How To Cut The Corners Of The Ceiling Plinth

How to cut the ceiling plinth in the corners The final stage in the design of the room. Installation of a ceiling plinth. How to make a corner correctly so that everything will come together without gaps, how to join in the outer and inner corners. Read on.

How to get the correct angle

Most of the problems when working with skirting boards arise in the design of corners. Since the surface of the products is complex, it will not be possible to simply cut off at the desired angle: it is also necessary to cut so that they dock and preferably without large gaps. There are actually several ways to make the corner of your skirting board perfect (or almost).

What and how to cut

Working with skirting boards made from different materials means using different cutting tools. When working with a wooden skirting board, it is more convenient to work with a saw on wood. All others, including plastic ones, made of polystyrene and other polymers, are better cut with a blade for metal. The result is a smoother cut, less burr. Saws are usually used when working with a miter box.

Corner design looks attractive

When working with polystyrene skirting boards, they cut them with a good stationery knife without special devices. Its blade is quite thin and even, the cut is smooth, not wrinkled. If you work with a saw with polyurethane or polystyrene, do not press hard: you can wrinkle.

In general, in order to get used to the tool and material a little, take a piece and practice on it: cut, saw, trim. So there will be fewer problems when working.

How to cut ceiling plinth in corners

The quality of the ceiling finish greatly affects the appearance of the room. Therefore, they try to do everything perfectly, or very close to it. The finishing touch to the design is the ceiling plinth. They give the finish a complete and holistic look. The strips themselves are mounted on flat surfaces simply: on special white glue, but problems arise with the design of the corners. Without knowing how to make the corner of the skirting board correctly, a lot of material is spoiled. We will tell you about how and what to cut it in the corners.

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

Few people in apartments or houses have angles exactly at 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 thinly contoured pencil (hard it is not so visible on the ceiling, but leaves quite clear marks near), a small piece of baseboard, a ruler and a good stationery knife if you work with polyurethane (polystyrene) baguettes or a metal saw to work with the rest 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). 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

Now take a ruler and connect the edge of the skirting board to the marked mark. If you just put the plinth on the table and cut off 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 place 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. You will still need to adjust, 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 adjacent 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.

With decorative corners

There is one more, simpler way. For skirting boards made of polyurethane or polystyrene, use ready-made, factory decorative corners. They are installed in a corner, strips are glued to them closely. It is very easy to cut them if necessary: ​​by a few millimeters with an ordinary clerical knife.

What is it made of and what is it called

The very first skirting boards on the ceiling were made of plaster. They were cast in special molds and then installed on the ceiling with mortar. Such figured decorations were called fillets. Today you can rarely see them: they are expensive, and outwardly they are almost indistinguishable from the cheaper options. And the name is almost lost.

The most popular ceiling skirting boards are made of polyurethane or polystyrene. They are inexpensive, look great, easy to install, have a wide range of profiles and patterns. The width can be from 5 mm to 250 mm. They are used in almost any room, decorated in any style. An exception is wooden houses with a suitable interior. Wood products are most often used here; the style dictates its own terms.

There is also a similar plastic finish. It is mainly installed in bathrooms. But even in damp rooms, you can safely mount polyurethane strips, they are not afraid of dampness.

You need to cut the ceiling plinth in the corners of any material in one of the ways described below. The only exception is plastic skirting boards: you can arrange such a corner only using ready-made corners.

Features of cutting ceiling plinths in a miter box

It is necessary to work with this device with extreme care so as not to blunt the tool and not leave cuts in unnecessary places. In the process, we adhere to the following instructions:

• We fix the baguette in the miter box in the same way as it is planned to place it on the wall. The side that will be pressed against the ceiling on the miter box should rest against the sidewall.

We insert a cutting tool (hacksaw or knife) into the required gap and cut the fillet.

• We process the joint of the ceiling plinth and apply it to the wall to check the correctness. The foam molding can be corrected with a sharp knife if the roughness of the end is about 2 mm. The wooden skirting board can be simply sanded with sandpaper. For ease of use, it can be glued to a wooden block.

