How to properly saw down a polystyrene ceiling plinth

Working solutions for baguette preparation without miter box

Another option for trimming the plank is to create some kind of structure from thick cardboard and a wooden block. The first step is to bend the cardboard to the angle you measured in the corner of the room. Then, to the wooden block intended for cutting the corner, press the cardboard and draw the line along which you want to cut the block. this will be your template. To cut the fillet, place the wooden template on top of the plank, and cut the required angle along the block.

Current offer in the construction market. Kindecor skirting board made of expanded polystyrene, made by extrusion technology. Therefore, the ceiling slats of the Russian company “Kindecor” do not have the disadvantages of PPU cornices. The cost of cornices is much lower than foam or other analogs.

But in old houses with “floating” corners, such sets are unlikely to come in handy. in the kit you will find only angles at 45 0. 60 0 and 90 0. How to fix the situation? You need to roughly cut the end of the baguette. an angle of approximately 45 0. and then, during several fittings, cut the angle in place to the required value.

When cutting the baguette and shaping the outer corner, use this method:

• Press the plinth to the right side of the corner so that the plank protrudes beyond the corner by at least its own width;
• Use a pencil to mark the line on the ceiling;
• Press the plinth to the left side of the corner so that the plank protrudes beyond the corner by at least its own width;
• With a pencil, mark the line on the ceiling, mark the intersection of these two lines;
• Copy the markings to the plank, connect the dots with a line, cut the baguette along this mowing line;
• Check the evenness of the cuts by applying the prepared baguettes to the outer corner;
• Before gluing the ceiling plinth without a miter box, remove any errors (irregularities, chips, gaps, inconsistencies) on the fillet surfaces.

Docking of ceiling fillets without an industrial miter box

Factory miter box. it is an aluminum, plastic or wooden tray with depressions 45 0 or 90 0. Such a device is rarely used at home, so it is not found in everyone. But few also know how to cut a ceiling plinth without a miter box, so we will consider a few simple solutions that will allow you to dock the ceiling plinths in the corners of the room with great accuracy.

When renovating an apartment, installing a new ceiling is often necessary to create a complete design idea. The completed ceiling is decorated with beautiful fillet skirting boards. The baguettes are glued, nailed or screwed along the perimeter of the room, their position is previously marked in the corners at the joints of the walls and ceiling. Ceiling cornices are often rigid and solid strips (although there are elastic silicone ones), so they need to be beautifully docked in the corners of the room with each other, and without a miter box it is difficult to do this, but it is possible.

Fillets for framing the corners of the ceiling are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), expanded polystyrene (PPU), polyurethane (PU), polystyrene (PS), polystyrene (PP), wood or metal:

• Foam decorative cornice is fragile, but this does not matter for unloaded ceiling structures. PP skirting boards can have different widths, the standard length is 1 meter, the surface is bas-relief with various patterns;
• Expanded polystyrene. the material is dense, easy to install, the edges of the cornice do not crumble during cutting;
• Aluminum or wood is the most difficult to dock. you need great accuracy, which is difficult to achieve without the use of a miter box. It is recommended to cut the corners of such cornices with a sheet for metal, to calculate the correct cutting angle, use the methods below.

Polyvinyl chloride is easily crushed, after which it is not restored. Requires caution and minimal pressure when machining

Cut with a carpenter’s cutter or a hacksaw for metal

The foam plank is fragile and crumbles easily. It is recommended to cut the PP plinth with a very sharp cutter or a special tool. an electric nichrome cutter

Cut with a carpenter’s cutter or a hacksaw for metal, hot wire clamped in clamps

It is cut with an ordinary hand or special tool (electric side saw, wood saw with fine teeth, metal blade), the cost of products is higher than PPU, PP OR PVC curtain rods

Cutting and joining techniques for baguettes

In the picture above, you can see the process of cutting off the curtain rod along the slot of the miter box, but how to trim the ceiling plinth without the miter box? We offer you several options with descriptions, as well as making a template for the simplest miter box on your own. Let’s consider all the methods in order:

• Try on the cornice to the ceiling surface, run a marker line along the ceiling surface;
• To the right of the selected corner, press the product against the ceiling, draw another straight line;
• At the intersection of straight lines, mark the plinth itself with a dot, then draw the line from the markings on the baguette to its lower corner. Along it you will cut off the required corner on the fillet;
• The left corner is marked in the same way;
• After cutting both skirting boards, press them into a corner and check for precision. If there are gaps, trim the corners again. Remember. so that the bar does not become shorter than the required length, do not shorten the unmarked part of it until you achieve an exact connection;
• After adjustment, the fillet is glued or screwed on. The ceiling plinth for stretch ceilings cannot be attached to the surface of the ceiling material. it is glued only to the plane of the wall.

