cove or not to cove

[chops]

Hi all i have attempted to coving in several rooms now and i still make a hash of it.
I use the plaster coving and end up buying the corner pieces and adjoin them to the lengths,it looks crap! i have tried a mitre box etc however i can not get my head round the angles although there is only several cuts ie internal external mitre cuts etc.
Please can someone tell me in laymans terms the best way to do this from start to finish ie preparation of the walls to cuts and putting together,are then any idiot proof devices out there that would assist with the cuts,the cut out mitre template supplied with some coving is not helpful any ideas.

Cheers chops!

 

[murraysnudge]

I know what you mean and must admit to making the odd mistake myself. What I do is take 2 off-cuts about 12" long and cut a LH and RH external on one, and a LH and RH internal on the other. These are your 'masters' which you keep in front of you when you are about to make a cut. Say you have marked the coving and want a RH external corner. You place the RH master next to the mitre box and put the saw in the slot you think is correct but ask yourself if that saw cut is the same angle as on the master before you cut it.

 

[masona]

The biggest problem is, you should have the same distance along the top of the ceiling and down the wall with equal gap and bang a nail on each end in the wall for the coving to rest on. This will give you the correct angle and remember the internal & external walls are never 90 degree which don't help. Cut the mitre then under cut it again slightly with a hacksaw blade until the corners meet up.

 

[murraysnudge]

If I may add that I use artex for fixing the coving which is also very good for filling the mitre if you do have one that doesn't meet properly. You can't be an expert straight away( & I'm still not ) so a bit of filling is ok. You can sand it down when it is hard and get a nice corner.