How to cut a skirting board without a miter box

How to cut a skirting board in corners without a miter box

The miter box seems to be easy to handle, but the angles are not always 90 degrees. This method will help solve the problem of correctly cutting the skirting board in the corners quickly and without unnecessary hassle.

Procedure to properly cut the skirting board in the corners without a miter box:

• Place the skirting board close to the corner.
• Draw a line with a pencil along the top of the skirting board.
• Do the same on the other side of the corner. attach the baseboard and draw the line. In the corner these stripes will cross.
• Re-attach the plinth, draw the line down from the intersection point. We do the same with the second part.
• Cut the skirting board along the marked strips. The result is an even and beautiful angle.

How to trim ceiling plinths in corners

The skirting board is an important interior detail that hides the imperfections of the wall finish joints. It is easy to install as it is attached with glue. But here’s how to properly cut the ceiling plinth in the corners? This will help you figure it out

How to cut a ceiling plinth in corners without a miter box

Every novice master who has started a renovation sooner or later wonders how to cut a ceiling plinth in the corners without a miter box. The scheme proposed in the article is perfect for both a beginner and an experienced craftsman, so that beautiful even skirting boards please the eye.

Useful Tips

A few useful tips from experienced craftsmen who will quickly help you cut the plinth in the corners without a miter box:

• ceiling strips are installed after all parts have been prepared;
• if an error is formed at the foam plinth, it can be corrected with an ordinary knife. If it is made of a different material, it is better to use a file;
• you need to cut the skirting boards from the side, and then try them on to the desired angle in order to immediately detect errors;
• before finishing cuts, it is advisable to perform several trial fillets on scraps in order to avoid mistakes;
• it is advisable to treat the joints at the corners of already glued skirting boards with silicone sealant or finishing putty;
• trimming the fillet is required on a straight and solid plane, marking up;
• to mark the outer corner, the plinth must extend beyond the corner to its full width;
• to mark the inner corner, the length of the plinth is counted from the corner;
• A table pressed against the wall may well become a template for a home maker. It forms a perfectly right angle.

How to cut a skirting board with a miter box

The miter box is a carpenter’s tool, which is a slotted tray. It allows you to cut the ceiling plinth at the desired angle.

If we talk about a professional tool, it has a special turning mechanism. This allows you to set the required degree of the angle. It is most convenient to use a miter box when the angle between the walls is perfectly straight.

How to trim the skirting board for the outer corner

It should be borne in mind that when trimming the fillet at a completely right angle, there will be a strong gap between the two planks. Therefore, you should use this scheme:

• Measure the length of the skirting board against the ceiling surface.
• Position the skirting board in the miter box, holding the part with your hand.
• Place the tool at an angle of 45 degrees. It should point to the left.
• Trim the oblique corner.
• Next, we carry out similar actions with the second bar, but the tool should be directed to the right.

How to process an inner corner

To cut the ceiling plinth in the inner corners with a miter box, you need to follow a simple scheme:

• Measure the length of the plinth by attaching it to the ceiling.
• Install it in the miter box on the left and press.
• Holding the plinth with your hand, place the knife at a 45 degree angle (should point to the right) and carefully cut.
• Measure the length of the second plinth.
• Install it in the miter box on the right and press.
• Further actions are similar, but the tool must be directed to the left.

How to cut a plinth for a ceiling

To quickly cut a ceiling plinth without a miter box, you need to take into account what material it is made of. This will also allow you to select the tool you need to work.

On the construction market, skirting boards made of the following materials are most often found:

• wood;
• PVC;
• foam;
• polyurethane.

Polyvinyl chloride has a small price category. But any kink or dent will not pass without a trace for him. Also, the skirting board made of this material quickly becomes dirty. You can cut it with a hacksaw or a construction knife.

The styrofoam option is cheap but fragile. To cut such a ceiling plinth in the corners, you should take a sharp knife or hacksaw for metal. And it is advisable not to put pressure on the material.

The extruded version is much denser than a foam baseboard, but it is more difficult to cut it, especially without a miter box. Tools for work will need similar.

Polyurethane skirting boards are considered the most expensive. It is durable, moisture resistant and has excellent flexibility. You can use a construction knife for cutting.

To figure out how to cut the ceiling plinth in the corners without a miter box, first you need to clarify how exactly this is done with it.

Working solutions for baguette preparation without miter box

Another option for trimming the plank is to create some kind of structure from thick cardboard and a wooden block. The first step is to bend the cardboard to the angle you measured in the corner of the room. Then, to the wooden block intended for cutting the corner, press the cardboard and draw the line along which you want to cut the block. this will be your template. To cut the fillet, place the wooden template on top of the plank, and cut the required angle along the block.