Method for cutting a ceiling plinth without a miter box

To neatly dock fillets in the inner corners, you can do without a miter box.

We carry out the work in the following order:

• We apply the end part of the baguette to the sheet of paper and outline the outline of the convex side. It is more convenient to use a small section of the baseboard (if any).

Cut out the resulting template.

We transfer the contour to the surface of the baguette with a simple pencil.

Cut along the drawn curve.

For fitting, we apply one plinth tightly with the end part to the wall, and then the second.

• If there are small gaps, then they can be processed with a clerical knife or subsequently sealed with a sealant.

How to cut a ceiling plinth

One of the most difficult steps in installing skirting boards is cutting them correctly. Only by correctly joining the individual elements at the outer and inner corners will you get the desired result. Fillets will look aesthetically pleasing and neat if you cut them off at the right angle and seal the cracks. A special tool (miter box) is used to accomplish this task. And if it is not, then other devices will help.

Selection of tools for cutting ceiling skirting boards

To properly and accurately cut the skirting board, you need to use a suitable cutting tool. It is chosen depending on the material from which the fillets are made:

• Styrofoam. It is characterized by low strength and is relatively inexpensive, and therefore foam models are becoming more and more popular. Their strength does not particularly affect the performance, since usually the ceiling plinth is not subjected to mechanical stress. A regular utility knife is suitable for cutting.

Extruded polystyrene foam. A cheap material with a density several times higher than that of foam. Because of this, cutting it is a little more difficult, and therefore a sharp and thin knife is used for this purpose.

• Wood. Such skirting boards are more difficult to process, although they have many advantages (environmental friendliness, durability). They cost more
  especially if made of hardwood. Before cutting a wood skirting board, stock up on a hacksaw.
• In addition to the tool for direct cutting of the baguette, you will need a miter box. This is a special device made of wood, plastic or metal in the form of a box with notches on the sides. A hacksaw or knife can be inserted into it at the desired angle. Thus, the cutting angle is as accurate as possible.
• We knock three planks of 5015 cm with a long edge into the shape of a three-sided, rectangular box. Please note that an angle of 90 degrees must be respected between the side rails and the transverse board.

Using a protractor, mark an angle of 45 degrees on the bars. Instead of a protractor, you can use a school square. In it, one angle is 90 degrees, and the other two are 45 degrees.

• Before cutting the corners, mark the vertical direction with a simple pencil.

Skirting board cutting technology

For efficient and high-quality work, you need to choose a tool in accordance with the material of the baseboard and choose a cutting method. If you have a miter box, then there will be no particular difficulties in the process. If it is not there, then two options are possible: cut according to a template and measurements on the ceiling, or make this tool yourself.

Rules for cutting ceiling plinths by marking

This method is used to cut the skirting board in cases where there is no miter box or parts from which it can be made.

To do this, you need to make markings on the wall in this order:

1. We put the baguette in the corner to the place of fastening.

Along its one edge we draw the base line for the attachment level on the ceiling.

We apply the fillet in the same way to the perpendicularly drawn mowing line on the ceiling and again draw a straight line along one side. We should have two line segments that intersect at one point.

We again apply two skirting boards in turn and mark this point on them.

We repeat the same procedure now on the wall to mark the place of cutting from below on the products.

We connect two points with a line. It can run at an angle of 38-45 degrees, as walls and corners in living rooms are often uneven.

• Cut off the baguette along the mowing line.

How to cut the corner of a ceiling plinth straight

A beautiful and neat edging of the ceiling hides the joints between the coatings and is an additional element of the room’s decor. But in order for the ceiling plinth to look really beautiful, you need to be able to properly join its corner joints.
How to cut the corners of the ceiling plinth evenly can be found in our article.
Related article: how to properly glue the ceiling plinth with glue and putty.

Method two without additional tools

For the inner corner, you can use the simplest way of perfect joining by marking on the ceiling. Another example of how to cut a corner nice and even.

1. A fillet is applied to the ceiling, tightly pressing its even edge into a corner.
2. Draw a line along the long side of the baseboard on the ceiling.

