How to properly cut the corner on the baseboard

Features of corner trimming on the ceiling skirting

When cutting the linear elements of the ceiling plinth, there are some features and tricks that are familiar to professionals. To get a flawless decor on the ceiling, you need to consider the following nuances:

  • When buying parts, you should check the transverse dimensions of each product, because, even millimeter deviations from the standard, will be noticeable when docking at an internal or external angle.
  • If you don’t have a jigsaw on hand but need to cut at a 45-degree angle, you can make a template yourself by simply outlining a square with diagonals on a checkered notebook page.
  • If in the process of docking a small gap is not removed by sanding, it can be masked later, using ordinary putty, which is applied to the ceiling.

Work on the sawing requires from the master increased attention to detail and nuance, as an error can lead to irreversible consequences and unjustified costs for the purchase of new decorative elements.

Type of skirting boards

In catalogs of producers there is wide enough range of models. Baseboards differ in terms of rigidity and configuration. According to the first parameter they can be divided into:

  • Rigid, which by its parameters are close enough to wood products. They can be mounted not only at the floor, but also under the ceiling. For their manufacture uses raw materials based on polyvinyl chloride, which provides sufficient strength and rigidity. For skirting is characterized by moderate rigidity. A wide range of colors allows you to pick up the product taking into account the color design of the floor covering. The peculiarities of rigid skirting board include its brittleness when exposed to bending moment. This fact must necessarily be taken into account when fixing the skirting board with self-tapping screws;
  • Soft, resembling plastic tape. The skirting board is relatively easy to install and does not need any additional trimming. Mainly made of PVC. In terms of popularity is significantly inferior to the rigid analogue. Particularly suitable if the walls of the room are uneven. A special polyurethane-based adhesive is used for fixing the flexible skirting tape. In some cases, putty may be used.

The configuration of the skirting board in cross-section may also vary. The choice is made with purpose in mind. Manufacturers offer:

  • T-shaped, which helps to design the floor beautifully. With its help, the decorative coating is fixed in a regular spatial position. and more often the floor surface is decorated in this way with a carpet. If you do not want the plastic plinth to stand out strongly against the background of the laid cloth, it can be decorated. For this purpose, use strips of carpeting, fastened to the surface of the hard strips with double-sided adhesive tape. As a result, it is possible to beautifully design the floor surface, making the skirting almost invisible;
  • L-shaped, fixing the finishing material directly to the floor surface. These are the most common. Thanks to their smart shape, they can be easily attached to a wall surface.

The functional purpose of plastic skirting boards can be distinguished by the following. Skirting boards are available with:

  • an internal cable duct, thanks to which one or two different types of wiring can be concealed. Manufacturers offer products with different size cable-channel, which directly depends on the size of the plinth. This allows you to place not 1.2 wires inside the baseboard, but all the wiring;
  • Rubber strips on the inner surface, which ensure a tight connection of a plastic skirting board to an uneven wall.

The main types of floor plinths

Previously, baseboards were made primarily of wood and were considered to be just wooden products. But now in construction stores you can find such decorative elements, which are created and made of metal, and plastic and other materials.

A wooden skirting board is a classic. It is a natural product, as it is made of solid wood. This type is distinguished by high strength and durability. skirting boards installed during the Soviet Union, still faithfully serve in some apartments and houses. Now they are mainly made of pine wood, but there are also products made of walnut, oak, ash and other species. However, at the expense of this increases the cost of products. such skirting boards are not for everyone.

Because of this, veneered skirting boards appeared on the market. their are an order of magnitude lower. However, outwardly they are almost indistinguishable from products made of expensive wood. The thing is that their upper part, which plays a decorative role, is made of a thin layer of expensive wood. Without some knowledge and experience, it is almost impossible to distinguish a veneered skirting board from an ordinary wooden one.

On a side note! To cut wood and veneer skirting boards use a regular wood hacksaw.

How To Cut Baseboard Corners That Look Great

It is easy to cut wooden skirting boards with a metal saw

corner, baseboard

Particularly popular now is the plastic skirting board, that is made of PVC. It has partially displaced conventional wooden products from the market, as it has a number of advantages:

  • looks nice and neat. capable of imitating natural wood products;
  • Easy to install, flexible and very easy to cut;
  • Can serve as a conduit for wiring;
  • it is not exposed to water, it does not rot, and mould will not grow on it;
  • Is inexpensive compared to wooden or veneered products.