Current offer in the construction market. Kindecor skirting board made of expanded polystyrene, made by extrusion technology. Therefore, the ceiling slats of the Russian company “Kindecor” do not have the disadvantages of PPU cornices. The cost of cornices is much lower than foam or other analogs.

But in old houses with “floating” corners, such sets are unlikely to come in handy. in the kit you will find only angles at 45 0. 60 0 and 90 0. How to fix the situation? You need to roughly cut the end of the baguette. an angle of approximately 45 0. and then, during several fittings, cut the angle in place to the required value.

Baseboard installation without Miter Saw. Плинтус без отрезной пилы

When cutting the baguette and shaping the outer corner, use this method:

• Press the plinth to the right side of the corner so that the plank protrudes beyond the corner by at least its own width;
• Use a pencil to mark the line on the ceiling;
• Press the plinth to the left side of the corner so that the plank protrudes beyond the corner by at least its own width;
• With a pencil, mark the line on the ceiling, mark the intersection of these two lines;
• Copy the markings to the plank, connect the dots with a line, cut the baguette along this mowing line;
• Check the evenness of the cuts by applying the prepared baguettes to the outer corner;
• Before gluing the ceiling plinth without a miter box, remove any errors (irregularities, chips, gaps, inconsistencies) on the fillet surfaces.

Cutting and joining techniques for baguettes

In the picture above, you can see the process of cutting off the curtain rod along the slot of the miter box, but how to trim the ceiling plinth without the miter box? We offer you several options with descriptions, as well as making a template for the simplest miter box on your own. Let’s consider all the methods in order:

• Try on the cornice to the ceiling surface, run a marker line along the ceiling surface;
• To the right of the selected corner, press the product against the ceiling, draw another straight line;
• At the intersection of straight lines, mark the plinth itself with a dot, then draw the line from the markings on the baguette to its lower corner. Along it you will cut off the required corner on the fillet;
• The left corner is marked in the same way;
• After cutting both skirting boards, press them into a corner and check for precision. If there are gaps, trim the corners again. Remember. so that the bar does not become shorter than the required length, do not shorten the unmarked part of it until you achieve an exact connection;
• After adjustment, the fillet is glued or screwed on. The ceiling plinth for stretch ceilings cannot be attached to the surface of the ceiling material. it is glued only to the plane of the wall.

Attention: Do not press with great force on the foam or expanded polystyrene cornice when cutting it. it may lose its shape, and after gluing, dents and other irregularities will be visible.

The method is as follows: how to cut a ceiling plinth without a miter box along the outer corner of the ceiling:

• Press the plinth to the right of the corner and draw a line 200-300 mm long with a pencil or marker along the ceiling;
• Press the cornice to the left corner, mark up to the first mowing line so that the markers intersect;
• On the plank, mark the points at the crossroads of the markers and in the corner of the room;
• Connect the marked points on the cornice, cut the plinth along the markings with an angle of inclination towards the inside of the plank;
• Check the accuracy of the joint in place, trim again if necessary.

Classic baguettes are made of wood, but it is difficult to fit them exactly without the use of a factory miter box and appropriate cutting tools. Wooden baguettes are formed with a cross-cut saw, and in its absence. with a carpenter’s hacksaw with a fine tooth, an electric jigsaw or a hacksaw for cutting metal.

Important: A cornice made of polyurethane or aluminum is considered reliable in terms of moisture resistance. But the polyurethane cornice should not be exposed to temperature changes, so it is not recommended to install them in the kitchen or bathroom.

Whatever the plinth, if the angle in the room is not 90 0, then it will be difficult to make an exact cut for joining the planks. In old buildings (stalinka, Khrushchev, and even brezhnevka), the angle in the room can be formed as 88 0 or 93 0 (for a piermer), and it is problematic to cut off such an end according to a template. Then how to properly cut the corner of the skirting board without a miter box, avoiding large discrepancies and without using a complex and expensive tool? Use the presented method.

The figure shows cornices made of materials such as:

• Polyurethane (PPU);
• Polyfoam (PP);
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC);
• Wood.

To form an exact inner corner from the planks, follow these steps in sequence:

• Try on a baguette to the corner of the room, for example, on the right;
• Draw a fishing line with a pencil along the plinth;
• On the left side, do the same operations with the cornice;
• The point of intersection of the marker lines will be the upper mark, from which it is necessary to cut;
• Place the curtain rod in the corner and transfer the crossing point to the plank;
• Connect the upper and lower marks on the cornice with a pencil;
• Cut the ends according to the markings;
• For the second plank, the points are repeated in the same sequence.

