How to fit coving

Video by Wickes. This guide draws on "How to fit coving with Wickes" from the official Wickes UK channel. It takes you through the full process from cutting to finishing, and is particularly useful on handling the inside and outside corners — the bit that catches people out on a first attempt.

1. Measure up and buy slightly extra

Measure the total perimeter of the room and add around ten percent. Coving is cheap compared to a wasted afternoon — having a spare length means you can recut a mitre without running short. Most standard coving comes in 2 m or 3 m lengths.

Check the ceiling condition too. If the ceiling rose or the top of the wall has loose paint or flaking plaster, sort that first. Coving adhesive does not bond well to powdery surfaces and will drop off in time if the background is not sound.

2. Mark guide lines on the wall and ceiling

Use the profile of the coving to mark a pencil line on both the wall and the ceiling, working around the room. These lines give you a consistent position for the coving and show you exactly where adhesive needs to go. They also make it much easier to keep long straight runs level.

A chalk line snapped across the ceiling is useful in larger rooms where pencil marks are hard to keep straight over distance.

3. Cut the mitres accurately

Mitre cuts at corners are the part that makes or breaks a coving job. A coving mitre box guides the saw at the right angle — most coving sold in UK DIY stores comes with a cutting guide. The key thing to remember is that the coving sits at 45 degrees between wall and ceiling, so the mitres cut differently from standard timber mitres.

For an inside corner (most rooms have four of them), the front edge of the coving is longer than the back. For an outside corner, it reverses. Practise on an off-cut first before cutting from a full length. To be fair, getting one wrong on the first attempt is almost a rite of passage.

4. Dry-fit each piece before applying adhesive

Hold each piece in position before you commit any adhesive. Check the mitres meet cleanly and that the coving sits flat against both surfaces. Small gaps at mitre joints can be filled later, but big gaps mean recutting. Better to discover that now than when everything is glued and setting.

Mark each piece on the back so you know which wall it belongs to. Rooms are rarely perfectly square and pieces can vary slightly in length.

5. Apply adhesive and fix in position

Mix or apply coving adhesive to both the wall face and the ceiling face of the coving — not just one. Press the coving firmly into position along the guide lines. Some adhesives allow a short working window for adjustment; others grab quickly. Check the tin before you start.

Use masking tape to hold the coving in place while the adhesive grabs. On longer straight runs, a prop or temporary nail can support the middle while you move down the room. Remove the tape once the adhesive has set.

6. Fill the joints and finish

Fill mitre joints and any gaps between lengths with a fine surface filler or the coving adhesive itself, smoothed with a damp finger. Do not rush this step — an unfilled join shows up badly under paint, especially with a light source nearby.

Once the filler is dry, lightly sand any proud areas, then apply a coat of white emulsion or ceiling paint over the whole run. Coving usually needs two thin coats to cover the joints and adhesive cleanly.

When to call a handyman

Call Richard if the room has complex angles, bay windows, or alcoves that create unusual corners, or if the ceiling has a slope that makes standard coving sit awkwardly. Old lath-and-plaster ceilings can also cause problems — getting fixings in the right place matters more on an older ceiling where there is less flexibility.