Plastic plinth is made of polyvinylchloride, which is put through special molds under high pressure. After the mass hardens, you get a neat plastic product.

For your information! Some manufacturers decorate the edges of plastic skirting boards with rubber. This measure helps the product not to slip on the walls and floor during installation and fits snugly to the surfaces.

Plastic skirting boards are of several kinds. for example, used for carpeting (have a special shape in the form of a letter G, fix the material) or for linoleum. There are also universal products that can be installed on any type of flooring. They can also be classified according to their rigidity.

Table. Types of plastic skirting boards depending on the hardness.

How to do without a jigsaw?

For a perfectly even fit two corners at the junction of the ceiling mouldings can be cut blanks, without placing them in the jigsaw, and by making a mark directly on the ceiling. To determine and place the mark for the inside corner, the length of the ceiling cornice measure off, starting from this corner. In order to perform the marking of the outer corner, it should be taken into account that the wide curtain rod will go out exactly to the size of its width to the side of the room.

Let’s consider in more detail how to saw a skirting board without the use of a jigsaw

  • On the right side of the corner it is necessary to press the cornice to the ceiling surface and draw an additional straight line, placing it along the outside of the workpiece.
  • Where the line drawn will intersect, this point and draw a straight line from it, leading to the bottom corner of the skirting board. So you get a marking on which will be made sawing the baseboard at the required angle.
  • The next step is to fold both corners towards each other and check the quality of the joining seam. If errors are detected, they are removed by using sandpaper and a file.
  • After both blanks will be a perfect fit, the skirting boards need to be trimmed to the required length and glued to the wall. Do not trim before the perfect match of the cuts of the corner joints. During installation you should know that in order to decorate stretch ceilings, ceiling skirting boards are not fastened to the ceiling, but only installed on the wall.

To trim the skirting board to join it in the inner corner of the room marking do as follows:

  • Put the two skirting boards together and if the joint is inaccurate, one side should be trimmed again; after the perfect joint, the skirting boards can be attached to the wall.

When the installation is made wooden or polyurethane ceiling mouldings, inaccuracies in the junction are corrected with a file. To adjust the cut parts of foam plastic or polystyrene foam, you can eliminate the defects with a sharp knife. Such a method of trimming the ceiling cornice is convenient in those homes where the outer or inner corner is not sustained exactly under 90 °, but has a size, for example, 87 ° or 94 °. Use a wire cutter in this case will be ineffective.

In most cases, decorating a living space with expressive elements of decorative stucco is not very difficult. They are mainly used for the purpose:

Aesthetic fragments with ornate patterns, complex ornaments are cut to size with a sharp knife or a hacksaw on metal, attached to an even, pre-prepared plane and glued using an adhesive composition. Quickly decorate the wall with stucco fragments can virtually any beginner in the field of repair. But when it comes to decorating the corners, at such a difficult stage of work, the main difficulties arise. They are associated primarily with the ability to achieve even angles, which is very difficult if you use improvised devices. a knife or hacksaw. In order to maintain a certain slope, you will need professional tools.

It should be emphasized that the use of a crosscut is not the only way to create even corners of decorative slats, but all of them are inferior to the carpenter’s device in terms of the degree of use and quality of trimming. To achieve the required edges without tools is possible only for professionals with extensive experience. Therefore, connoisseurs of vintage styles it is advisable to think about the question of how to learn how to work with a carpenter’s machine to easily and quickly cut exterior, interior corners. It is important to list the main advantages of the joiner:

  • low cost;
  • easy to use without special devices;
  • options for fixing on any surface;
  • Small size and weight (made of plastic, wood, metal);
  • Cutting corners in two planes;
  • work with planks of practically any material.

Along with the obvious advantages, the carpentry machine has two minor drawbacks. there is no possibility of setting the required angle of cut manually, the parameters of the workpiece is limited by the width of the product. Despite several disadvantages, worthy alternatives to the power saw have not yet been invented. The carpentry machines, sold in stores, usually have six characteristic slots to achieve angles in the workpieces. That is, three on each side.

