Fitting Coving

scrivomcdivo · Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 2:19 pm

I have just had my living room replastered today by a plasterer. He has said that the room will take around 5-7 days to dry. I'm just wondering how long I have to wait before I can fit coving to the walls / ceiling? I am hoping to fix the coving with a glue-type substance. The coving is not wood and is just the cheap plaster-type stuff

noseall · Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:26 pm

provided you use a water based adhesive, you can successfully fit coving whilst the plaster is still curing. i use knauf board adhesive, it's white, has high grab properties and is dense enough to fill the joints.

scrivomcdivo · Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:46 pm

I was thinking of using "no more nails" - is Knauf board adhesive stronger?

noseall · Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:44 pm

scrivomcdivo wrote:

I was thinking of using "no more nails" - is Knauf board adhesive stronger?

yes it will be a lot stronger.

because of the potential high volume of adhesive needed (well at least high volume to a caulk gun anyway!) a powder mix is usually best. it will retain its workability well and make it easier to fill any shallow spots.

don't go with no more nails, you will be cursing forever. cartridge sealants/adhesives/fillers have their uses, but not in this case.

Welstead · Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:08 pm

Someone said to me that they have had there coving up for 8 years with no nails. I have just put mine up in the kichen with B&Q ready mixed coving adhesive.When it has drid I will use painters caulk to fill the gaps. It will flex with the movment of the house and is less likey to crack than if it is filled with the coving adhesive.

noseall · Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:53 pm

painters caulk is ideal for gaps up to 5mm, anything bigger will require more than one application.

powder mixed adhesive will go off relatively quickly but at a predictable rate. by the time you've applied the cove, gone round and wiped of the excess, had a cup of tea, any thicker gaps are ready to be second filled and finished.

this is how the pro's do it anyhow.

Welstead · Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:26 am

The pros will use the adhesive to fill the gaps because it is much quicker and costs them less money. So would I if I was in the trade! I have found from experience that painter’s caulk is less likely to crack over some time. The house will move more than you think. In the summer and winter weather, the house will expand and shrink. That’s why selling’s and walls crack.

noseall · Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:32 am

the reason ceilings crack at the wall to ceiling abutment is because of the differential movement of the ceiling (wooden) relative to the wall (masonry).

it is unlikely such movement will affect the coving, simply because of its location away from the vulnerable angle.

plaster products are very temperature stable and shrink very little.

Welstead · Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:18 pm

At My last house ,I used the adhesive to put coving up and filled the gaps with the adhesive. After 2 years most of it had hair line cracks so I used painters caulk. After that, 5 years went by and no cracks. So, this time in my new home I will use painters caulk to fill the gaps.

noseall · Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:40 pm

fair enough.

scrivomcdivo · Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:05 pm

OK..........so I had a go at putting up the coving with my dad today and we just couldn't get the angles right for the interior corners. We tried 45 degree angles but they just didn't seem to fit for some reason. Anyway, I went to B&Q and bought two ready-cut corner pieces to use as guides.

Wish me luck.....

confidentincompetent · Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 12:04 am

scrivomcdivo wrote:

OK..........so I had a go at putting up the coving with my dad today and we just couldn't get the angles right for the interior corners. We tried 45 degree angles but they just didn't seem to fit for some reason. Anyway, I went to B&Q and bought two ready-cut corner pieces to use as guides.

Wish me luck.....

Do you mean the walls angles are out or are you not using a cove mitre box?.. You can get a mitre box for cove... If the walls are not tru ( they rarely are) the cove adhesive is a good filler for this, overfill the gap, wait for it to just start to set, then sculpt away the exess filler, tidy up with a damp brush/ sponge. when set dry you can sand it more .. and it wont crack...

Thats the beauty of the cove adhesive as noseall mentioned above..
good luck..

scrivomcdivo · Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 10:48 am

I went to two of my local hardware stores yesterday but I couldn't find coving mitre blocks.

Welstead · Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:33 pm

B&Q have them at about £4.00p

confidentincompetent · Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 11:38 pm

Dont know what brand of cove you got. But did they supply a leaflet with the mitre templates? Whch you can cut out and trace onto the cove. Like Gyproc ...Here...page 16..
http://www.british-gypsum.com/pdf/lit_cove%20cornice%20booklet_feb05.pdf

Good luck..