Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a 12'
length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none bearing wall
to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as well as
being long.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 17:18:33 GMT, "The3rd Earl Of Derby"
wrote:

Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a 12'
length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none bearing wall
to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as well as
being long.

Screws or pegs on the back.

"The3rd Earl Of Derby" wrote in message
.uk...
Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a 12'
length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none bearing
wall
to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as
well as
being long.

It was very often "run" in situ - a template of the correct profile was
used to form wet plaster to the required shape. Note that it doesn't
have a void behind it, like modern coving would, and you can often see
the different layers of plaster, the inner layer having a hair
reinforcement.


--
Kevin Poole
**Use current month and year to reply (e.g. )***

The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:

Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a 12'
length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none bearing wall
to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as well as
being long.

Theres more than one way to do it. Since Victorian walls could not be
counted on to be perfectly straight, the stuff was often made in situ
using a flat piece shaped and run along the wall to make an extrusion
compatible shape. For fancier work, the background shape would be done
like this then decorative pieces would be stuck on. Sometimes it was
made in plaster reinforced with scrim (iirc) before fixing up.

They certainly put a lot more work into cornices than we do today.


NT

The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a 12'
length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none
bearing wall to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as
well as being long.

It wasn't 'fitted', it was applied - wet plaster applied to sand/lime
backing, the sand/lime made the basic shape or angle and the plaster was put
on and run across with a shaped 'trowel' made of timber.

On 2006-10-19 18:18:33 +0100, "The3rd Earl Of Derby" said:

Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a 12'
length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none bearing wall
to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as well as
being long.

Cake mix from Aldi

Phil L wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a
12' length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none
bearing wall to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as
well as being long.

It wasn't 'fitted', it was applied - wet plaster applied to sand/lime
backing, the sand/lime made the basic shape or angle and the plaster
was put on and run across with a shaped 'trowel' made of timber.

No way.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Phil L wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a
12' length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none
bearing wall to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as
well as being long.

It wasn't 'fitted', it was applied - wet plaster applied to sand/lime
backing, the sand/lime made the basic shape or angle and the plaster
was put on and run across with a shaped 'trowel' made of timber.

No way.

Way. - I've seen it done! - it's not gypsum plaster that's used, that's way
too rough, they use 'plaster of paris' - very, very fine particles and it
goes on like ****, they fasten a batten to the wall and one to the ceiling
so that the 'trowel' just fits, at the exact angle, all the way along and
then they run it over, it may need going over again to fill in any voids, so
they just run it back and forth.

On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 18:43:08 GMT, "The3rd Earl Of Derby"
wrote:

Phil L wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a
12' length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none
bearing wall to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as
well as being long.

It wasn't 'fitted', it was applied - wet plaster applied to sand/lime
backing, the sand/lime made the basic shape or angle and the plaster
was put on and run across with a shaped 'trowel' made of timber.

No way.

Some of the bigger houses, yes.

They still have to do it today in NT places. Costs a fortune.

Phil L wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Phil L wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a
12' length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none
bearing wall to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as
well as being long.

It wasn't 'fitted', it was applied - wet plaster applied to
sand/lime backing, the sand/lime made the basic shape or angle and
the plaster was put on and run across with a shaped 'trowel' made
of timber.

No way.

Way. - I've seen it done! - it's not gypsum plaster that's used,
that's way too rough, they use 'plaster of paris' - very, very fine
particles and it goes on like ****, they fasten a batten to the wall
and one to the ceiling so that the 'trowel' just fits, at the exact
angle, all the way along and then they run it over, it may need going
over again to fill in any voids, so they just run it back and forth.

I think you misunderstand here Phillip?this is not straight flat run
inverted oval coving it has a curved and oval intricuit shape and about 6"
or 7" wide?

However since you have pointed out a batten on the wall and ceiling I think
that its filled at an angle with PofParis left to go hard and then a tool
shaped mould plane is then run across until the shape has been carved in
the PofParis?

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Phil L wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Phil L wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a
12' length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none
bearing wall to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as
well as being long.

It wasn't 'fitted', it was applied - wet plaster applied to
sand/lime backing, the sand/lime made the basic shape or angle and
the plaster was put on and run across with a shaped 'trowel' made
of timber.

No way.

Way. - I've seen it done! - it's not gypsum plaster that's used,
that's way too rough, they use 'plaster of paris' - very, very fine
particles and it goes on like ****, they fasten a batten to the wall
and one to the ceiling so that the 'trowel' just fits, at the exact
angle, all the way along and then they run it over, it may need going
over again to fill in any voids, so they just run it back and forth.

I think you misunderstand here Phillip?this is not straight flat run
inverted oval coving it has a curved and oval intricuit shape and
about 6" or 7" wide?


it doesn't make any difference what shape it is, it's only a matter of
cutting a piece of wood to that shape.

However since you have pointed out a batten on the wall and ceiling I
think that its filled at an angle with PofParis left to go hard and
then a tool shaped mould plane is then run across until the shape has
been carved in the PofParis?

