How to cut a skirting board with a miter box

Using a miter box

The miter box is a special tool used to trim the corner pieces of ceiling and floor skirting boards. It is made in the form of an inverted letter “P” with slots in the walls at different angles.

It’s pretty simple to use. It is important to remember the rule. that part of the plinth that is pressed against the side of the miter box is glued to the wall. And the one that is attached to the bottom will stick to the ceiling. To make it clearer, you can imagine that the bottom of the instrument is the ceiling, and the walls of the room are its vertical parts.

The joint of the ceiling plinth is done in this way:

• the baguette strip is turned over and inserted into the miter box. The ceiling part is pressed to the bottom, the one that is glued to the wall. to the vertical part. The plinth is pressed against the near wall of the miter box;
• the cut is done neatly, without pressing. otherwise you will get torn edges.

The difference in trimming external and internal ceiling corners lies in the correct placement of the left and right planks:

• left inner and right outer corners are cut in the same position;
• respectively, right inner and left outer also fit the same.

Therefore, the main thing when working with a miter box is not to confuse left and right planks. To make the work easier, and each time not to remember through which grooves to make a cut, you can make the corresponding signatures on it for each docking position. It will take a little time. but in the future it will become much easier to work.

How to Use a Mitre Box

It is good to trim the plinth with a miter box.

Why you need to glue fillets to wallpaper

Many novice craftsmen ask themselves this question. after all, if you are the first to glue the fillets, the wallpaper will be harder to adjust. And if after. the uneven joint of the wallpaper with the ceiling will be closed with a plinth. You can glue in any sequence, each person decides for himself how he is more comfortable. But there is a difference.

If you glue the skirting board after the wallpaper:

• all uneven seams will be closed with walls and ceilings;
• when you change the wallpaper, you will have to change the baguettes;
• there is a high probability of smearing the wallpaper with glue during the installation of skirting boards;
• during installation, gaps may form between fillets and walls, which must be sealed with putty. If you do this on finished walls, they can get dirty.

When installing the skirting board, glue may leak slightly

If you glue the skirting board before the wallpaper:

• the wall can be stained as much as necessary. there is no finishing finish yet;
• all cracks are closed without problems;

It turns out that it is better to glue fillets before finishing. this is much easier and faster to work.

Irregular corners

Sometimes you can face a situation when you have to glue fillets at non-standard corners. For example, how to join the ceiling plinth if the corners are semicircular? This is done quite simply.

Since it will not work to give the desired shape to the whole baguette. it needs to be cut into pieces of 3-5 cm.The size depends on the radius of the corner.

Docking outside corners

The docking of the skirting boards in the outer corners is done in the same way as in the inner ones. If the angle is even, a miter box is used. If not, cut by hand.

• the distance of entry of the plinth for both planks is marked on the ceiling;
• the left and right baguette is applied alternately, marks are made with a pencil along the upper edge of the bar opposite the corner;
• the intersection of the lines is the upper cut point, the angle is the lower one;
• panels are attached and marked;
• the baguettes are neatly cut, while they must be kept in the same position as they will be on the wall.

When joining the ceiling skirting boards at the outer corners, one unpleasant feature may appear. When the baguettes are already fitted and glued, they begin to disperse. It is good to use long syringe needles to fix them. For this, fillets are connected at the top and bottom. When the glue dries, the needles must be removed. there will be small holes that can be easily repaired.

Installation sequence

The baguette must be glued in the following sequence:

• the first is the ceiling plinth in the corners;
• then flat areas are glued.

You need to dock fillets on flat areas. Therefore, installation starts from the corners. If you glue the plinth consistently, there will be difficulties in fitting, because on straight sections, it is much easier to cut fillets to the desired size. Joints are best placed in the part of the room where they will be less visible.

How to properly join ceiling skirting boards?

One of the important elements of interior decoration of premises is the ceiling plinth. It would seem like a small detail, but without it the room will have an unfinished look. It is not difficult to glue straight elements; difficulties may arise with adjusting the corners. Therefore, in order not to get into a dead end during installation, you need to know how to join the ceiling plinth. if you do it wrong, it will be quite difficult to hide defects.

Sequence of work

First of all, you need to prepare all the necessary tools. However, there is not so much of it:

• construction knife or hacksaw for metal;
• pencil, tape measure;
• miter box;
• goniometer;
• rubber spatula, sponge.

