How To Cut A Polyurethane Skirting Board

How to cut the ceiling plinth in the corners The final stage in the design of the room. Installation of a ceiling plinth. How to make a corner correctly so that everything will come together without gaps, how to join in the outer and inner corners. Read on.

How to get the correct angle

Most of the problems when working with skirting boards arise in the design of corners. Since the surface of the products is complex, it will not be possible to simply cut off at the desired angle: it is also necessary to cut so that they dock and preferably without large gaps. There are actually several ways to make the corner of your skirting board perfect (or almost).

Using a miter box

If the corners and walls in the room are even, you can use a special miter box carpentry tool. This is a groove in the form of an inverted letter P, in which the mowing line is outlined for cutting at an angle of 90 and 45. The part in which you want to cut is laid inside, the saw is inserted into the guides. The part is held in place, cut at the desired angle.

how to cut a polyurethane skirting board

This is what the miter box looks like. Can be plastic, wood or metal

In the case of skirting boards, not everything is so simple: they must simultaneously adhere to two surfaces, therefore they need to be pressed against one or the other wall of the miter box. When working with ceilings, they are pressed against the side closest to you.

The sequence of actions when finishing the outer corner, you need to make a gash at an angle of 45 degrees. Place the miter box in front of you. Trying on how the plinth will be located, determining which part of it will be attached to the ceiling. In order not to get confused and cut off the ceiling plinth correctly, put the strip that will be located on the right on the right, the one on the left on the left.

How to cut a corner on a ceiling plinth: install it correctly in a miter box

Press the part that is on the ceiling to the bottom of the miter box. The other side is closer to you and raised. Lean it on the wall of the device so that it does not stagger when cutting. That is, the front of the skirting board turns out to be turned away from you. Do the cutting direction as shown in the photo below. By folding the two cut pieces together, you get a projecting outer or outer corner.

How to make the outer corner of a skirting board using a chair

First put the cut off parts in place on a dry one, without applying glue. If the geometry of the corner is not so perfect, you can tweak it a little with a knife. It is easier to cover small errors with a special putty.

The situation is very similar with the inner corner of the skirting board. First, try on which side will be on the ceiling, press this part to the bottom of the miter box, lean the second part on the wall closest to you and make cuts as shown in the photo below.

How to make an inner corner of a ceiling plinth using a miter box

And again, first try on without applying glue, if necessary, slightly adjust. Then apply a thin bead of glue to both surfaces that will adhere to the wall or ceiling.

Your own version of how to use the miter box correctly is shown in.

How to cut ceiling plinth in corners

The quality of the ceiling finish greatly affects the appearance of the room. Therefore, they try to do everything perfectly, or very close to it. The finishing touch to the design is the ceiling plinth. They give the finish a complete and holistic look. The strips themselves are mounted on flat surfaces simply: on special white glue, but problems arise with the design of the corners. Without knowing how to make the corner of the skirting board correctly, a lot of material deteriorates. We will tell you about how and what to cut it in the corners.

When is it better to paint polyurethane floor skirting boards

According to the technology, the skirting boards are mounted after the finishing of the walls is completed, the flooring is laid and the facing of the doorways is installed. This is what they usually do. But when to paint a polyurethane skirting board (before or after installation) is a question. Indeed, during the installation process, you will putty joints, gaps between the wall and the baseboard. Then the putty is sanded so that the joint is invisible, then everything is painted. So it is more logical to paint after installation and putty.

But if you install models with an ornament, it makes sense to paint everything at least once before installation. As already mentioned, just a brush is too uncomfortable. And also at the floor level in general there are a lot of difficulties. So we paint a plastic, duropolymer or polyurethane skirting board with an ornament on a horizontal surface.

How many layers of paint

How many layers of paint are needed when painting polyurethane or duropolymer skirting boards? In general, it depends on the color in which you will paint, and also on the paint. Look exactly in the description for the paint. There is both the dwell time between coats and the recommended number of coats.

We paint in several thin layers

In general, if you want to make white skirting boards, then it is enough to apply one or two layers to the white material. It may take three or more passes to get a dark color. But let’s say right away that taking more paint is not an option. There will be puddles and streaks, stripes. They will need to be removed with emery and painted again. So it is best to apply many thin layers.

When using a brush, layers are best applied in different directions. The first along the plinth, the second at an angle or across, the third along again. So there will be a more uniformly painted surface without gaps in the base and bald spots.

To prime or not?

In general, water-based paints work well on polystyrene and polyurethane, but it is better to try a specific paint. If not taken, rolls down, lays down with spots, it is better to cover with an adhesive primer. Take the composition for the selected type of paint. Read the description carefully: which surfaces can be applied. Styrofoam and polyurethane are rarely indicated, but if plastic is mentioned, the composition will work. Then everything is simple: the baseboards are primed with a thin layer with a brush before the installation and wait for drying. Then they follow the chosen scenario either installation, and then painting, or painting-installation-painting.

Painting primed duropolymer skirting boards is easy

Duropolymer can be primed or unprimed. If you bought an unprimed one, then the paint usually lays down poorly. Primers for common materials, by the way, too. Automotive plastic primers work well. It is better to take them not in a spray can, but in a jar and apply with a thin layer with a brush. The primer itself adheres well, after it dries, the paint also falls flat.