1. The same action is done with the adjacent part on the other side.

1. Mark the point of intersection of the lines.

The end result is an even 45 ° angle if you draw the line from the point of intersection to the edge of the part. Note that the above marking method works only with perfectly flat corners.

Outside corner

• Measure the length of the plinth from the nearest wall to the outer corner, leave the fishing line on the wrong side with a pencil, indicating the desired length. It should be noted that the edge (its upper part) should protrude slightly outward.
• The plinth is moved to the miter box and cut off.
• The adjacent strip must also be measured with a margin and cut off in a mirror image to the first part.

Trying on the ceiling plinth: the joining of the parts should be perfectly even. If the result is not achieved and there are irregularities at the joints, you can trim the edges with an ordinary knife to a perfect fit.

Checking the smooth docking

The first way with a miter box

The miter box usually looks like a tray with vertical holes for a hacksaw. It can be made of wood, metal or plastic. This tool represents the oldest and simplest carpenter’s tool, designed for cutting wooden parts at an angle of 90 and 45. There are types of such a device for professional work, with a swivel mechanism, in which the cutting tool can be rotated and fixed in any position.

How to cut a ceiling plinth correctly

Ceiling corners are divided into internal and external, the method of joining them is slightly different.

Inner corner

• We make the correct measurements.
• We install the plinth strip in the miter box so that this position exactly coincides with the placement on the ceiling.
• The plinth should be firmly pressed against the opposite wall of the miter box. Hold and press with your free hand.
• We put a hacksaw at an angle of 45 in a special hole and cut off the part.

• The adjacent part must be cut in the same way, only in a mirror image, as shown in.

Other methods

With a good eye and accuracy of hand action, you can use a homemade template that resembles an imitation of a miter box. To do this, take a thin board or thick plywood and draw a layout in the form of a horizontal rectangle. Using a protractor, mark 45 on the right and left sides of the rectangle. Draw mowing lines connecting opposite edges. You can now cut the ceiling plinth using this layout. The actions are simple and similar to the description above in the first option. Only the ceiling parts should not be inserted, but superimposed on the drawing and combined with the hacksaw layout of the layout.

Special accessories for docking

Pruning with a miter box

How to trim the corner of the skirting board evenly with it?

A miter box is a simple tool used by carpenters. With it, you can cut any workpiece at the desired 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 designs, on which, in addition to the above-mentioned corners, there is also a hole for making a 60-degree cut.

A special miter box is produced for professional work. Its rotary mechanism allows you to fix the cutting blade in relation to the workpiece at any given angle.

How to make a miter box template with your own hands

If you don’t have a miter box, you don’t have to buy a one-time tool. You can make a template with similar functions yourself.

To do this, the desired cut 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 postpone an angle of any magnitude, even more than a straight line.

The technique of processing a baseboard blank 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 set at the required angle and cut off.

Skirting materials and cutting methods

First of all, let’s try to determine what 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.

Styrofoam

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 cut a beautifully and evenly corner at a baseboard based on polyvinyl chloride.

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.

Expanded polystyrene

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

It can also be processed 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. It is convenient to use a hacksaw or a sharp knife for this purpose.

Polyurethane

Polyurethane ceiling skirting boards are currently perhaps the most expensive.

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

The skirting board above the stove can 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.

Wood

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 cut your skirting board correctly?

Inner corner

The prepared plinth is applied to the ceiling, the desired length is set aside.

Then this very strip is inserted into the miter box exactly as it will be located on the ceiling. It must be pressed against the far wall of the device. In this position, the plinth is held by the left hand.

The blade of the hacksaw should be in such a position that its angle is 45 degrees, and the handle is as close as possible to the hand. Trying to avoid pressing the saw, carefully cut the workpiece.

Next, at the plinth, you need to cut off the striker. It is also placed at the far wall of the instrument, holding and pressing, this time with the right hand.

Similar to the previous procedure, the position of the hacksaw, its handle approaches the hand at an angle of 45 degrees. The skirting board is trimmed.

Then the finished, already cut strips are joined together, the accuracy of the fit is checked. It is believed that for better orientation, when making an inner corner, it is better to start cutting from the front of the product. The cuts usually have to be adjusted with a file.