How to Cut Exterior Ceiling Plinth
Ceiling plinth is called 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 very carefully.
Its presence makes the design of the room more clear and complete.
Often people ask themselves the question: how to competently and accurately decorate a room with a ceiling plinth?
This is especially true for those cases when the owner of the house prefers do-it-yourself repairs.
Ceiling plinth. fillet
To do this correctly, it is important to strictly comply with existing recommendations and rules for finishing work. And then the result will please you.
In order to hang a ceiling plinth, even inexperienced repairmen do not have difficulties. Exciting them is completely different: how to trim the ceiling plinth? In fact, almost every room, no matter how intricate its shape, is equipped with corners.
And in these internal corners, the individual elements of the plinth should be beautifully and evenly docked. And in rooms of a particularly complex configuration, you will have to be wise and over external corners. Let’s try to figure out how to be in each of these situations, and how to cut the desired part using the available tools.
Skirting materials and cutting methods
First of all, let’s try to determine what a fillet can be made of and what concrete material is better to cut with.
On sale today you can find products from polystyrene (polyvinyl chloride), wood, polystyrene foam and polyurethane.
Styrofoam
Perhaps one of the cheapest are foam baseboards, which are a brittle, soft and brittle material.
Even fingers can leave dents on them, creases and defects can easily form on them. It’s quite difficult to trim a beautifully and evenly corner of a PVC skirting board.
For an inexperienced master, a large amount of purchased material can go to waste precisely for this reason. Also, this polymer has high electrostatic properties, which explains its ability to collect dust.
It is most convenient to cut such a baseboard with a hacksaw or a sharp construction knife.
Expanded polystyrene
Expanded polystyrene products are also inexpensive, although this material is a more durable analogue of traditional polystyrene foam.
It is also processed with a sharp tool.
Expanded polystyrene extruded
Extruded polystyrene skirting boards are a bit more expensive, they are slightly denser and harder 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 sharp knife.
Polyurethane
Polyurethane skirting boards for the ceiling are currently, perhaps, one of the most expensive.
But they justify their cost: moisture resistant, fairly durable and dense, quite elastic.
The baseboard located above the stove may be deformed and even crack a little.
They are perfectly cut with a special knife, without forming crumbs. But these products are very sensitive to temperature extremes.
Tree
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 do you trim the ceiling skirting correctly?
Finished Factory Corners
Note that each master has the opportunity not to pore over precise cutting and adjusting angles.
It is enough to measure the required length of the workpiece, and cut it at a right angle.
All defects and blemishes will be hidden by this special element. But it is not always possible to take advantage of such a convenient way, since the standard sizes of such factory corners can significantly differ from the size of the baseboard itself.
Video: How to Cut Exterior Ceiling Plinth
Such angles will be distinguished by their disproportion, and it will not look very neat. But if the design of the room and the size of the blanks allow you to use this method, then do not neglect it.
Those who have to use one of the ways to trim the ceiling skirting board will find the following tips useful.
Fillet trimming
Miter box pruning
How to trim the corner of the ceiling plinth with it?
A miter box is a simple tool that carpenters use. With it, you can trim any workpiece at the right angle.
It is usually a wooden, metal or plastic tray on which special vertical slots are made for cutting at an angle of 45 ° and 90 °.
There are complicated constructions on which, in addition to the above-mentioned corners, there is also an opening for the implementation of a 60-degree cut.
For professional work a special miter box is produced. Its rotary mechanism allows you to fix the cutting blade in relation to the workpiece at any given angle.
Inside corner
The prepared skirting board is applied to the ceiling, the desired length is postponed.
Then this same strip is inserted into the miter exactly as it will be located on the ceiling. It must be pressed against the far wall of the device. In this position, the baseboard is held by the left hand.
The hacksaw blade should be in such a position that its angle is 45 degrees, and the handle would be as close as possible to the hand. Trying to avoid pressing the saw, carefully cut the workpiece.
Next, the baseboard needs to cut off the reciprocal bar. It is also located at the far wall of the instrument, holding and pressing, this time, with the right hand.
The position of the hacksaw is similar to the previous procedure. its handle comes closer to the hand at an angle of 45 degrees. The baseboard is trimmed.
Then the finished, already trimmed planks are docked. the accuracy of the fit is checked. It is believed that for better orientation, in the manufacture of the internal corner, it is better to start cutting from the front of the product. Places of cuts usually still have to be customized with a file.
Outer corner
Most correctly, in order to comply more precisely with the dimensions, first start marking the inner corner, and only after that go to the outer.
Otherwise, it may happen that the entire length of the plank is not enough.
The plank is applied to the ceiling, size is made outlines. Holding the left hand, the ceiling plinth is pressed against the nearest wall, the hacksaw handle comes close to the hand. The workpiece is cut off.
The reciprocal level is pressed against the nearest wall, while it is held by the right hand. The hacksaw blade 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 neatly joins.
Such an edge treatment of parts with a wort is good in cases where the angle between the walls is even and straight (90 °).
If its indicators leave much to be desired, then it is worth using a different method.
How to trim a ceiling plinth without a miter box?
Markings on the ceiling
In all other respects, using this method, you will be able to outline the angle for cutting even more accurately than others.
When the baseboard is applied to the intended installation location, all dimensional deviations and inaccuracies are noticeable and immediately taken into account.
Corner cropping
First you need to take a couple of blanks, then cut them at right angles. Abutting the end of the plank to the perpendicular wall, apply one plank. We draw a line on the ceiling along the contour of the baseboard. We remove the first bar, then in the same way, resting the butt on the wall, we apply the reciprocal bar. Similarly, we note the contour of the fishing line.
The intersection point of two separate lines is the mark at which the workpiece is cut. Each plank is applied to the surface again, a point of the future cut is marked on both. From the found point to the other edge of the plinth plank we draw a fishing line. We cut the skirting boards according to the previously made bastings, carefully dock them, and place them in the place of their installation.
This method allows you to more accurately handle the internal corners.
How to make a miter box template with your own hands
If you do not have a miter box, it is not necessary to buy a tool for one-time use. A template with similar functions can be done independently.
To do this, the desired cutting angles are applied to wood, paper or cardboard.
Then you need to draw a pair of parallel lines, find the center, and then use the protractor to measure the angles of any given value.
This method is especially convenient in that, using it, you can set aside an angle of any size, even more than a straight line.
The methodology for processing baseboards using a homemade tool is practically no different from working with the original. The bar is pressed against one of the parallels, after which the hacksaw is installed at the required angle, and cut off.
How to trim the ceiling skirting correctly. Important little things
The measurements necessary for trimming the skirting to the ceiling should be done in a special way..
To determine and mark the inner corner, the length should be measured from the corner itself. To mark the outer corner, it is necessary to take into account that the plinth will protrude into the room to a distance that is equal to its width.
It is not advisable to fix the plinth planks until their exact location is tried on and the mating skirting is cut off.
Only after perfect convergence in the corner of both reciprocal strips can their installation and fastening begin. If the work is carried out with polyurethane or wooden skirting boards, defects and blemishes can be fixed with a file or a file. To adjust the product from foam, you should arm yourself with a sharp knife.
If even after finalizing the skirting boards there remains at least a small gap, do not rush to be upset. it is easy to fix it with ordinary putty.
Trimming accurately and accurately the ceiling skirting is not so difficult. But in order to acquire at least a small skill, first try to practice on small workpieces.