Molding, skirting, fillet can be cut at 45, 135, 30, 60, 15 degrees, depending on the model. However, you should not think that the design features end there, because carpentry devices come in many forms: simple, rotary, electric. But for cutting strips to improve the style of the interior, an ordinary carpentry machine will be sufficient.

Outer corner

Often in rooms, in addition to the inner corner, there is also an outer corner, which is also subject to special treatment.

In order not to miscalculate the size, you must first prepare the inner corner, and then begin to work on the outer.

  • The ceiling bar is pressed to the ceiling, and the dimensions of the cut are outlined.
  • The slat is placed in the device and pressed to the nearest wall.
  • Do not apply too much pressure when cutting the piece, the main thing is to leave some extra space.
  • The other slat is processed in exactly the same way.
  • In doing so, the slat must be placed closer to the right hand.
  • It must be in contact with the wall of the appliance, which is located further away.
  • The skirting board is cut without much pressure, and then the two parts are joined together. They must be docked perfectly, if this is not the case, you can adjust the slats with a knife.
  • If all is well when fitting without glue, you can attach it with glue or mortar,
  • Small defects can easily be sealed with a special mortar.

To trim a plinth with the help of a plinth joiner is possible only in a situation if the angle has 90 degrees, if it is more or less, then the trimming should be carried out manually.

What to do if gaps remain?

If the defects are found after the work is complete, then very few people like the prospect of redoing it. In this case, it is easier to mask them with one of the compounds. The best option for such processing will be the final acrylic putty. It has a white color and is very plastic. The material is taken with the fingers, then it is pressed into the remaining gap, gently distributing in the hole, smoothing. Remove the remaining composition with a damp cloth. As a rule, traces of imperfections in the joints do not remain.

How to cut a ceiling plinth? It is necessary to be equipped with the necessary tools and patience, as haste always provokes mistakes. The main thing in this case is to choose the best method. But care and accuracy are just as important: baseboards are not made of a very strong material (the exception is wooden baguettes). They are fragile, so excessive force when working with such products is contraindicated.

How to cut a ceiling plinth?

The answer depends on the angle in question. The internal and external docking is slightly different.

Inside corners

It is easiest to work with a wire cutter, but it is possible to work without it. In this case, the line of the cutting angle (45°) is drawn using a protractor. The second option is to apply the baseboard to the place where it will be located, and mark points for cutting.

The 45° cut is not the only operation. To be able to easily join the two elements, a slight bevel is made on their outer side. This step requires repeated fitting of both blanks, because such a correction can only be made by eye. Plastic skirting boards are trimmed with a sharp office knife. For wooden baguettes, do not use a hacksaw, but another tool: it is better to create bevels by trimming the edges of products with a large rasp.

Outer angles

In this case the difference is that it is not the outer sides of the strips that have to be hewn, but the inner parts. The rest of the procedure is no different. First, using a wire cutter, make cuts at a 45° angle, then both blanks are sent to the fitting. on the wall, then neatly make a bevel on the inside.

If the outer corner of the wall follows at a small distance from the inner corner, there is often another problem. She. selection of billet lengths. You need maximum accuracy here, so you have to do a lot of fitting, as the rule about “measure seven times” works here.

Incorrect geometry of the walls is another obstacle, which can be difficult to circumvent. Their unevenness is one of the most common problems. In this case, the plinth is attached to the base, mark on the product the defects of the wall, then it is further processed.

How to cut a ceiling plinth using a wire cutter?

It cannot be said that the use of this tool makes the task elementary. Baguette must be firmly held in place, otherwise the result can be defects. If the width of the product is small, it must be pressed to the near side of the jigsaw.

For outside corners

Before we start the operation, we make a notch on the workpiece (45 °).

  • The tool is fixed in the most comfortable position. This preparation gives a chance to determine the exact position of the skirting board. Or rather, that its edge, which will have to be at the ceiling. As a rule, the right side of the workpiece is placed on the right side, and the left side is placed on the left side.
  • The skirting board is pressed against the underside and sides of the jigsaw, so as to avoid any movement. Start the kerf from yourself.

