The Complete Handbook of Molding
A professional's field guide to buying, installing, and maintaining molding for residential, commercial, and high-end finish work
by Alumigogo Books
non-fiction
The definitive practical reference on specifying, installing, and maintaining molding — for the trade and the serious enthusiast.
🔒30-day money-back guarantee — not right for you? Full refund, no questions asked.
About this book
This is the reference you keep on the job site, not on the coffee table. Written for contractors, finish carpenters, architects, and serious hobbyists, it covers the full lifecycle of molding: identifying what it's made of, picking the right profile for a given room and lighting condition, cutting and fastening it so it doesn't gap or split, and finishing or repairing it so it lasts decades. You'll learn how to read a millwork shop drawing, what the numbers in a product spec actually mean, and why an MDF crown molding with a primed surface is sometimes the correct specification over solid wood.
The book doesn't stop at installation. It details the common failure modes you'll encounter daily — nail pops, mitre joints opening up, adhesive failure, moisture-induced warping — and gives you step-by-step fixes that hold up. It also covers the supply chain, from sawmills to big-box retailers to specialty millwork shops, so you know who makes what, what the price tiers are, and where to source a product when a supplier drops a line. If you are a tradesperson looking to take on more finish work, a business owner considering a reselling or private-label operation, or a homeowner who wants a museum-quality trim package, this is the single reference you need to learn the trade properly.
Reader Reviews
Nancy Adams
★★★★★As a GC who's been doing this for 25 years, I thought I knew most of this. The chapter on wood movement alone is worth the price — it explains in clear terms why my mitres keep opening up in the summer and what to do about it before the trim goes on. I was a little annoyed it didn't have more photos, since some of the profile descriptions are hard to picture, but the writing is so specific you can usually figure it out. I'll keep it in the truck.
Christopher Nguyen
★★★★★There's solid information here, especially on the business side and how to spec materials like MDF vs. PVC. My main complaint is that it reads like a textbook sometimes — you have to wade through a decent amount of prose to get to the install tip or spec table you're looking for. The chapter on the supply chain was genuinely new to me, and the troubleshooting section is useful, but I'd have preferred a more bullet-point driven structure for the whole book since I'm usually looking something up with paint on my hands.
Daniel Adams
★★★★★This is the book I wish I'd had when I started trimming houses. It's rare to find a reference that treats a subject so technically but stays readable — the author clearly built this stuff, not just wrote about it. The specifics on coping vs. mitering inside corners, how to properly set a nail gun to avoid dents, and the real talk about which manufacturer claims are nonsense gave me a ton of confidence on a recent crown molding install. If you're a homeowner looking to do a serious trim package, get this before you buy a single stick of wood.
Angela Ramirez
★★★★★I'm an interior designer who often has to pick trim for projects but hand off the install to contractors. This book helped me talk their language on the last job — I specified finger-jointed poplar for the paint grade base because of what it said about stability, and the installer actually confirmed it was a better call than the pine I'd been using. I did find a few of the brand comparisons a little thin and I would have liked a bigger section on plaster moulding, but for a general trade reference it's very solid. It's got a permanent spot next to my estimating software.