Advantages of polyurethane products

Polyurethane flooring is in many ways superior to its counterparts made from MDF, wood or other materials. Let’s consider the main benefits.

About the types of floor skirting boards

Resistant to temperature changes

The clear advantages of polyurethane include the ability of the material to withstand sudden temperature jumps. These skirting boards are great for decorating fireplace areas or country houses, where they can be exposed to strong heat. The shape of the skirting board remains unchanged even after strong heating, which cannot be said about wooden products, which can simply dry out.

Some types of polyurethane moldings and their benefits

A wide variety of shapes

Polyurethane is able to take different shapes and change shape, so if you need non-standard skirting boards, then this material is best suited.

Flexible type of skirting boards

Ceilings

The ceiling plinth performs not only a decorative function, visually separating the walls from the ceiling, but can also hide the joints of various finishing materials of the ceiling and walls. Not every interior design involves the use of a skirting board, but more often than not, the overall appearance of the room seems incomplete without it. There is nothing difficult in attaching this fillet element, almost all types of skirting boards are attached with glue. But the question of how to properly cut the ceiling plinth in the corners of the premises can confuse many. Indeed, even in the simplest room there are internal corners, where the plinths of the ceiling plinth must be precisely and beautifully docked. And in a more complex configuration of the room, you will also have to dock the skirting boards, performing the outer corner. In this article, we will look at various options for how to cut a ceiling plinth with and without tools at hand.

First, you need to figure out how to cut the ceiling plinth, the answer to it depends on the material from which the fillet is made. At the moment, we sell ceiling skirting boards made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), expanded polystyrene (foam), polyurethane and wood.

PVC ceiling skirting boards are the cheapest. They are easily dents and creases that cannot be repaired, so the product must be thrown away. Also their disadvantage is electrostaticity, the ability to attract dust. You can cut them with a sharp construction knife or a hacksaw.

Styrofoam ceiling skirting boards are also cheap. This material is very fragile, it crumbles easily during processing, therefore, it is necessary to cut the expanded polystyrene with a sharp knife or a hacksaw on metal, without making too strong pressing forces.

Ceiling skirting boards made of extruded polystyrene foam are slightly more expensive than polystyrene foam, they are denser and more difficult to cut. However, they crumble less, making them easier and more comfortable to work with. They are cut with a construction knife and a hacksaw for metal.

Polyurethane ceiling skirting boards are the most expensive at the moment. They are durable, elastic and moisture resistant, easily cut with a construction knife and do not crumble. The disadvantage of polyurethane skirting boards is their dependence on temperature changes. For example, over a gas stove, a polyurethane skirting board will permanently deform and begin to crackle slightly. If you try to process or cut such a plinth, it may bend or deform in other ways.

Wooden ceiling skirting boards are dense, heavy pieces that can only be cut with a hacksaw, preferably with fine, dense teeth. You can also use a cloth for metal.

Before proceeding to the enumeration of the ways of how to properly cut the ceiling plinth, I would like to note that there is a possibility not to cut the plinth with great precision. Available for sale special corner pieces, into which the edges of the skirting board are inserted. In this case, it is enough to cut the plinth strip at an angle of 90, and the corner element will hide all the flaws. But this method is not always used, since the dimensions of the corner elements are slightly larger than the baseboards themselves, so the corners in the room will stand out against the general background. Sometimes it can look bulky. However, if the design of the room allows the use of corner pieces for ceiling skirting boards, it makes sense to use them. Further instructions will come in handy for those who nevertheless decided to accurately cut the skirting boards at a given angle.

How to trim a ceiling plinth using a miter box template

Something resembling a miter box can be done by applying the required cut angles to paper, cardboard or wood. Draw two parallel mowing lines, locate the center, and then set the required angles using a protractor. The advantage of this method is that you can postpone any angle, including more than 90 degrees. Of course, before cutting the corners of the ceiling plinth, you must first check the angle between the walls with a corner and measure it with a protractor.

The technique for cutting a ceiling plinth using a painted miter box is exactly the same as using the miter box itself. We press the plinth plank to one of the parallel lines, then set the hacksaw at the desired angle, which is already outlined, and cut it off.

How to trim the corner of a ceiling plinth using ceiling markings

Marking the skirting board on the ceiling also allows you to cut the corner straight and precisely. The only drawback of this method is that it is difficult and inconvenient to keep the plinth strip suspended during the cutting process. Otherwise, you can mark the cutting angle in this way even more accurately than in other ways. Applying the plinth to the installation site, all wall flaws and deviations in the angle size are immediately taken into account.

Cutting the corner of the skirting board:

  • The first step is to cut two workpieces at a 90 degree angle.
  • Then we first apply one plank, resting its end against the perpendicular wall. We draw a line on the ceiling, outlining the contour of the plinth.
  • We remove this bar and apply a striker, also resting its butt against the wall. We outline the line.
  • The intersection of the marked lines will be the mark at which the skirting board needs to be cut.
  • Again, we apply each bar in turn and mark the cutting point on them.
  • We draw the line from this point to the other edge of the plinth.

We cut off the skirting boards along the outlined lines, join them and apply them to the installation site. Note that this method makes it easier to cut inside corners.