Attention: Do not press with great force on the foam or expanded polystyrene cornice when cutting it. it may lose its shape, and after gluing, dents and other irregularities will be visible.

The method is as follows: how to cut a ceiling plinth without a miter box along the outer corner of the ceiling:

• Press the plinth to the right of the corner and draw a line 200-300 mm long with a pencil or marker along the ceiling;
• Press the cornice to the left corner, mark up to the first mowing line so that the markers intersect;
• On the plank, mark the points at the crossroads of the markers and in the corner of the room;
• Connect the marked points on the cornice, cut the plinth along the markings with an angle of inclination towards the inside of the plank;
• Check the accuracy of the joint in place, trim again if necessary.

Classic baguettes are made of wood, but it is difficult to fit them exactly without the use of a factory miter box and appropriate cutting tools. Wooden baguettes are formed with a cross-cut saw, and in its absence. with a carpenter’s hacksaw with a fine tooth, an electric jigsaw or a hacksaw for cutting metal.

Important: A cornice made of polyurethane or aluminum is considered reliable in terms of moisture resistance. But the polyurethane cornice should not be exposed to temperature changes, so it is not recommended to install them in the kitchen or bathroom.

Whatever the plinth, if the angle in the room is not 90 0, then it will be difficult to make an exact cut for joining the planks. In old buildings (stalinka, Khrushchev, and even brezhnevka), the angle in the room can be formed as 88 0 or 93 0 (for a piermer), and it is problematic to cut off such an end according to a template. Then how to properly cut the corner of the skirting board without a miter box, avoiding large discrepancies and without using a complex and expensive tool? Use the presented method.

The figure shows cornices made of materials such as:

• Polyurethane (PPU);
• Polyfoam (PP);
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC);
• Wood.

To form an exact inner corner from the planks, follow these steps in sequence:

• Try on a baguette to the corner of the room, for example, on the right;
• Draw a fishing line with a pencil along the plinth;
• On the left side, do the same operations with the cornice;
• The point of intersection of the marker lines will be the upper mark, from which it is necessary to cut;
• Place the curtain rod in the corner and transfer the crossing point to the plank;
• Connect the upper and lower marks on the cornice with a pencil;
• Cut the ends according to the markings;
• For the second plank, the points are repeated in the same sequence.

Important: Before gluing the strips, check the accuracy of the cut: attach the curtain rods to the corner, and if there are no gaps between the fillets, attach them. If there are irregularities at the ends of the joining surfaces. trim the skirting boards more precisely.

The following solution is how to cut accurately and how to glue the skirting board without a miter box to the inner corner of the ceiling:

• Find out the fillet width;
• On the bottom, mark a point at the distance of the width of the plank;
• Connect with a diagonal line the point of the upper corner with the point of the lower mowing line, cut the product along this mowing line;
• For the second cornice, all points are repeated in the same sequence.

How to make a miter box template yourself

In the absence of a miter box or unwillingness to buy it, it is not necessary to purchase a special tool in order to use it once or twice in the entire history of repairs. You can make a homemade template with the same capabilities. it doesn’t take much time. As a blank for an impromptu miter box, take a board, thick paper or cardboard, and mark the required cuts on them.

Then draw two parallel mowing lines on the template, find the center in the drawing, and use a school protractor to set any corners. This simple technology gives very accurate results, while you can draw and cut any angle greater or less than 90 0.

The technology for working with a homemade miter box is no different from operations with an industrial product. The baguette should be attached to one of the lines, put the hacksaw at the selected angle, and cut off the workpiece. If you do not plan to spend money on miter box pr

Expanded polystyrene products

These planks are also inexpensive, although the material has increased strength characteristics than the foam mentioned above. Any sharp tool will work for skirting boards.

