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HOW- TO HOW-TO PUT UP COVING

This How-To provides a step-by-step guide to installing coving. It describes the different types of coving
available, advises on preparing wall and ceiling surfaces, and explains how to deal with irregular and 90
degree corners.

MATERIALS

• Masonry pins - 38mm

• Coving
• 'Gyproc' dry wall screws - 25mm or 32mm
• Coving adhesive to suit type of coving used
• Squared paper - 2mm squares
• Corner pieces - decorative or plain
• Double sided tape
• Abrasive paper - fine and coarse
• PVA adhesive

TOOLS YOU MAY NEED

• Steel tape measure - 3m minimum • 1 bucket for clean water

• Combination square • Stirring stick for adhesive - approximately 18 x
30 x 600mm
• Filing knife - 100mm
• Stepladder x 2 (may be hired)
• Plasterer's small tool - leaf and square
• Scaffold board or boards to suit length and width
• Claw hammer
of room (may be hired)
• Spirit level - 225m • Googles or safety glasses for use with masonry
• Chalk line nails
• Paint brush - 25mm • Hard point handsaw - 12 teeth per 25mm mini
• Pencil - HB mum
• Scoring tool, for example, tile scriber, tungsten • Broad bladed bread knife - for cutting poly-
carbide tipped styrene or fine tooth saw - 14 teeth per 25mm
minimum.
• Plasterer's hawk
• Adjustable bevel guage
• Mitre box or compound mitre saw (hand)
• Frame gun - for adhesive available only in tubes
• 1 small clean bucket for mixing adhesive
• Trimming knife with snap-off blades

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 F1 F2

BEFORE YOU START

ABOUT COVING
Coving is a decorative moulding placed in the angle between a wall and the ceiling. The range of ready-made
mouldings now available makes it easy to add this decorative and practical feature to any room.
Coving not only creates a decorative frame, it also conceals the inevitable cracks that open up between wall and
ceiling surfaces. It is easy to cut to size and simple to glue or fix in place. All coving can be painted but only water
based paint may be used directly onto polystryene based products.

TYPES OF COVING

PLASTER COVING
The most widely available and commonly used type of coving. It has a solid plaster core encased in paper with a
plain curved profile and a back shaped to fit into the angle between wall and ceiling. It comes in 100mm, 127mm
and 135mm profiles, the latter being double curved (F1). It is available in 2m and 3m lengths and is fixed in place
with powder or ready-mixed cove adhesive.

P O LY S T Y R E N E C O V I N G
Relatively inexpensive, very light in weight and easy to stick in place using special polystyrene adhesive.
However, it can be difficult to saw cleanly and is best installed using pre-formed corner pieces.
It comes in 38mm, 70mm and 100mm profiles. Lengths vary according to manufacturers but most commonly
1220mm and 2m. Some plain mouldings are available with a paper covering making them easier to handle and
decorate.

P O LY U R E T H A N E C O V I N G
More expensive but easier than polystyrene to cut cleanly and with a superior surface finish. It is available in a
range of profiles including imitations of traditional plaster coving. It is fixed in place with adhesive.

FIBROUS PLASTER MOULDINGS

Made in a wide range of traditional designs and profiles. They can be more expensive and the heavier types
have to be fixed in place with screws as well as adhesive.

CORNERS
These may be mitred. You can either make a mitre box to suit the size of the profile or you can buy a proprietry
mitre box. A good alternative to a mitre box is a hand operated compound mitre saw. This is especially useful
when cutting mitres other than 45 degrees.

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 F4

F3

F5

F6

PRE-FORMED CORNERS
Rather than cut mitres, you may prefer to use pre-made corner pieces. These may be plain or decorative
depending on type. They may be bought to suit internal and external angles. They are fixed in position and the
coving is then cut square to fit beside them.

HOW MANY LENGTHS?

Measure the length of each wall in the room to be covered and work out how may lengths of coving you will
need. Allow an extra 150mm at each corner of the room for joint cutting and work out where you can use off-cuts,
for example chimney breasts or in bay windows.

P R E PA R I N G T H E W A L L S A N D C E I L I N G
1. Clear the room of furniture and remove or cover any floor coverings.
2. Marking out - decide how far down the wall the coving will come (F1,measurement ‘a’). Some manufacturers
provide this measurement in their instructions. Mark this measurement in several places on each wall.
Mark lines all around the room using a chalk line (F2). Repeat this operation on
the ceiling using the same measurement.
3. Prepare the surfaces. Scrape off any loose paint and seal 'chalky' surfaces with plaster stabilizing solution.
Scour gloss painted surfaces with coarse abrasive paper.

If the walls or ceiling are papered, use a sharp craft knife to cut through the paper 1.5mm inside the fixing line
and remove the strips of paper. Make sure all paper adhesive is removed.
Score the wall and ceiling between the guide lines (F2). Use a tungsten carbide tipped ceramic tile scriber for
good results. The scoring will help the core adhesive bind to the surfaces.

