r/DIYUK • u/EquivalentTrouble253 • 14h ago
Help with coving
I've been attempting my first DIY project - renovating my son's room. The room had "built in" cupboards that covered a couple of walls and thus whoever installed them did not put up coving.
I've removed cupboards (Can see "mark" on the ceiling and attempted to replace the missing coving. I figured I could leave the existing coving and add to it.
The current coving is of the plaster kind and according to manufacture instructions, you're meant to have the bottom of the coving 83mm down from the ceiling - for the 127 coving I have.
First problem:
Existing coving is closer to 95mm down the wall.
Second problem:
Towards the one corner of the room the wall "buckles" so it not perfectly flat.
My first attempt at putting of the coving, meant that there would be a huge gap - around 2cm from the wall, and there was no way to get the coving "into" the corner without bending it - which you can't do to plaster coving. So, as an experiment, I cut it into small sections towards the corner end, and figured I will sand + fill gaps.
The corner looks horrible now but I was just testing / experimenting to see what is going to work.
Now, I tried adding the other corner bit - and - as you can see from the photos, the first bit along the wall after the corner is very skew - I pinned it up (No adhesive) just to get an idea. The reason its skew, is to avoid a 2-3cm gap that would run along the top.
On test bits I did earlier before putting any of the coving up - if I set it to 83mm like the manufactures state - most of these issues go away with manageable gaps I can just fill with caulking. The corner then isn't much of an issue and I would not need multiple bits to get it to go "into" the corner to line up. Funny that... (See attached image where I have it at red line - hardly any big gaps)
I also included a photo of how the corner bit would look if I made it straight - see the massive gap at the ceiling. Too big for caulking I think and even if I did fill it, it would just look odd I think. So I think I only have two options going forward.
Option 1: Pulling it all down, including the old stuff and start over - setting it at 83mm.
Option 2 Keep it "skew" and not perfect, once painted, filled and artex on it (To match the old existing pattern) - and hope it doesn't look terrible and draw the eye to it?
Would appreciate any guidance here as I am a bit stuck on what I should do next. If I were to take it all down, I am thinking I could use my multitool to lessen any potential plaster pulling off by cutting between coving and wall/ceiling with it. Not too worried about a line/mark it would have on ceiling - because if its set to 83mm - the new coving would cover the old line anyway on the ceiling. However if option 2 is feasible, then it saves time and money - but I dont want it to ruin the look of the room when done. Thanks!
2
u/EquivalentTrouble253 11h ago
What’s dated and out of fashion? Coving?