One of my first DIY projects in our new house (I’m not going to lie, my first DIY project of all time) involved putting coving up to hide the messy finish between wall and ceiling in ourlivingroom. While doing my research, I came across more than a few comments on forums and DIY blogs mentioning the difficulty of cutting coving with a mitre box. Some comments even stated it was impossible, and that you needed a particular type of mitre box for the job. So I extended my research to bring you a simple guide of How to Cut Coving using a Mitre Box.
There is only one crucial piece of knowledge you need to have for this to work properly…
Your coving needs to fit in into the mitre box.
To get the correct angles, you will need to place the coving in the mitre box so that it mirrors the way it will be attached to your wall/ceiling.
Let’s have a look at how…
You will need:
- A mitre box
- Coving (we went for this from Homebase)
- Coving adhesive
- White caulk
- A ruler and measuring tape
- Pencil
- Fine toothed saw
As an example, the coving we used was a duropolymer coving, with the dimensions 70mm by 70mm.
Step 1 – Get your space ready
Position the mitre box in front of you. Preferably on a workbench or a steady, flat surface.
Step 2 – Prepare the mitre box
On the inside of the mitre box, on the side facing you, use a ruler and a pencil to measure and mark out the dimensions of your coving. These details should be on the packaging. In our case, I measured 70mm from the bottom of the mitre box and marked the 70mm point with the pencil.
Step 3 – Place the coving in the mitre box
As the bottom of the mitre box will represent your ceiling, and the side of the mitre box closest to you will represent the wall, you will need to place the coving upside down in the mitre box.
If you are putting coving up in a room with a chimney breast, it’s always a good idea to start with this part of the room.
Step 4 – Understand Internal and External corners
This is key. I got it wrong at least a couple of times, but I found that it helped to draw out a rough sketch of the room, and note down the pieces I would need before I did any cutting.