Important: Before gluing the strips, check the accuracy of the cut: attach the curtain rods to the corner, and if there are no gaps between the fillets, attach them. If there are irregularities at the ends of the joining surfaces. trim the skirting boards more precisely.

The following solution is how to cut accurately and how to glue the skirting board without a miter box to the inner corner of the ceiling:

• Find out the fillet width;
• On the bottom, mark a point at the distance of the width of the plank;
• Connect with a diagonal line the point of the upper corner with the point of the lower mowing line, cut the product along this mowing line;
• For the second cornice, all points are repeated in the same sequence.

Docking of ceiling fillets without an industrial miter box

Factory miter box. it is an aluminum, plastic or wooden tray with depressions 45 0 or 90 0. Such a device is rarely used at home, so it is not found in everyone. But few also know how to cut a ceiling plinth without a miter box, so we will consider a few simple solutions that will allow you to dock the ceiling plinths in the corners of the room with great accuracy.

When renovating an apartment, installing a new ceiling is often necessary to create a complete design idea. The completed ceiling is decorated with beautiful fillet skirting boards. The baguettes are glued, nailed or screwed along the perimeter of the room, their position is previously marked in the corners at the joints of the walls and ceiling. Ceiling cornices are often rigid and solid strips (although there are elastic silicone ones), so they need to be beautifully docked in the corners of the room with each other, and without a miter box it is difficult to do this, but it is possible.

Fillets for framing the corners of the ceiling are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), expanded polystyrene (PPU), polyurethane (PU), polystyrene (PS), polystyrene (PP), wood or metal:

How to Use a Mitre Box

• Foam decorative cornice is fragile, but this does not matter for unloaded ceiling structures. PP skirting boards can have different widths, the standard length is 1 meter, the surface is bas-relief with various patterns;
• Expanded polystyrene. the material is dense, easy to install, the edges of the cornice do not crumble during cutting;
• Aluminum or wood is the most difficult to dock. you need great accuracy, which is difficult to achieve without the use of a miter box. It is recommended to cut the corners of such cornices with a sheet for metal, to calculate the correct cutting angle, use the methods below.

Polyvinyl chloride is easily crushed, after which it is not restored. Requires caution and minimal pressure when machining

Cut with a carpenter’s cutter or a hacksaw for metal

The foam plank is fragile and crumbles easily. It is recommended to cut the PP plinth with a very sharp cutter or a special tool. an electric nichrome cutter

Cut with a carpenter’s cutter or a hacksaw for metal, hot wire clamped in clamps

It is cut with an ordinary hand or special tool (electric side saw, wood saw with fine teeth, metal blade), the cost of products is higher than PPU, PP OR PVC curtain rods

How to make a miter box template yourself

In the absence of a miter box or unwillingness to buy it, it is not necessary to purchase a special tool in order to use it once or twice in the entire history of repairs. You can make a homemade template with the same capabilities. it doesn’t take much time. As a blank for an impromptu miter box, take a board, thick paper or cardboard, and mark the required cuts on them.

Then draw two parallel mowing lines on the template, find the center in the drawing, and use a school protractor to set any corners. This simple technology gives very accurate results, while you can draw and cut any angle greater or less than 90 0.

The technology for working with a homemade miter box is no different from operations with an industrial product. The baguette should be attached to one of the lines, put the hacksaw at the selected angle, and cut off the workpiece. If you do not plan to spend money on miter box pr

Using a miter box

If the corners and walls in the room are even, you can use a special carpentry tool. a miter box. This is an inverted U-shaped chute in which the mowing line is marked for cutting at 90 ° and 45 °. The part in which you need to make a gash is laid inside, a saw is inserted into the guides. The part is held in place, cut at the desired angle.

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 must be pressed against one or the other wall of the miter box. When working with ceilings, they are pressed in 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, place 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 part 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 protruding outer or outer corner.

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

First put the sawn-off parts in place “dry”, 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 you 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 the video.

Skirting materials and cutting methods

First of all, let’s try to determine what the fillet can be made of, and what specific material is better to cut.

On sale today you can find products made of polystyrene (polyvinyl chloride), wood, expanded polystyrene and polyurethane.

Perhaps one of the cheapest skirting boards is made of polystyrene, which is a fragile, soft and brittle material.

Even the fingers of the hands can leave dents on them, wrinkles and defects are easily formed on them. It is quite difficult to trim the corner of the PVC-based skirting board nicely and evenly.

For an inexperienced craftsman, a large amount of purchased material can go to waste for this very reason. Also, this polymer has high electrostatic properties, which explains its ability to collect dust.

It is most convenient to cut such a plinth with a hacksaw or a sharp construction knife.

Products made from expanded polystyrene are also inexpensive, although this material is a more durable analogue of traditional foam.