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 F7 F8

F9 F10

CUTTING MITRES AND FIXING PLAIN COVING

ORDER OF WORK (F3)

1. Start on long walls. This will enable off-cuts to be used on short walls.
2. Where more than one length of coving is required, work from each end towards the middle. (F3, A and B).
3. When measuring pieces with external corners, (F3D) place a section of cove on each wall and mark its
position on the ceiling. This is a double check against discrepancies in the wall surfaces.
4. Mark the wall edge of each length of coving by writing 'W' on the back surface. This prevents confusion as
you transfer measurements from the room walls to the coving. Always place the wall surface of the coving
against the back of the mitre box (F4).

TYPES OF MITRE
F6 shows the four main types of mitre, two internal and two external. F4 shows how to cut internal angles and F5
shows how to cut external angles. Use a fine toothed saw which must be long enough to cover the full depth of
the box.

HINT
Cutting expanded polystyrene cleanly is difficult. Try using a fine toothed bread knife.

CUTTING MITRES
1. Measure and cut square all of the lengths of coving you will need, adding on 30mm for waste. This ensures
a cleaner cut on the sharp corner when you mitre. As you cut each piece, mark it on the wall with a number
or letter.
2 Take the first piece and cut the appropriate mitre (F3A1).

HINT
If coving comes with a paper mitre template, use it as an extra guide to accuracy to mark up the cut (F7).

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 F11
F12

3. Offer it into position and mark its square end onto the wall.
4. Take the next piece (F5, A2). Mitre the end (F9C).
5. Place it in position and mark its length against previous marks on the wall and ceiling.
6. Cut it square, reducing its length by 1.5mm. This allows for adhesive filler.
7. Carry on round the room until all the pieces are marked and annotated.

MITIRING ODD ANGLES

1. F8 shows the plan of part of a bay window. The dotted lines show the position of each piece of coving
before mitiring.
2. Mark the positions on the ceiling.
3. Mark the position where the ceiling lines intersect onto the coving. Also mark the position where the walls
meet on the lower edge of the coving.
4. The easiest way to cut the angle is to use a compound mitre saw which can be bought or hired (F9).
However, if care is taken, the cornice can be cut with a handsaw along a line drawn between the two
pencil marks.

MAKING STOP ENDS

You may terminate a run of coving with a stopped end, for example where a hall ceiling meets the stairwell (F10).
Cut the end of the long piece of coving to form an external corner. Next, cut the appropriate length of cornice then
cut it off square to length. Both pieces are fixed as described below, the longer one first, and the mitre made good
with adhesive or filler.

FIXING THE COVING

Every type of coving material requires the correct adhesive. Use the adhesive recommended by the coving
manufacturer and follow any mixing instructions carefully.

1. Tap masonry pins just into the plaster along the chalk wall line. The upper surface of the pin should be level
with the fixing line.
2. Unless the adhesive comes in a tube and is applied with a frame gun, use a wide filling knife to apply
adhesive to the back edges of the coving, applying it only to the surfaces that touch the wall and ceiling (F11).

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 F13

F14

3. If using plaster based products, quickly dampen the wall and ceiling between the guide lines. Use covering
primer or dilute PVA adhesive - 5 parts PVA: 1 part water.
4. Offer up the first piece of coving, resting it on the pins. Ease the mitre into the corner and firmly but gently
push the coving inwards and upwards (F11).
5. Remove excess adhesive from the coving edges and smooth off with a damp brush or sponge. Be sure to
remove any adhesive from the edge of the mitre. If it sets, it will stop a good joint being made later on.
6. Carry on fixing the next piece, filling the joints with adhesive. Use decorator's 'Mate' to fill joints in polystyrene.
This can be done later.
7. Joints at internal corners can be filled and cleaned using the plaster's leaf and square tool. Finish off with a
damp brush or sponge.

USING CORNER PIECES

If you prefer to avoid cutting mitre joints in your coving, use decorative corner pieces. Fix pre-formed corner
pieces in place first, then measure and cut square ended lengths of coving to fit between them. (F12).

If you are using stick-on coving corners, fix them over your mitred internal and external corners using adhesive
(F13). Remove excess adhesive immediately.

U S I N G R E L I E F PAT T E R N E D C O V I N G
The principles for marking and fixing this are the same as for plain coving. However, because of the pattern, it
is nearly always better to use pre-formed decorative corners (see above).

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Also in order that the pattern is divided equally along a wall, setting out and fixing should work from
the centre of the wall towards the pre-fixed corners. (F14).

F I X I N G C O V I N G T O A W O O D E N , M D F O R M E L A M I N E FA C E D S U R FA C E
1. The surfaces should be thoroughly abraded using coarse abrasive paper.
2. After fixing, extra support should be given by driving 25mm or 30mm dry wall plasterboard screws through
the coving into the sub-surface. The heads should just dimple the coving. They can be filled later.
3. When screwing fibrous plaster (solid) coving, you must drill a clearance hole and countersink before screwing.

D E C O R AT I V E C O V I N G
Painting
Expanded polystyrene coving must only be painted with water based paint. Spirit based paints may damage
the coving and become a fire risk.

All other types of coving can be decorated with any household paint. Absorbent surfaces should be primed with
coving primer or slightly diluted paint of the type being used. If the colour of the coving is to be different to that on
the walls or ceiling, use light tack masking tape to give a perfectly straight line.

Using coving inserts.

Plain coving can be enhanced by fixing a raised pattern coving insert onto the surface. Use the adhesive
recommended by the manufacturer.

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