architrave tolerance.

Sadly I’ve lost this battle. I met with the joiner this morning and he looked at me like o was crazy.
He said there’s so much glue on the architrave they can never move and the decorator will take care of all of these gaps.
Just shoddy.

On big decorative archs like that I stick biscuits in. I'm sure we all have our own methods, but mine is to cut the sides, mitre, slot for biscuit, fix. Cut a header with the base dimension say +1-2mm wide and the top edge slightly longer so the mitres are slightly splayed wide. Hold in position and note how much slivvering (is that a word) needs taking off on the left side to get a perfect mitre, slice off the sliver on the mitre saw to true the mitre, hold in position and note how much needs slivvering off t'other side, trim, insert biscuits, glue and fix.

I also don't have pin/nail heads showing like that - I pin down the casing edge and otherwise use a grab adhesive.
 
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If thats the worse of the work on your extension overall, you havnt got a lot to worry about. Think big picture in my opinion. Decent decorators will make those gaps disappear. Yes your joiner could and probably should do a better job, and maybe we all could do a better job, but just being realistic here I would chose to fight your battles elsewhere. Are you paying a fair price for a fair job then Id say OK. If you were quoted and paid for excellence finish and flawlessness, then yes your right
 
Weird thing is that architrave mitre joints are the easiest to do.
Assuming that they fitted the lining more or less straight, they just need to cut the joints at 45⁰ and fit it tight.
Maybe as mentioned, his mitre saw needs adjusting.
 
Weird thing is that architrave mitre joints are the easiest to do.
Assuming that they fitted the lining more or less straight, they just need to cut the joints at 45⁰ and fit it tight.
Maybe as mentioned, his mitre saw needs adjusting.

But some of them are perfectly right. It’s only about 7 out of 14 joints that are “gappy”.

He said it’s something to do with needing the detailing to match up and not wanting to force it back to the wall.
I assume the walls are out. New walls that they plastered.
 
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yes maybe plaster not perfect, or lining not perfectly plumb or perfectly square, even if its out by a few mm, 45 degree cuts may open up a little like yours has. maybe if the mitres were closed perfect the architrave would look out somewhere else etc. I woudlnt stress
 
Open mitres stick out like a sore thumb with a big bandage on it.
Get the stiles perfectly vertical and it won't matter if the mitre is cut slightly off 45º, because you can line the header up, mark off the points, and cut it to the correct angle.
I'm not a joiner, but if I was doing that in my own home, I would not accept it.
Stand your ground and tell him you are not satisfied with them.
 
He said it’s something to do with needing the detailing to match up and not wanting to force it back to the wall.
I assume the walls are out. New walls that they plastered.
So what he is saying, in effect, is that he doesn't understand the need the plane out a rebate at the back of the architrave outer edge to accommodate discrepancies in the plasterwork? And whatever happened to the judicious use of a block plane to correct minor discrepancies on the chop saw? This is fairly basic stuff
 
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