In addition to the usual, there is extruded polystyrene foam, and the strips of this material are already more expensive. They are distinguished by a denser structure, and for this reason it is rather difficult to cut them. At the same time, they are less prone to crumbling and breaking, and therefore skirting boards made of extruded polystyrene foam are cut with both a hacksaw and a sharp knife.

Wooden solutions

Ceiling fillets made of wood are rather heavy, dense products that are characterized by increased strength and hardness. They look more impressive in comparison with other analogs. But glue is not suitable for fixing them, as is the case with products from the materials listed above. Installation of wooden planks is carried out using self-tapping screws or nails.

Such fillets are easy to handle and can be processed using a special fine-toothed hacksaw. In addition, if the farm has a reliable sheet for metal, then it will also work.

Decorative corners

In this case, you do not have to think about how to cut the planks at the desired angle. After all, even if the joint turns out to be uneven, then such a defect will be reliably hidden from the eyes by a ready-made corner element.

Cutting the inner and outer corners of the floor skirting boards

Cutting the floor moldings exactly is no more difficult than cutting the ceiling moldings. Only the cutting tool is selected according to the material to be cut. The work itself will also be similar, only for manual cutting, a slightly different marking method is presented here.

How to cut the corners of a skirting board without a miter box

If you are wondering how to properly saw down a ceiling plinth without a miter box, then the following information will be useful to you. We take the right segment of the ceiling plinth made of polystyrene, apply it to the installation site and draw a line on the ceiling along its upper edge. It should go beyond the points of the vertices of the corners by about 5 cm. Do the same with the left segment and put points at the intersection of the lines. We put the ceiling plinths in place one by one and transfer the resulting marks to them.

We figured out the upper part of the ceiling moldings, now we move on to the bottom. Everything is simple here, the marks we need are the tops of the corners. Mark their location with dots on the lower edges of the left and right ceiling plinths. Next, you need to connect the points on the moldings. this will be the trim line. This method will help to cope with even the most curved corners. Adjustment is most likely not needed, and if it does, it will be minimal.

Important: the jobs described here require marking on the surfaces. Therefore, first you need to start cutting and adjusting the ceiling plinth, and only then think about how to glue the wallpaper. Or, if you want to attach the skirting boards over the wallpaper, markup and trimming are done before finishing, and gluing after it.

Ways to Form Correct Angles

We got acquainted with the materials of manufacture, now it’s time to consider ways of how to saw down ceiling plinths at 45 degrees. After all, it is the joints of the walls that pose a particular problem during their installation. And since the surface of such products is quite complex, it is not enough just to cut the bar at the required angle. you should cut them in such a way that they dock without gaps.

To be able to perform the correct and ideal angle (or almost), there are several ways. But first, let’s find out what a miter box is.

Using a miter box

• The joiner’s miter box is a device in the form of a tray with grooves for a hacksaw and is designed for precise cutting of corners on boards, slats and beams. Standard miter box has 45, 60⁰, 67.5⁰ and 90⁰ stencils.
• In order to make a cut for the outer corner of the ceiling plinth, you need to insert the profile into the miter box on the side from which the plinth will be fixed to the ceiling. We apply the cornice to the wall of the miter box closest to us, because we do this not for the floor, but for the ceiling. Find an angle of 45⁰ in the gutter and cut off the extra piece.
• The ceiling plinth is applied with the lower part upwards, and when we look at it from top to bottom, we will see the profile exactly in the same perspective in which it will be on the ceiling (see Wall-to-ceiling joint: how to choose the right ceiling plinth). Take into account that the lower cut point (in the miter box it is the upper one) will be adjacent to the corner of the wall, therefore, it will be the nearest extreme point from the beginning of the profile. To saw off the left plinth to the outer corner, place the hacksaw from left to right, and vice versa for the right plinth.
• Now let’s figure out how to saw off the baseboard for the inner corner. The lower extreme point of the profile (in the miter box, the upper one) will protrude, therefore, the left plinth needs to be sawed off from right to left, and the right one. from left to right. Thus, we get the inner corner.

Trim ceiling plinth

What to do if there is no miter box?

You can cut the polystyrene strips with a knife. However, sharpen it properly. Otherwise, the material at the ends will simply crumble.