No, it's put on wet

Phil L wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Phil L wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Phil L wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a
12' length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none
bearing wall to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as
well as being long.

It wasn't 'fitted', it was applied - wet plaster applied to
sand/lime backing, the sand/lime made the basic shape or angle and
the plaster was put on and run across with a shaped 'trowel' made
of timber.

No way.

Way. - I've seen it done! - it's not gypsum plaster that's used,
that's way too rough, they use 'plaster of paris' - very, very fine
particles and it goes on like ****, they fasten a batten to the wall
and one to the ceiling so that the 'trowel' just fits, at the exact
angle, all the way along and then they run it over, it may need going
over again to fill in any voids, so they just run it back and forth.

I think you misunderstand here Phillip?this is not straight flat run
inverted oval coving it has a curved and oval intricuit shape and
about 6" or 7" wide?


it doesn't make any difference what shape it is, it's only a matter of
cutting a piece of wood to that shape.

However since you have pointed out a batten on the wall and ceiling I
think that its filled at an angle with PofParis left to go hard and
then a tool shaped mould plane is then run across until the shape has
been carved in the PofParis?

No, it's put on wet

And in the good old days the plaster was made up on site too. A
quantity of zinc suphate was mixed with whatever they used and blah
blah.

It is fairly easy to do and you can add intricate shapes made up
individually from smaller pieces of plaster the way that icing is made
from sugar to decorate a cake.

The message
from "The3rd Earl Of Derby" contains these words:

It wasn't 'fitted', it was applied - wet plaster applied to sand/lime
backing, the sand/lime made the basic shape or angle and the plaster
was put on and run across with a shaped 'trowel' made of timber.

No way.

Really? I've not only seen it done, I've done it myself - albeit on a
short length to repair where a chimney breast came out.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

In article ,
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a 12'
length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none bearing
wall to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as well
as being long.

I've watched it being done. This was an ornamental type that couldn't be
run or wiped as described. It was made out of re-enforced white plaster -
probably similar to the way they make plaster casts for broken limbs. It
was mitred - roughly - to the length of the wall, then raised into place
by three blokes. They put dollops of plaster behind it and also nailed it
to the joists and studs.

--
*Be nice to your kids. They'll choose your nursing home.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Phil L wrote:
Way. - I've seen it done! - it's not gypsum plaster that's used, that's
way too rough, they use 'plaster of paris' - very, very fine particles
and it goes on like ****, they fasten a batten to the wall and one to
the ceiling so that the 'trowel' just fits, at the exact angle, all the
way along and then they run it over, it may need going over again to
fill in any voids, so they just run it back and forth.

That may be for the inferior plain sort found in lower class houses, but a
bit difficult to do with the carved sort with flowers, etc. ;-)

--
*What are the pink bits in my tyres? Cyclists & Joggers*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a
12' length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none
bearing wall to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as
well as being long.

I've watched it being done. This was an ornamental type that couldn't
be run or wiped as described. It was made out of re-enforced white
plaster - probably similar to the way they make plaster casts for
broken limbs. It was mitred - roughly - to the length of the wall,
then raised into place by three blokes. They put dollops of plaster
behind it and also nailed it to the joists and studs.

95% correct,apparently they got a joiner to make the facia molding in wood
along with the sides and mitred at the edges,this was then heavily waxed
and PofParis was poured into the wood moulding.
When the PofParis had set they lined the flat edges with adhesive? and
offered the complete assembly(including wooden mould) onto the walls and
ceilings and held it in place with props.
Took the props away after 24hours and pulled the wooden moulding away.
This was for the less intricate mouldings as you said on the lower
class(working mans house).

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

On Oct 19, 6:18 pm, "The3rd Earl Of Derby" wrote:
Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a 12'
length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none bearing wall

Make sure you use the correct grammatical props, otherwise all the
nones will fall on your head if you remove the wall.

MBQ

On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 18:48:46 GMT, "Phil L"
wrote:

The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Phil L wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Got some heavy and long fancy victorian coving on my ceiling and a
12' length has got to come down due to me about to demolish a none
bearing wall to make the living room bigger.

How did they fit this coving in the first place? it being heavy as
well as being long.

It wasn't 'fitted', it was applied - wet plaster applied to sand/lime
backing, the sand/lime made the basic shape or angle and the plaster
was put on and run across with a shaped 'trowel' made of timber.

No way.

Way. - I've seen it done! - it's not gypsum plaster that's used, that's way
too rough, they use 'plaster of paris' - very, very fine particles and it
goes on like ****, they fasten a batten to the wall and one to the ceiling
so that the 'trowel' just fits, at the exact angle, all the way along and
then they run it over, it may need going over again to fill in any voids, so
they just run it back and forth.

The 'trowel' is called a mould but yes you are right. You can do a
basic cove with bonding coat I know someone who had it done and it
looks the biz, I'm plucking up courage to have a go.