I'm thinking about putting up crown molding in my living room, but the apartment building I live in has steel studs. I've seen people online use the x method of nailing to secure the crown molding to the drywall itself. Do you think this would be enough support to hold the weight of the crown molding?
I've also read about using self-tapping screws but that would be much more difficult and more permanent, since the room is large and the ceilings are very high.
Any advice or recommendation is appreciated!
Best Answer
Questions about rental/landlords aside, you could X nail with some construction adhesive and as long as your crown isn't huge (less than 5"), it should stay up fine.
If I was doing this, I'd have temporary bracing (1x2s would be fine) while the glue sets, and add plenty of nails wherever the crown looks loose against the wall/ceiling.
One last tip you didn't ask for... when I do crown, I center it on the wall, shoot the middle to pin it in place, then do the corners with a bit of scrap (cut to the other side of the corner) to tweak the angle perfectly. If you have to twist a lot to make the corners right, then pin the corners and then pull the middle off and do over. If you just have to twist a tiny bit, then keep nailing. Twisting works much better on mdf than wood, obviously.