Coving

[Peter]

I am fitting Blue Hawk plasterbaord coving to many of my rooms. What is the best way to join the 2m lengths? Should I use scrim tape over the joins or is it enough just to fill with Pollyfiller?

Peter

[chris French]

In message , Peter writes

Is this just plain coving? anmy reason for using such short lengths?

If you go to BM (or a B&Q warehouse) you can longer lengths of coving 3,

3.6 and 4.2 M, though 4.2 doesn't always seem to be held in stock

Though two people are useful for longer lengths.

No. you never get a nice join then

Butt the lengths carefully together with adhesive between them. I support each end with nails to keep them aligned.

when dry, fill and sand carefully, and the joint will be invisible (though in future it may crack - but not hard to fill and paint over.)

[Ric]

Not really much help but I'm in the process of putting some coving up myself - I am expecting to just fill the joins with pollyfilla and then sand over with fine sandpaper before painting. I will watch in earnest for other people's opinions!

[Ziggur]

The cove adhesive will fill the joints and it sands down well.

[Ric]

I, I should have mentioned that - whilst sticking it up you can wipe any excess adhesive away with your finger and stick it in the gaps.

[Autolycus]

Why use such daft little lengths? I've always used Gyproc, and istr it came in lengths up to 4.2m.

Although the gaps fill easily enough with spare adhesive, if the ceiling or wall is at all wavy, you'll tend to get a discontinuity at the join, which a single length will smooth out.

Two other tips: make a dirty great mitre guide, and be meticulous about marking a line on the wall as per the makers' recommendations. A few panel pins along the line give you something to rest the coving on while the adhesive grabs, and can be pulled out afterwards.

Damn: that's three tips. Let's make it four - don't do what the previous owner of my house did - he applied the adhesive to fill in the triangular gap, with none on the two flat lands of the coving. He also never got the hang of mitring, so all the corners, external and internal, had huge splodges of plaster to extend (roughly) the profile of the coving.

[Paul Mc Cann]

Must be the time of year as I am about to put up some coving also. SWMBO selected 2m lengths of paper covered polystyrene (sp?) which at least is light and easy to cut.

Having spent the last hour cutting the mitres I'm hoping there will be a little compression in the material to allow joints to be tightened.

I like the tip about panel pins to hold it up till the adhesive sets

[Peter]

I haven't actually collected the coving from Homebase yet, so will investigate whether longer lengths are available.

Thanks to all for the help/tips.

Peter

[Brian Sharrock]

I applied coving (can one say 'coved'?) to my bathroom .. the results weren't bad ... before doing the kitchen I bought the "Magic Mitre" as demonstrated on QVC .. I wouldn't be without it ... not many corners are exactly ninety-degrees but the 'Magic Mitre' makes all mitres a piece of ...

For joining lengths of coving .. whether it's two or more metres long .. Magic Mitre recommends scarfing the joints rather than butt joints .. the scarfed joints are less visible and easier to smooth down with polyfilla.

or buy the 'Magic Mitre" :) ..you know it makes sense.

I made a block of mdf cut to the _exact_ width of "the makers' recommendation" -(I had access to a table-saw) and used that to _meticulously_ mark a line on the wall - I absolutely concur with Peter's comment here - this point can't be emphasised enough - how you do it is up to you.

Concur- put the pins/masonary nails along the line before yoo offer up the very heavy cove-cum-gunge length to the wall/ceiling.

[Christian McArdle]

Rather than a butt join, mitre both pieces at 45 degrees. The join is less visible then, easier to fill and much less sensitive to a mm or two tolerance in cutting.

Christian.

[Christian McArdle]

Also, when cutting internal corners, you may get better results by cutting one piece square and scribe cutting the other piece to the coving profile. This again leads to neater filling, a less visible join and greater tolerance to dimensional errors.

External corners should be mitred.

Christian.

[Brett Jackson]

I've done this and it works well. I found that a slightly better finished is achieved by cutting a V in to the joint with a stanley knife before filling as ragged edges of paper can expand slightly or just get in the way.