After completion, both workpieces are applied to the corner (without glue composition), check the coincidence of parts. If correction is necessary, it is done with a knife.

For internal corners

In this case, first determine which surface of the plank will be “adjacent” to the ceiling.

  • It is placed on the bottom of the tool.
  • The other side is pressed against the closest wall.
  • After completion of sawing, the strips are checked in the place of their subsequent fixation. If there is a need, then also carry out adjustments.

The last stage of the work is the gluing of the skirting boards. If small gaps are left, they can later be closed with a suitable material.

How to do the work with the drawn jigsaw?

The use of a “no-nibbler” is another answer to the question of how to cut a ceiling plinth. On the role of the template is suitable paper, cardboard or a fairly large wooden board. First draw three parallel mowing lines on the material, then finish drawing a square, then its corners are connected by diagonals, obtaining angles of 45°.

Since not all homes and apartments have absolutely correct wall geometry, in this case, for the accuracy of the cut, you must first check the corner. If the walls do not match, then from the use of a normal tool, you need to give up at all. It will be successfully replaced by a homemade paper (cardboard) device.

How to trim the edges without a chisel?

If there is no desire to make a homemade skirting board, then there is an alternative option. But in this case, the result will depend on the accuracy of the work. The operation consists of several steps:

  • attach the first plank, then on the ceiling at the corner with a pencil conduct the fishing line;
  • This baseboard is removed, then the opposite blank is attached, which is also marked;

Despite the lack of a special tool, the quality of work does not suffer, but in this case the accuracy and flawless cuts are important. Work on the blanks for the outer corner is carried out similarly, but in this case, the mowing line draws (and continues further) from it.

The alternative to cutting the baseboards

If there is no desire to perform an independent joining of blanks, you can use a simpler solution. to purchase special corners, greatly facilitating this stage of the operation. However, even this option is not always available. The reason is the limited range of such products. Not every skirting board can be fitted with them.

Prefabricated corners simplify the operation as much as possible. In this case, first determine the dimensions of this element, then measure the length of the baseboard blanks for the corners. They are cut at 90 °, so this stage does not promise any difficulties.

What to do if the angle is not straight?

And in this case there are several ways out, so the way is sure to find.

“Simple not simple” fitting

This is the easiest method, but its main drawback is the duration of the operation, because the strips are cut literally a little at a time. Finish the operation when the cut edges of the baguettes come together perfectly.

Using a rotating jigsaw

Unfortunately, such a tool is not found in every “arsenal”, but, nevertheless, it should be mentioned. In this case, first measure the size of the angle of the joint of the walls with the help of an angle piece. Then the obtained value is divided in half. At this angle and trim the baseboards. An alternative, which has already been mentioned (written) in passing, is the drawing out of a paper gauge using a protractor.

Creating jigsaw edges

It is a painstaking work, which can not be called a correct method, but it allows to achieve results. In this case, in one workpiece make a convexity, and in the other, on the contrary, a notch of the same size. Operation “Puzzle” also takes a lot of time, but this method has the right to life. Minus it. the complexity, so before proceeding to the operation on normal “patients”, it is necessary to practice on the scraps.

Marking with a fishing line on the ceiling

This option has already been described (How to trim edges without a mortar?). If we talk about complexity and accuracy, this method guarantees the absence of serious errors. In addition, this work can not be called too slow. However, it also requires accuracy and care.

Pencil and ruler

The ruler is good to use in rooms with even corners. But often the angle between the walls is not equal to 90 degrees. and therefore, to cut the baseboard with a template designed for a 45-degree cut, it is unwise. In this case, use manual marking with a pencil (or marker) and a ruler.

The method of cutting in this case looks like this:

  • The skirting board is attached to the corner, a pencil is drawn with a fishing line along its outer edge.
  • Applied to the other side, the mark is repeated. As a result, on the ceiling should get a cross, marking the place where the edges of the two elements of the plinth converge.
  • A piece of baseboard is installed in place, which will be glued to the corresponding wall. On it with a pencil mark the position of the cross on the ceiling, and on the bottom edge. the junction point of the two walls. Read in a separate article about how to make stucco on the wall yourself.