Any type of ceiling finish will look incomplete without a ceiling plinth. Using these elements, you can reliably hide the roughness of the butt sections between the wall and the ceiling.
The purpose of the miter box
The procedure for cutting corners of ceiling skirting boards is as follows:
- Attach a baguette to the site of the future fastening. This will make it possible to accurately outline the place of cut.
- Place the baseboard in the recess of the miter box so that the back side fits snugly against the bottom surface of the tool. The surface for spreading with glue should be oriented upwards.
- The ceiling skirting is cut along a 45-degree guide. You can use a knife or a saw to clean the irregularities of the cuts.
Self-made miter box
Given the simplicity of the design of the miter box, it is often made with its own hands from wood and steel. Product parameters do not matter much, but as their width increases, the accuracy of cuts increases. It should be borne in mind that if the width of the device exceeds the length of the hacksaw, the sawing procedure will encounter additional difficulties.
The first step is to outline the central axis of the workpiece, which will require a long steel ruler. Next, indent by 0.5 the width of the workpiece from the intersection points of the axis and the edges, for marking. These lines need to be connected crosswise. To mark the side walls of the tool, an existing base is used. When drawing lines, they are guided by the existing marking, from which the transverse lines depart.
Next, you can proceed to the assembly of the miter box. Self-tapping screws are used to fix wooden or chipboard walls to the base. If these elements are made of steel, angles with bolts will be required. The fully assembled design is equipped with saw guides, after which the tool is ready for use. With it, you can significantly speed up the repair and decoration work without losing time on manual cutting of corners. To cut the ceiling with the help of a miter box as it should, a little experience is required.
When there is no bite
It happens that the miter box is not at hand. In this case, you have to be smart. Before sawing a ceiling plinth, it is recommended to apply the cut direction on paper, cardboard or wallpaper. It will play the role of a guide for applying blanks to it when cutting. To make the drawing correctly, I attach a piece of baguette to the paper and draw a pair of parallel lines. They will serve as lateral boundaries of the workpiece.
Next, using a school protractor, measure 45 degrees and apply the direction of the cut. In the work, such a drawing is used in the same way as the miter box: you need to put the workpiece and cut off all the protruding parts along the line. The disadvantage of this method is that the cutting tool has to be kept on weight over the drawn line. There are no special guides for the saw.
Video: How to Cut Large Ceiling Skirtings
Trimming the indirect angles of the ceiling plinth
As practice shows, the angles in the room are far from always equal. It depends on the quality of the preparation of the walls and the architectural features of the room. In such a situation, the usual miter box or marking sheet is powerless, since you have to deal with other parameters of the butt sections. dull, or vice versa, sharp. Most often, this can be found in houses of the old layout, village buildings and cottages. There is only one way out in this situation. to make markings in place.
The order of work, how to cut the ceiling plinth at a non-standard angle:
- The baguette is positioned on any wall in such a way as to achieve abutment of the end face in the adjacent wall.
- On the surface of the ceiling, along the edge of the baseboard, a line is drawn.
- Label another wall in the same way.
- At the intersection of two lines, a mark is placed on the surface of the baguette.
- Connecting the mark and the corner part, carry out cutting.
- A similar procedure, how to cut the corner of the ceiling plinth, is carried out on another workpiece, which will be on the adjacent side.
- When installing workpieces, it is important to achieve a snug fit.
How to cut outside corners
Sometimes in a room there are corners protruding outward, cutting which is much more difficult. To implement this procedure, there are also several ways to cut skirting boards to the ceiling. The easiest way is to use a miter box: while the outer sections of the joints need to be cut so that part of the ceiling is on the plane of the miter box, and the side of the wall is adjacent to the tool wall. In addition, you can apply the markup "in place" by drawing lines along the base of the ceiling. The procedure here is very similar to the preparation of internal corners.
There is also an option with a marking on the wall, when the baguette is positioned parallel to the ceiling and fishing line is held along the lower cut. In the presence of excessive roundness of the outer corner, a sharp paint knife enters the work. At the point of convergence, the fishing line is precisely cut along the future docking: it should connect the ceiling and wall mark. The resulting marking is a guide for sawing or cutting the butt end.
Tool Suggestions
The process of choosing a specific tool for cutting corners of the ceiling plinth primarily depends on the material of the baguette:
- PVC. Plastic products prone to damage from any careless pressing. Since their elasticity is weak, dents are not restored back. This point should be taken into account, and do not particularly click on the product when cutting corners. As a tool, like cutting a skirting board on a miter box, it is best to use a sharp construction knife or a hacksaw for metal.
- Styrofoam. A very popular option for the manufacture of ceiling skirting boards and other decorative elements (moldings, lining for a chandelier, etc.). Foam products are very lightweight, which greatly facilitates installation. You need to carefully trim the corners of these friezes because of their fragility.
- Tree. Wood baguettes belong to the elite expensive products, distinguished by their external beauty and style. For cutting ceiling skirting boards of this type, a hacksaw is usually used for metal. In the process, it is necessary to regularly clean the teeth, because they get clogged pretty quickly. It is recommended to choose hacksaw blades with frequent tooth pitch.
Finished corners
For convenience, some manufacturers of ceiling friezes supply ready-to-use products for sale. This makes it possible not to waste time manually cutting corners. It is enough just to cut the product to the right angle in size, which makes joining much easier. The main disadvantage of such friezes is the large dimensions of the corner elements compared to skirting boards. As a result, the corner sections begin to stand out noticeably, and the perimeter is uneven. In some situations, this really affects the overall beauty of the finish. In addition, if the corners in the room are not perfect, laying the docking part will cause difficulties.
The procedure for trimming the corners of skirting boards is a very responsible task. Any mistake made may spoil the appearance of the finish. Most often, a miter box is used as a device for high-quality design of corner sections. This simple tool allows you to get an exact cut in 45 or 90 degrees. In those cases when the walls in the room do not form a right angle, the procedure of how to cut the ceiling plinth is usually implemented manually. When selecting a tool for cutting, account is taken of the material for making baguettes.