Can also be cut with a sharp tool.

Extruded expanded polystyrene

Extruded polystyrene skirting boards are slightly more expensive, they are somewhat denser and more difficult to cut. But they crumble and break much less.

Therefore, cutting them is more convenient and easier. For this purpose, it is convenient to use a hacksaw or a sharp knife.

Polyurethane ceiling skirting boards are currently perhaps one of the most expensive.

But they justify their cost: moisture resistant, quite strong and dense, quite elastic.

The skirting above the stove may deform and even crackle slightly.

They are perfectly cut with a special knife without forming crumbs. But these products are very sensitive to temperature extremes.

Wooden skirting boards for the ceiling are quite heavy and dense products, solid and durable.

They lend themselves well to processing with a special fine-toothed hacksaw. You can also use a reliable metal blade. So how to cut the ceiling plinth correctly?

How to properly cut the ceiling plinth in the corners at home without a miter box Video and Photo

A ceiling plinth is a narrow decorative demarcation between the ceiling and adjacent walls.

It is very convenient for them to mask the joints on the walls and on the ceiling, especially if they have a different structure and are not made too neatly.

Its presence makes the design of the room clearer and more complete.

Often people ask the question: how to correctly and accurately decorate a room with a ceiling plinth?

This is especially true for those cases when the owner of the house prefers repairs done with his own hands.

Outside corner

It is most correct to observe the dimensions more precisely, first start to mark the inner corner, and only after that move on to the outer.

Otherwise, it may happen that the entire length of the bar is not enough.

The plank is applied to the ceiling, basting is made to size. Holding on with the left hand, the ceiling plinth is pressed against the nearest wall, the hacksaw handle is brought closer to the hand. The workpiece is cut.

The strike plate is pressed against the nearest wall, while holding it with the right hand. The blade of the hacksaw should be at an angle of 45 °, the handle of the tool comes close to the hand of the master. A piece of the workpiece is cut off, the corner will neatly fit.

Such processing with the edge of parts with wort is good in cases where the angle between the walls is even and straight (90 °).

If its performance leaves much to be desired, then it is worth using a different method.

Features of cutting different materials

The following materials are used for the manufacture of ceiling plinths:

Each option has a number of characteristics, so they need to be considered separately.

How to make a corner of a ceiling plinth without a miter box

Few people in apartments or houses have angles of exactly 90 °. Small deviations are easily corrected after fitting. But not always. Then you have to mark everything “in place”. under the ceiling.

You will need a finely contoured pencil (hard. it is not so visible on the ceiling, but leaves quite clear marks near), a small piece of plinth, a ruler and a good stationery knife if you work with polyurethane (polystyrene) baguettes or a metal saw to work with other materials.

Apply the plinth to the corner, draw along the outer edge with a pencil. Apply to the other side of the corner, also mark. You have a cross on the ceiling, the center of which marks the place where the plinths of the ceiling plinth should converge (look at the photo). Having installed a piece of plinth in the corner, which will be glued there and resting it with its end on the wall, transfer the mark to it.

How to make corners on skirting boards without using special tools

How to cut skirting board or baseboard corners. No power tools required!

Now take a ruler and connect the edge of the skirting board with the marked mark. If you just put the plinth on the table and cut along the mowing line, the two parts in the corner will still not fold: the inner part will interfere. It can be trimmed later by trying on the ceiling. The second way is to set the piece to be cut on the table with the piece that will be on the ceiling. And cut along the mowing line, but holding the knife at an angle of about 45 °. It will still be necessary to correct, but much less (and less chance of error).

Repeat the same operation with the second bar. Put it against the desired wall, rest the butt against the adjoining wall, mark the place where the cross is drawn, draw the line and then cut it off. Correction Carried out “dry” without applying glue.

You repeat exactly the same steps for the outer (protruding) corner. Now you know another way to make a corner of a ceiling plinth, and without a scissor or other special devices.

Outside corner

It is most correct to observe the dimensions more precisely, first start to mark the inner corner, and only after that move on to the outer.

Otherwise, it may happen that the entire length of the bar is not enough.

The plank is applied to the ceiling, basting is made to size. Holding on with the left hand, the ceiling plinth is pressed against the nearest wall, the hacksaw handle is brought closer to the hand. The workpiece is cut.

The strike plate is pressed against the nearest wall, while holding it with the right hand. The blade of the hacksaw should be at an angle of 45 °, the handle of the tool comes close to the hand of the master. A piece of the workpiece is cut off, the corner will neatly fit.

Such processing with the edge of parts with wort is good in cases where the angle between the walls is even and straight (90 °).

If its performance leaves much to be desired, then it is worth using a different method.