice molding is installed on top of it or below it depending on which side you want bigger.

Wainscot or wainscoting is wooden or other panelling applied to the lower 1.2 to 1.5 m of an interior wall, below the dado rail or chair rail and above the skirting board or baseboard. It is traditionally constructed from tongue-and-groove boards, though beadboard or decorative panels (such as a wooden door might have) are also common. Wainscoting may also refer to other materials used in a similar fashion.

Its original purpose was to cover the lower part of walls which, in houses constructed with poor or nonexistent damp-proof courses, are often affected by rising damp. In countries whose building regulations insist on adequate damp-proofing, its purpose is now generally decorative.

Truly Customizable Wainscoting Systems - Delivered Right to Your Door

In the days before paint was scrubbable and wallpaper was mass-produced, wainscoted walls served a practical purpose; covering the lowest and most vulnerable portion of a wall. Covering with wood panelling provided an attractive and decorative wall treatment tough enough to withstand cleaning and resist any damages due to everyday use.

Even with today’s modern paint and wallpapers, wainscoting still serves its intended protective purpose; however people use it most often because of the way it transforms a bland space into an elegant room by adding interesting detail to walls that don’t otherwise have any built-in character. (more…)

Bed-mould, in architecture, the congeries of mouldings which is under the projecting part of almost every cornice, of which, indeed, it is a part.

A large family of mouldings which are designed to gracefully flare out to a finished top edge; generally used for capping walls, pilasters, cabinets; used extensively in the creation of interior and exterior cornice assemblies and door and window hoods. In recent times, crown mouldings have generally made their appearance as mostly decorated plaster or wooden trim where walls meet ceilings.

Cornices are produced with plywood frames. Padded with polyester batting between board and fabric. One-quarter inch welting is standard on top and bottom of cornices. The inside face is covered with white lining as is the top and bottom of the dust cap. The inside of the returns are covered with the face fabric. Standard returns are 6″. Cornices come with hardware and instructions for installation.

To get a total cost on your cornice, use the inquiry page and be sure to include the front width and the size of the returns. Also note the desired length , 12″, 14″ 16″ or 18″ that you would like at the longest point and your fabric choice.

Wood is an organic material found as the primary content of the stems of woody plants, especially trees, but also shrubs. These perennial plants are characterised by stems that grow outward year after year. Dry wood is composed of fibers of cellulose (40%-50%) and hemicellulose (20%-30%) held together by lignin (25%-30%). Plants that do not produce wood are called ‘herbaceous’. Herbaceous (non-wood-producing) plants include all annual plants, many perennial plants, and most submerged and floating aquatic plants.

Wood is a hygroscopic, cellular and anisotropic material. It consists of different types of cells. Some cells are responsible for transport (tracheids), storage (parenchymen) and mechanical strength (libriform). The woody tissue is formed by the plant for structural purposes, and because it is an effective and efficient structural material, it is useful to humans.

When cut down and dried, wood is used for many different purposes. Wood has been an important construction material since humans began building shelters, and remains in plentiful use today. Construction wood is commonly known as timber in Commonwealth English, and lumber in American English. Artists and craftsmen shape and join pieces of wood with special tools, which is called woodworking or carpentry. Wood that is broken down into fibers is called pulp, which may then be made into paper.

In modern times, many of the traditional uses of wood may be filled by metal and plastics. Medium-density fibreboard, a product of woods, is also used as a cheap alternative to traditional woods.

Wood is commonly classified as either hardwood or softwood. The wood from conifers (e.g. pine) is called softwood, and the wood from broad-leaved trees (e.g. oak) is called hardwood. This classification is sometimes misleading, as some hardwoods (e.g. balsa) are actually softer than most softwoods, and conversely, some softwoods (e.g. yew) are harder than most hardwoods.

Additionally, woods from different types of trees have different colors and grain densities. Because of these differences, and the fact that some woods take longer to grow than others, wood from different kinds of trees have different qualities and values. For example, while mahogany is a dark, dense hardwood which is excellent for fine furniture crafting, balsa is light, soft, and almost spongelike, making it useful for model building.

Uses of Wood

Wood has many uses. Traditionally, wood has been used as the primary material in the construction of houses and other buildings. Brick was then used, and now concrete is also used.

Much furniture is produced from wood, mostly from hardwoods such as mahogany.

Perhaps the most important use of wood in terms of human development was the creation of fire. Fire wood is still used as a fuel to provide combustion with which to heat homes in many areas. If the wood is burnt in modern stoves, and new trees are grown to replace the trees that are taken from the forest, this can be a sustainable way of providing energy.

Pulpwood is made into paper.

Panelling is a wallcovering constructed from interlocking wooden components.

Panelling was developed in antiquity, to make rooms in stone buildings more comfortable. The panels serve to insulate the room from the cold stone.