coving joints

[Andy]

Redecorating and am about to put up plaster coving (127mm)... When I done it before I've been fairly successful at hiding the joints between lengths just by butt joining the lengths, aligning as best as I can followed by careful filling of the joint afterwards.

However, one mate says he had a tip from a pro to cut a matching wedge shape off both ends (say 45 degrees- see rough diagram of 2 lengths below) ______ _______ ______/ /_______

and butt these together... claims it makes a more invisible joint? Any one tried it? Any comments? Andy

[OxSc]

Try drawing some lines on a piece of paper, all the same height, some vertical and some at 45 degrees. Which do you notice more?

[John]

I have always done it like that and also cut a 'V' into the face of the coving with a Stanley knife (approx 1/4" wide) and then filled this with either Polyfilla or the coving adhesive using to fix. Sand this down flush, don't go too mad or the paper skin will tear, and paint as required. I can 'see' the joints but I know where they are, but they loook a lot better than friends who have just had the joints butted together.

HTH

John

[Christian McArdle]

Definitely. I always used to do butt joints and they looked awful. Better still is find a stockist that has 4m lengths instead of 2.4m. Then you rarely need butt joints, especially if features like fireplaces break up the long lengths.

Christian.