Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a 12' length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none bearing wall to make the living room bigger.
How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as well as being long.
Screws or pegs on the back.
It was very often "run" in situ - a template of the correct profile was used to form wet plaster to the required shape. Note that it doesn't have a void behind it, like modern coving would, and you can often see the different layers of plaster, the inner layer having a hair reinforcement.
Theres more than one way to do it. Since Victorian walls could not be counted on to be perfectly straight, the stuff was often made in situ using a flat piece shaped and run along the wall to make an extrusion compatible shape. For fancier work, the background shape would be done like this then decorative pieces would be stuck on. Sometimes it was made in plaster reinforced with scrim (iirc) before fixing up.
They certainly put a lot more work into cornices than we do today.
NT
It wasn't 'fitted', it was applied - wet plaster applied to sand/lime backing, the sand/lime made the basic shape or angle and the plaster was put on and run across with a shaped 'trowel' made of timber.
Cake mix from Aldi
Way. - I've seen it done! - it's not gypsum plaster that's used, that's way too rough, they use 'plaster of paris' - very, very fine particles and it goes on like piss, they fasten a batten to the wall and one to the ceiling so that the 'trowel' just fits, at the exact angle, all the way along and then they run it over, it may need going over again to fill in any voids, so they just run it back and forth.
Some of the bigger houses, yes.
They still have to do it today in NT places. Costs a fortune.
I think you misunderstand here Phillip?this is not straight flat run inverted oval coving it has a curved and oval intricuit shape and about 6" or 7" wide?
However since you have pointed out a batten on the wall and ceiling I think that its filled at an angle with PofParis left to go hard and then a tool shaped mould plane is then run across until the shape has been carved in the PofParis?
it doesn't make any difference what shape it is, it's only a matter of cutting a piece of wood to that shape.
No, it's put on wet
And in the good old days the plaster was made up on site too. A quantity of zinc suphate was mixed with whatever they used and blah blah.
It is fairly easy to do and you can add intricate shapes made up individually from smaller pieces of plaster the way that icing is made from sugar to decorate a cake.
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Really? I've not only seen it done, I've done it myself - albeit on a short length to repair where a chimney breast came out.
I've watched it being done. This was an ornamental type that couldn't be run or wiped as described. It was made out of re-enforced white plaster - probably similar to the way they make plaster casts for broken limbs. It was mitred - roughly - to the length of the wall, then raised into place by three blokes. They put dollops of plaster behind it and also nailed it to the joists and studs.
That may be for the inferior plain sort found in lower class houses, but a bit difficult to do with the carved sort with flowers, etc. ;-)
95% correct,apparently they got a joiner to make the facia molding in wood along with the sides and mitred at the edges,this was then heavily waxed and PofParis was poured into the wood moulding. When the PofParis had set they lined the flat edges with adhesive? and offered the complete assembly(including wooden mould) onto the walls and ceilings and held it in place with props. Took the props away after 24hours and pulled the wooden moulding away. This was for the less intricate mouldings as you said on the lower class(working mans house).
Make sure you use the correct grammatical props, otherwise all the nones will fall on your head if you remove the wall.
MBQ
The 'trowel' is called a mould but yes you are right. You can do a basic cove with bonding coat I know someone who had it done and it looks the biz, I'm plucking up courage to have a go.
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