Cutting the skirting board in the miter box

When trimming, remember that when decorating the inner corner, the edge of the skirting board adjacent to the wall should be longer than the edge adjacent to the ceiling. When decorating the outside. on the contrary.

• A second ceiling strip is inserted into the tray from right to left and cut off;
• The finished planks are attached to the corner and the joint is adjusted with a knife;

How to installed xps polystyrene cornice

Planks are attached to the corner and an adjustment is made

• How to join the corners of the skirting board? You can do this from a stepladder right on the wall. But it is not very convenient, therefore, experts advise to combine and glue polyurethane and foam elements with each other on the floor with special glue for joints.

Polystyrene tiles removal, easy quick tile glue removal

The corner is best glued before installing the skirting board on the walls How to cut the skirting board:

How to cut the corners of a ceiling plinth

External slices

How to join ceiling skirting boards at the outer corners? The outer corner is formed by shortening the lower edge of the profile, since the upper perimeter will be larger than the lower.

The corner for the ceiling plinth is selected according to the size and shape of the fillet. Use items from the same collection and batch.

How to dock?

Methods for joining moldings depend on the material, as well as on its decorative features. For example, it is desirable to mount an array on hardware. The large weight of the profile with an impressive width of the product will require the use of appropriate self-tapping screws. Adhesive solutions in this case will be unreliable. It is a completely different matter when it comes to foam or gypsum profiles. These are fairly lightweight and easily workable planks that adhere perfectly to glue and putty.

When combining two or more planks, the mating angle must be taken into account. On flat areas, docking at 90 and 45 degrees is used. In the first case, the molding is simply butted, and in the second, it is trimmed according to a template or using a miter box.

General guidelines for forming corners

In the presence of embossed or printed ornamentation, care must be taken to align the image symmetrically. In this case, you will get a harmonious transition from one area to another.

How to fit the ceiling plinth correctly if it has a complex relief or printed ornament? When making a cut, be sure to take into account the features of the relief and print. Use a mirror to find the area that gives the most beautiful alignment of the pattern. To do this, place the mirror on the bar at the desired angle and move it along the plinth to the right and left until you are satisfied with the result.

Remember that in straight sections, the joints are usually not particularly difficult, so start from the corner. In this case, the installation will look neat and professional.

How to connect the ceiling plinth in the corners to make it look beautiful? This can be done in two ways:

• using a template or miter box to file a fillet;
• use factory cast elements.

Corners for skirting boards are usually sold with fillets. You can choose any number of straight and corner elements for your project. At the same time, keep in mind that when you are dealing with angles greater or less than 90 degrees, the factory elements will have to be slightly modified and adjusted to size.

How to make corners on a skirting board

How to make a corner on a skirting board so that it looks neat and beautiful on any profile? This is not an easy task for novice craftsmen, since not every skirting board can be joined the way they would like. Are there any rules and secrets of skill from experienced professionals?

In this article, you will find answers to the most common questions asked by newbies:

• how to join the ceiling plinth;
• how to make an inner corner of a ceiling plinth;
• how to join ceiling plinths in outer corners;
• how to adjust the skirting board if the walls are joined in a non-standard way.

DIY installation

Once the corner is properly cut, it must be attached to the wall. This can be done in the following ways:

How to properly cut a ceiling plinth with your own hands without the help of professionals

Foam components will be more preferable for installation. It’s a little easier to work with them. First of all, you need to organize work on measuring the inter-wall corners. If their value is close to 90 °, then trimming of the edges at an angle of 45 ° is required. This action needs to be done with the next trim. If the inter-wall joints are represented by any irregularities, then the corner radius is divided in half. Try not to confuse the parts: the baguette, the one that is fixed on the left side, should be provided with a right cut, and the right fillet with the left.

To complete the inner corner, you must try to make it so that its lower section rises above the upper one, and for the outer corner. the opposite. The plastic and rather soft structure of expanded polystyrene fillets eliminates the need to fit them to each other, which can hardly be said about the components made of wood or plastic. After working on the side cuts, you need to estimate the plank to the ceiling for trying on. If necessary, undercuts are made in the area of ​​joining the base and the accessory. The work on the rough joining of the skirting boards is completed by fixing on glue or screwing fillets to the walls with further sealing of the seams.

