I am putting up coving in my house. Anyone got any tips?
I've heard some people say put some nails under it to hold it until the adhesive dries, but don't think this is an option in my case, because the walls are block and plaster.
Peter
you will still benefit from using nails to hold it straight and up. but use masonry nails.
Steve
Nails will hold - they don't need to penetrate very far into the wall.
I use covemaster lightweight polystyrene/paper coving instead of plaster coving.
from floor level it's indistinguishable from plaster coving and because coving adhesive has so much grab you don't need nails/pins to hold it in place.
RT
i replaced all the horrid poly coving in my house with plaster stuff. if they have come up with a better finish on the poly stuff it should be better... as long as you make sure the coving is straight and not following the ceiling which is quite often undulating all over the place!
Steve
Coat wall & ceiling if new with a unibon/watere mix to seal it ... or adhesive will dry too quick.
Measure down the correct depth form ceiling to wall ... at a few points and join the dots with a line .
Get piece of coving cut as necessary ... coat back thickly with adhesive (Board finsish platseer is much cheaper) get another person and a sweeping brush ...
Lift coving into place, rock back and forth to sit well into situ, press quite frimely to get it to stick, then while helper hold coving in place with a broom, you drive in a couple of nails under the coving to support it.
Remember to mitre (splay) cut all joins on a run, sealing ends first with unibond mix, and use the template to construct internal & external corners.
I bought a metal guide which is VERY good, you lay it on coving and simply use a saw laying it flat against the guide, much better than a mitre box.
Once all coving in place, go over with a sponge and smooth out all joins etc ...
Then go along smoothing and filling out adhesive.
It's and easy job ... once you have dome 2 or 3 pieces you will get the knack of it ... but you do need the extra pair of hands.
Rick
On my second attempt) I cut a piece of mdf to the 'correct depth' and used that as a rule to produce my line.
This is the critical part! Not all corners are right-angles. I'd urge you to acquire a "Magic Mitre" -
You'll need s secure 'step-up' to get to the height, the long lengths of gunged coving are quite heavy and you've got to think-through how you're going to hold it, step up and offer into position Wish I'd have thought of the brush idea!
I believe the cut is referred to a a scarf-joint.
See comments about 'Magic Mitre'
Still works.
Offer up the coving and draw a line first, then use 1" panel pins at about 1 foot intervals before putting up the coving - hold them with snipe nosed pliers and tap in place, you needn't go into the blockwork. Easy to make good afterwards, as they shouldn't knock chunks out of the plaster.
You must have *very* high ceilings. ;-)
both the polystyrene (covemaster) and plaster (gyproc?) coving are covered in paper so the only difference is the weight.
RT
The stuff in the lounge is screwed in apparently here.
The best way we found was to get bf's mum to do it. :) She uses pins to clip the bits together whilst its drying.
you must have x-ray eyesight to see through paint.
clue:
I'm on about covemaster, not the cheapo expanded polystyrene rubbish.
RT
Ah - didn't know that. I'll have a look next time. I was thinking of polystyrene stuff that looked like ceiling tiles - all sort of rough.
Wonder if the fact it bends easily makes it look false in some circumstances?
My Tip for fitting Coving. If you are mixing your adhesive yourself. Mix the plaster and put it into a corner of a supermarket carrier bag, snip the corner and pipe like cake icing. Use a new bag each time. After a couple of goes you should have worked out exactly how much you need for each run. Baz
eek, no, covemaster.
dunno but it's certainly cleaned up the knackered ceiling/wall interface in almost every room of the time sagged edwardian terrace I'm currently bashing a profit out of ;-)
RT
It's not compulsory to bend it as you put it up ;-)
I can't see why anyone would want to use plaster coving.
MBQ
Because some would prefer not to spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar?
No, but if it follows a slight bend it might look false. Just a thought.
I'll certainly look at it since I'll need some shortly. Much cheaper than plaster?
The covemaster stuff is indistinguishable from plaster.
If it really doesn't look different from Gyprock stuff, what's the harm?
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