Before installing the baguettes, you need to do two things:

• Check the angle. if it is 90 degrees, then you can use a miter box to fit, if not, you will have to cut the skirting boards by hand.
• Attach the plank to the ceiling and measure with a tape measure: how far does the plinth go to the ceiling.

This distance serves as a guide for correct fitting and installation of baguettes. Since the installation starts from the corners, each plank must be set at this level. Otherwise, you can get a situation when in different corners of the skirting boards will be glued at different heights.

It is necessary to use a level so that the corners are at the same height

Trimming skirting boards without miter box

In some situations, you have to dock the skirting board without a miter box. For example, if it is not at hand, or the walls are crooked. Therefore, it is advisable to know how to join the corners of the ceiling plinth using other tools.

There are several ways to do manual docking:

How to fit skirting boards part 1: measuring & cutting

• using a protractor;
• by making markings on the wall;
• by drawing a miter box.

An important point. in addition to the fact that the planks need to be marked, when cutting, they must be kept in the same position as they will be on the wall. Otherwise, the cut will turn out to be a curve. Usually, a 90-degree template is made for this.

It’s easy to make it:

• screw a regular bar to any surface. it will serve as an emphasis for joined baguettes;
• if there is no bar, draw a straight line on the plane, and use a square as a limiter.

It should be noted that the miter box does not always help. Therefore, you need to know how to manually join the skirting board.

Trim skirting in miter box

The miter box is one of the most important tools when processing a baguette, allowing you to make cuts on the skirting board with the desired slope for an even joint. Consider the features of working with fillets using this device.

To correctly and evenly cut the ceiling plinth using a miter box in the corners, you must follow certain rules.

• Cutting workpieces with a miter box is only suitable for 90 ° right angles.
• When cutting a baguette intended for the ceiling, it is applied and sawn on the inner side of the miter box closest to you.
• The workpiece is installed in such a position as it will be mounted later on the ceiling.
• Cutting is carried out on the front side of the baguette.
• The side that is subsequently glued to the ceiling must press firmly against the bottom of the tray when cutting.
• It is recommended to use a specific cutting tool for each type of material: a hacksaw or knives are good for cutting soft materials such as foam, a saw is preferable for wood.

Ceiling corners can be internal and external, or external, therefore there are differences in the preparation of the baguette, which consist in the methods of joining the planks and the different inclination of the cuts. To make it easier to work with the miter box, it is useful to make visual prompts on it in the form of small stickers with inscriptions, as shown below.

Miter box with tips for easy handling

The main attention should be paid to the accuracy of cutting workpieces at the desired angle. It is recommended to start working from the inner corner and then work to the outer corner. Otherwise, it is possible that the length of the baguette will not be enough. Schematically, the cutting steps look like the figures below.

Trimming scheme for adjacent skirting boards for inner corners Trimming scheme for adjacent skirting boards for outer corners

Decorative corners for ceiling plinths

Cropping wide varieties is much more inconvenient. The product is difficult to fit into such a compact tool as a miter box, and complex relief can be spoiled.

For such models, special corners are produced. You can find this option only for PVC, foam or polyurethane products. The elements have the same design, their sizes can be easily adjusted, since a material as light as foam is easy to cut.

The technology is very simple: the corner is fixed in the joint, and fragments of the ceiling plinth are attached to it.

Made of plastic

Plastic miter boxes made on the basis of polyvinyl chloride are a good alternative to wooden models. The advantages of such products include their low cost and low weight. The tool is presented in a huge range of standard sizes, which allows you to purchase a model for almost any baseboard. There is only one drawback with plastic devices. it is the rapid expansion of the working grooves, which subsequently leads to large deviations from the required angle value and makes the tool unsuitable for further use. However, as in the case of wooden models, plastic miter boxes are perfect for one-time use.

How to cut a plastic skirting board

If the angle in the room where it is planned to finish the joints of the walls and the floor with a plinth is 90 degrees, which happens extremely rarely, then the cuts of the plinths should have an angle of 45 degrees each. Such a cut is the easiest to make, especially with the use of a miter box. It is enough to insert the plinth into the miter box, then select a groove at 45 degrees and make a cut.

