Primed finish or priming refers to the preparation stage of the mouldings. All MDF products are required to be primed/painted with an industry standard sealer that is referred to as primer. This sealer/primer penetrates and seals the MDF so that the finish coat of paint is applied with ease. The House of Fine Carpentry guarantees that every piece of moulding is primed and ready for a finish coat of paint, an enormous time saver over solid or finger joint wood trims.

All our crown mouldings & trim have a triple coating of high-grade primer which is applied in the factory. Although it looks great when installed, we do need to nail (with a brad nailer) them in place. The holes are later dapped or caulked. We also re-prime all the exposed joints that have been sanded. Afterwards we recommend painting with matt finish paint.

If you are painting crown mouldings, it would be best to use a good, durable, and washable paint. By matt finish paint we mean "eggshell" or "low sheen". The flatter finish the paint has, the better it hides brush strokes and other imperfections. As an added bonus, the flat paint gives the trim a soft, warm look, like plaster.

Usually casings & trims or baseboards are slightly darker than the walls. Walls are usually flat, eggshell, or semi-gloss. Trim is usually semi-gloss or gloss. Try buying just a quart of each color and do some sample matching around the house where these combinations would be, to see if they are appealing to your eye.

The other consideration is the sealing aspect. MDF, although much more stable then wood, is still susceptible to changes in humidity. It is recommended that you paint your crown mouldings with an acrylic sealer. The paint experts say that all paints have a certain amount of acrylic, but the paint with the most acrylic in it is Latex.

We also recommend that you paint within 30 days after the trim is installed to reduce the possibly of shrinkage.