How to cut coving corners perfectly

They have another advantage: if you cut a strip that is too long, the skirting boards in the corners must be cut at 90, so it will be more difficult to “not hit”.

Manufacturing material and name

The first material from which they began to make plinths for decorating ceilings was gypsum. They had to be cast in special molds, after which they were attached to the ceiling using plaster mortar. Such decorative elements were called fillets and nowadays they are practically not used, but you can see them in old houses, which have practically not survived during this time. These are expensive elements of interior decoration, so no one uses them today, and their name is practically unknown to anyone. Today there are cheaper and more practical skirting boards for finishing ceilings.

Nowadays, ceiling skirting boards are made from materials such as polystyrene or polyurethane. These are inexpensive decorative elements that differ in a number of advantages related to ease of installation, practicality and attractiveness, as well as “weightlessness” in comparison with plaster trim elements, which have an impressive weight. Such skirting boards made of polyurethane or polystyrene are made of various widths (from 5 to 250 mm), and also have a wide range of shapes and patterns, so it is possible to choose such decorative elements for any style of decoration. The only exceptions are buildings made of wood, decorated in the appropriate style, where elements from wood are taken as a basis and nothing can be done about it, since the style always dictates its own conditions.

There are also plastic skirting boards that are not afraid of moisture, so they are used to decorate rooms in which there is high humidity. At the same time, for the sake of justice, it should be noted that decorative elements made of polystyrene are also not afraid of moisture.

Ceiling skirting boards are adjusted in the corners using some methods, while such options are not suitable for trimming plastic skirting boards.

Forming the inner and outer corner

How to saw off a skirting board for an outside corner? In order to cut it off, it is necessary to put the plinth into the miter box from the side from which the element will be fixed to the ceiling. Thus, the ceiling molding is applied to the near wall of the miter box. After that, along the gutter, which has a slope of 45 degrees, the skirting board itself is cut.

The fillet is applied with the lower part to the top of the miter box. Thus, we will see the element exactly in the same perspective in which it is attached to the ceiling. Do not forget that the lower point of the cut will border on the corner of the wall, that is, it will be the extreme point of the profile.

In order to cut the left outer corner skirting board, the hacksaw is placed from left to right, and for the right skirting board, on the contrary, from right to left.

And what to do to cut the inner corner of the left skirting board? In this case, the lower extreme point of the element will protrude, so the left fillet is cut from right to left, and the right one. from left to right (read: “

How to cut the ceiling plinth correctly. good to know

“). Thanks to this, we get the inner corner.

Types of corners in rooms

When installing skirting boards, you need to arrange the corners in some way. By their appearance, the corners are external (which protrude forward) and internal (for example, corners in a room). In rooms with normal geometry, the corners are straight, i.e. 90 °. When joining two pieces of the plinth strip in the corner, they are cut so that each has an angle of 45 °.

To arrange the outer and inner corners, the skirting board must be cut

But how to make an angle on the plinth so that it is exactly forty-five degrees? To do this, use a special carpentry tool. miter box.

Using an electric saw

The miter saw cuts at an angle with high precision.

For the perfect sawing of the ceiling plinth, it is best to use an electric miter saw, where you can set any direction and cut the desired slope as accurately and accurately as possible. This does not require much effort. You just need to set the desired parameters and lower the saw blade to the surface to be cut, be it wood or plastic. However, you can also saw down the ceiling plinth using cheaper tools.

Now you need to study in detail how to cut a corner on the ceiling plinth.

Do-it-yourself installation of a ceiling plinth (fillet)

After installing a suspended ceiling between it and the wall, as a rule, there is a gap; when pasting wallpaper, an uneven strip of the upper edge also often remains. These imperfections are easy to hide if a ceiling plinth (fillet) is glued to the corner.

Ceiling skirting boards are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene, polyurethane, expanded polystyrene, gypsum and wood. The most widespread are foam plinths, since after painting they look no worse than gypsum ones, they are cheap and weigh practically nothing. Due to their low weight and ease of processing, their installation is not difficult even for craftsmen with little experience in performing repair work.