Cutting the corner on the skirting board

Advice! When trimming the skirting board, it is recommended to saw off a little less than necessary. In case of an error, this will correct the situation by lightly processing the edges of the product by hand and adjust the skirting board to the desired size.

The outer corners of the skirting boards are formed a little differently, or rather, in a room with ideal geometry, you can also cut products at an angle of 45 degrees (but in a different direction) and, after joining, close the edges with a plug. Non-standard corners are cut like this: one of the skirting boards is applied to one of the walls, its borders are marked with a pencil. The same procedure is performed with another product. again a rhombus flaunts on the floor, the diagonal of which will become a guide for cutting products.

Decoration of the outer corner of the plastic skirting board

Method 2. trimming the edge of the skirting board without the help of a miter box

If you don’t want to waste time making a miter box, then you can make the markings directly on the ceiling! To do this, the edge of the plinth is cut off at a right angle, then the plank is applied to the corner as it is planned to be installed, and the border of the plinth is marked.

Mark the line of the first skirting board

How to cut skirting board or baseboard corners. No power tools required!

Do the same with the second bar.

Mark the line of the second plinth

After spreading the lines, they mark the point of intersection of the two lines directly on the planks. this will be the cut line of the edges of adjacent skirting boards.

Mark the crossing point on the skirting boards

Cut skirting boards are joined in the corner

Cutting skirting boards for ceiling decoration

Another type of ceiling plinth is made of extruded polystyrene foam. They are much denser than ordinary foam products (therefore they do not crumble), they are a little more expensive, but they are also somewhat more difficult to cut. For work, you can use the same knife or hacksaw for metal.

The most expensive skirting boards are made of polyurethane. These are elastic, strong and moisture resistant products that are very easy to cut with a construction knife. True, they cannot be used in all rooms, since polyurethane is sensitive to high temperatures. it deforms, begins to crack or cracks.

For working with wooden skirting boards, only a hacksaw with fine teeth is suitable, you can use a metal tool.

Joinery mills are classified according to three criteria: size, material of manufacture and type of construction. According to the first criterion, there are standard products designed for processing narrow and medium moldings, and large models that allow cutting high floor and wide ceiling plinths. The width of the slots in the overall products is no different from that of medium and small samples, however, the side walls of the tray and the width of its base are much larger.

According to the material of manufacture, joinery mills are divided into wooden, plastic and metal.

How to make an outside corner on a skirting board

Outside corners have to be dealt with if the room has niches, bay windows, protruding boxes or columns. Here, too, you need to cut off the ceiling plinth at 45 degrees.

• In fact, the difference between these two cases lies only in the correct measurement. The bar is placed along the joint and the mark is made on the inside.
• The product is put into the miter box in the same way as it was tried on, that is, with the ceiling part up. The edge of the fillet is placed so that the mark on the inner side coincides with the slot, but at the same time the outer part of the plinth protrudes somewhat beyond the edge.
• A hacksaw is inserted into the slot and cut off. The second fragment is prepared in the same way, but in a mirror image.

For cutting a hard baguette, for example, a wooden one, it is better to use a jigsaw.

How to connect with a door trim

You know neatly how to make a corner on a plinth, but that’s not all. The room most often has doors. By the way, they must be installed before fixing the skirting boards. So, you still need to correctly dock the skirting boards with the platbands on the door. If you just cut it straight, it turns out roughly. There are plugs for plastic. not the most elegant way, but quite acceptable. Wooden ones can also be trimmed by cutting off the “face” obliquely. Also “not ice”, but already something. And what to do with MDF skirting boards, because the saw cut from them is unpresentable? There is a way to make a beautiful junction with the jambs. You will need to make two cuts at an angle of 45 degrees (see photo below).

How to properly arrange the joint between the skirting board and the door jamb

If the edge is not even, we first cut it off strictly perpendicularly. With respect to the aligned edge, make a 45 degree cut. A small cut off piece will come in handy for the design of the abutment. We make the second cut at 90 degrees relative to the first, but if we lower the perpendicular from the angle, we also get 45 °.

How to make a neat jamb fit

Now we take the first cut piece, attach it to the just made cut with the long side. It turns out a beautiful rounded cut. If there are chamfers, grooves on the plinth, they match perfectly. In the case of woody patterns, you cannot be sure that the lines match. Anyway, such a joint between the skirting board and the door casing is much more aesthetically pleasing.