Cleaning up the aftermath of polystyrene tiles

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All the rooms in the upstairs of our house had polystyrene ceiling tiles and coving. I've removed the tiles succesfully (and more easily than expected!) and trimmed them as neatly as possible around the edges of the coving. I don't want to remove the coving as I don't want to have to redecorate the walls at this time. I'm planning to paint the ceilings with textured ceiling paint to cover up the cracks etc, but was wondering if anyone had any bright ideas of how I could tidy up the edges around the coving so they're not just rough cut polystyrene? Could I maybe use Plyfilla or some such product?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated :)
 
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So was the coving fitted on to the poly tiles?
If so how think are the tiles and what size gap would be made, if you cut them right back under the coving?
 
Yes the coving has been fixed over the tiles. The tiles were about 1cm maybe 2cm at the very most thick. So now there is a gap of around that sort of thickness which is cut back as far as I can without damaging the coving.
 
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If you look at the images in this pdf you will see that coving can be applied over strips of plasterboard (or Gyproc battens) to give extra detailing/shadow lines. Image 4 shows something that might appeal to you if you have enough room to slide a single narrow strip of plasterboard (you could use thin timber battens if preferred/easier) into the gap between coving and ceiling.

You could try a filler but it will make the top edge of the coving appear thick and will probably look untidy.

In all honesty, I would take down the polystyrene coving and replace it with wider Gyproc coving, if possible, or use the same size with the plasterboard/batten method to cover damaged areas and avoid the need for redecorating.
 
That's a really good idea. I'll have a look into costs etc.

I know using filler is going to be pretty rough and ready. But then again the rooms are too at the moment. At some stage I'd ideally want to completely remove the coving like you say, but not got the time or cash to do that right now.

Had to remove the ceiling tiles on health and safety grounds so rather had my arm twisted. Now I need to make the ceilings look a bit better. If that means the coving's a little messy for a time, then so be it.
 
Thanks for all the tips guys. I've ended up going for the caulk option as it's the cheapest and easiest and it looks fine. At some stage or other we'll probably go for a complete redecorate upstairs at which point we'll probably remove/replace the coving altogether, but it's fine for now :D
 
lol!! Actually I did our room and the spare room in a couple of days shortly after the original post. We have 2 small boys sharing the other room and it's been tricky finding time to caulk and paint the ceilings around their sleep times as well as tying in with weekends/holidays. Nearly done now :D
 
lol!! Actually I did our room and the spare room in a couple of days shortly after the original post. We have 2 small boys sharing the other room and it's been tricky finding time to caulk and paint the ceilings around their sleep times as well as tying in with weekends/holidays. Nearly done now :D

Ha! I have never worried about getting caulk on small boys. It's one of the nicest things they end up covered in tbh :)
 

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