Calculation of the number of skirting boards

A ceiling plinth is usually 2 meters long. In order to determine how many rails are needed, it is enough to divide the perimeter of the room by the length of one rail. An online calculator will help you complete the calculation.

You need to buy one more rail than calculated, since there is no guarantee that the perimeter was measured with sufficient accuracy. In addition, when sawing the slats to size, some of them will be cut off.

Choosing the width of the skirting board

The range of skirting boards, both in width and in profile, is simply huge, so there is an opportunity to choose for every taste. Although the plinth is just a decorative element of the interior of the room, however, its width significantly affects the visual perception of the volume of the room, therefore, when purchasing a plinth, this fact must be taken into account.

In small rooms with low ceilings, it is necessary to install a narrow plinth, if you glue a wide one, then the ceiling will visually appear lower than it really is.

For large rooms with high ceilings, a wide skirting board is better. When installing a narrow ceiling plinth, the room will feel less cozy.

Painting the skirting board before installation

I like to watch the TV show “The Housing Question” and it surprises me that they often paint the ceiling plinth or molding after mounting it on the ceiling. After all, it is inconvenient to paint under the ceiling, and high accuracy is required so that the paint does not get on the ceiling and walls.

I make it easier. I cover all skirting boards with paintwork before installation. I put the plinth on the newspaper spread on the table, and paint it with water-based paint only on the front side with a soft small brush. Water-based paint fits perfectly on the baseboard made of polystyrene. I painted the skirting boards white. But if you wish, you can add color to the paint and get skirting boards of any color. As you can see, the preliminary painting of the skirting boards is more rational, as it requires less time and is not difficult even for craftsmen with little experience.

In some places, paint can get on the inside of the skirting board and dry out, forming droplets on the surface where the skirting board adheres to the walls and ceiling. These smudges must be removed by cutting off, for example, with a knife.

Installation of skirting boards on the ceiling

To mount the skirting board to the ceiling, it is necessary to cut the slats to size. In this case, its ends should have, depending on the place of joining, a straight line or an angle of 45 °

To obtain the joints of the skirting board with practically no gaps, sawing it must be performed using a simple device called a miter box. This device can be made with your own hands from improvised material in a couple of hours. Thanks to the presence of guides for the hacksaw blade in the miter box, it is a pleasure to saw the skirting board. Accurate butt is easily and quickly obtained.

You need to start the installation of skirting boards from the corners of the room. With the help of a miter box, form the corners of two rails that will join in the corner of the walls, apply and see how they fit. If necessary, grind off the excess with sandpaper. Often the sharp corner of the plinth rests against the rounded corner of the wall and a gap forms between the plinth strips. In this case, the corner of the plinth is rounded.

Since it was necessary to glue the skirting board to the PVC stretch ceiling and the walls painted with water-based paint, the transparent glue was chosen “Moment Installation Superstrong MVp-70 (liquid nails)”. As the practice of working with this glue has shown, it is perfect for installing skirting boards. Odorless glue, easily removed if it gets into an unnecessary place with a cloth soaked in water, quickly sets, transparent after drying, holds firmly, remains elastic after drying.

The foam plinth is practically weightless and there is no need to apply liquid nails to the entire surface adjacent to the ceiling and wall to glue it.

It is enough to squeeze out a pea-sized portion of glue from the tube and apply these portions at a distance of 10-15 cm from each other symmetrically, as shown in the photo. After applying the glue, the skirting board is installed in the corner. Literally in 15 seconds, he will already be holding on quite tightly. If glue accidentally comes out from under the skirting board, then it must be immediately removed with a wet rag. Full hardening of the glue occurs in a day.

No matter how hard you try, you will still get small gaps at the joints of the skirting boards. Making them invisible is easy. You need to take a little paint, which was used to paint the baseboards, and stir it with any putty material, even chalk will do. You should get a putty with the consistency of thick sour cream.

With the help of a brush (you can also use your finger), all joints are overwritten with this putty. If irregularities appear after drying, then they are grinded with fine-grained sandpaper. If necessary, you can touch up the putty places with paint.

After such processing, there will be no traces of the joints, and all the corners will look monolithic, which you see in the photo.

Using the installation of skirting boards according to the proposed technology, you will get an ideal result, even if you have undertaken this work for the first time.