Installation of a decorative skirting board is the final stage of the ceiling decoration. The main problem here is that if mounting the baguette on straight sections of the walls usually does not cause difficulties, then it can be quite difficult to nicely fit the corner joints. Especially in cases where the angle value is different from 90 °. How to make a corner on the ceiling plinth and with a minimum amount of waste, we will talk in this article.
Why is it necessary to frame the ceiling?
The installed baseboard closes the defective places of the joining of the ceiling and walls, and also acts as a decorative element. In this case, technological gaps between the suspended (suspended) ceiling and walls, the upper section of the glued wallpaper or an uneven line between the painted wall and the white horizontal surface, are recognized as defects in adjacent sections. Installing a baguette allows you to hide such flaws and give the finish a fully finished look.
What are skirtings made of?
Manufacturers of building materials offer skirting boards made from:
- low-porous foam;
- polyurethane;
- polyvinyl chloride (PVC);
- extruded polystyrene;
- artificial rubber;
- various species of wood;
- gypsum mixtures (only on order).
The cutting technology is the same for each material, but the tool for this will require a different one and is selected individually. The knife is used for such light and soft materials as polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane foam, polystyrene and rubber.
For dense grades of gypsum, PVC and polyurethane, you need to take a hacksaw for metal or another tool with small teeth. For wood processing, there is a special hacksaw that provides a cut without burrs and chips.
Corner Formation Options
In any room there can be two types of angles - internal and external (external). In most rooms you can see only the internal corners. External are found only in places where corridors turn, on the outside of niches and protruding structures. The technology of trimming and fitting the baguette for the outer and inner corners is slightly different.
Most skirting boards have a complex configuration of the outer surface, which makes it difficult to form an angle. Some manufacturers of ceiling skirting boards offer special corner inserts and overlays, but often the joints of the walls in the rooms are not equal to 90 °, which is why ready-made solutions are not suitable.
This can be provided for by the layout or tolerances for the construction of walls and the absence of leveling plaster. Inaccurate adjustment of the rails to each other at the corner junction leads to the formation of visible gaps and gaps that spoil the appearance of the finish.
For trimming fillets apply several different methods. How to join a ceiling plinth in the corners? Among the main ones are the use of:
- a special tool - miter box, with guide slots at certain angles;
- laser level;
- standard square, tape measure and metal ruler.
Cutting with a miter box is the easiest to perform, but only possible for cutting at an angle of 45 or 90 °. This limits its use or requires additional manual adjustment.
Materials and Tools
You need to buy:
- baseboards;
- the adhesive composition corresponding to the baguette material and the surface coating of the walls;
- gypsum putty;
- water-based paint and pigment, if the baseboard is planned to be painted;
- dowel plugs and screws for wooden fillets.
From the tool and accessories you should have:
- steady strong table or step-ladder;
- miter box for cutting slats at a given angle;
- tape measure and metal ruler;
- narrow spatula;
- construction pencil;
- paint brush.
For the installation of wooden fillets, a perforator or hammer drill will be required.
Preparatory work
First of all, it is necessary to perform a number of preparatory work:
- buy the necessary materials and prepare the tool;
- remove foreign objects and furniture, providing free access to the walls;
- clean the surface of walls and ceilings from dust, and in the absence of wallpaper, tiles or panels - cover with soil for 2 times.
If you planned to glue the colored baseboard, then it is better to paint it at the preparatory stage.
General rules for making corners
Regardless of which corner joint fitting technology you choose, there are several general rules that should be followed in any case:
- skirting boards with a relief pattern or color ornament must be combined according to the drawing, achieving its visual unity;
- even at the stage of rough finishing work, try to align the corners vertically as accurately as possible and ensure that the walls adjoin at an angle of 90 °;
- if the angle is not straight or the walls are “blocked up”, then the formed cracks can be filled with acrylic sealant or putty.
In difficult cases, it is better to immediately choose a flexible and not very wide skirting board. This will ensure a snug fit, even to an uneven wall, and will not attract attention.
Mounting a baguette in the corner using a miter box
First of all, you need to make sure that the glued angle is exactly 90 °. This can be done using a professional goniometer or a large square. If the measurement showed that the angle is straight or deviates from 90 ° quite a bit, the miter box will be the best device for fitting corner joints.
How to cut ceiling skirting in the corners? In order for the two skirting boards to fit perfectly, their edges should be cut at an angle of 45 ° in mirror image with respect to each other. First, fix the miter box in a stationary state on a stable solid support and after that proceed with the operation, because if during the cutting the rod moves, the direction of the cut may be inaccurate and there will be a gap at the joint.
During the cutting process, skirting boards inside the miter box should be laid in the opposite direction, while they can be processed either individually or both at the same time. In the latter case, the rails should be laid inside the device, tightly pressing them to each other with the rear walls. If you lay both baguettes alternately on one side, then the first rail is cut along the right guides of the miter at an angle of 45 °, and the second - along the left grooves.
To verify the correctness of the cut, combine the processed planks at the joint, placing them on a flat surface of the table. If everything is normal, then conduct a second check at the installation site.
If there are small errors, make the necessary adjustments using a knife or sandpaper. And only after making sure the exact fit, proceed to fix the baseboard on glue or screws.
Outer corner
To cut the baguette to the outer corner, insert them into the miter box from different sides and press them against the wall farthest from you. Cut on two different slots of the tool at an angle of 45 °.
Inside corner
To correctly form the inner corner, press the fillet in the near wall. Make a res as in the previous case.
Fixing prepared skirting boards in place on glue
The technology for fixing skirting boards has already been discussed in detail earlier in the articles “How to glue a foam baseboard” and “Skirting board for suspended ceilings”. Recall the main points:
- glue must be applied not only to the back of the fillet, but also to butt sections;
- rivers must be kept pressed until glue sets;
- the curing time of the adhesive composition by the manufacturer of the material is indicated on the package;
- after fixing the baseboard, all places of loose fit should be sealed with putty or sealant;
- in the case of a stretch ceiling, the side adjacent to it is not smeared with glue, and fixing is carried out only on the wall.
Your task is to make the joint monolithic, without gaps and crevices. Therefore, the issue of pre-fit is the basis of success.
How to make a corner without using a miter box
How to dock a ceiling plinth in the corners? To ensure the accuracy of the fit using the device for cutting skirting boards at an angle of 45 ° is possible only when the junction of the walls is strictly rectangular.
Otherwise, you will have to abandon the use of the miter box and make markup with a simple pencil and ruler. In this case, the marking procedure for the internal and external corners is different.
Inside corner
Here, in the case of fitting ceiling slats in places with a large deviation from 90 °, the operations for marking and cutting the slats are performed in the following sequence:
- attach the uncut left fillet to the wall;
- draw a line with a pencil on the edge of the plank on the ceiling to an adjacent wall and set it aside;
- set the right bar in the same way, also draw a line, and mark the point of contact with the left with a pencil;
- once again attach the left baseboard and put the corresponding mark on it;
- draw a ruler along the line connecting the marks made with the bottom corner of the baseboard. This will be the conditional cut line.
After that, check the accuracy of the marking and, if necessary, make small adjustments using sandpaper.
Outer corner
The technology for fitting the external joints is the same, but the marking is performed on the upper edge of the strip with the exit beyond the corner. The mark on the skirting boards is placed at the intersection of the ceiling lines.
In more detail about how to glue the skirting boards on the ceiling in the corners, you can watch the video presented.
It may seem strange, but fixing the ceiling plinths with your own hands is most often performed more efficiently than professionals do. Probably the fact is that the owner is not in such a hurry to finish the work and is more attentive to its implementation.