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DIY Design Dilemma Dining Rooms

how to repair coving/crown molding?

3 years ago

Hi all
We had central heating installed in our 1930s house few years ago.
The plumbers who have done it were not the best (a bit cowboys...) and they left a lot of « scars » everywhere in the house where they put the pipes.
It was a bit of a botched job really...

I am attempting to make a temporary redecoration of our dining room (we will redo the kitchen dinner area completely in a few years) and I would like to patch the crown molding that the plumbers left damaged.
See pictures

It doesn’t need to be perfect, just good enough that I can paint to refresh the room.

I am not sure how to tackle this because it is quite large. All the tutorials I have seen online are for small gaps, not that big.

Also, the pipes (very hot) are running just below the surface of the wall (where rough cement has been applied by the plumbers directly on the pipes 🤦‍♀️)

Any advices?
Many thanks

Featured Answer

C D
Original Author

3 years ago

Hi all

Just wanted to give a quick update on our coving situation - in case it is ever useful for anybody :)

I tried to find a matching coving to do Sarah suggestion but it was not possible.

So in the end, some expending foam, hold with masking tape until solid enough. Once cured, cut it to match the coving shape, then used some filler (pollyfila) and sanded.
Now that it is painted, it is almost invisible (I did a worse job on the ceiling, filling the cracks after removing the textured wallpaper- that was hell!)

Here some progress pictures and final result :) (still need to paint the walls)

It will probably be indeed frowned upon as it is probably not the “proper” way to do it, but as a temporary measure for the next 3-4 years (until we can afford our kitchen diner extension, in which this wall will be removed anyway) it will do! ;)

Thanks to all for your advices and support - Houzz is so great for this :)

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Comments (6)

C D
Original Author
3 years ago
Here pictures
C D
Original Author
3 years ago
Gap is about 8cm by 16cm
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These are lovely and I can see why you wanted to keep them. Unfortunately the chances of you finding an exact match 'off the shelf' are pretty slim. They were almost certainly produced using wet plaster in situ by a local craftsman using moulds and templates unique to them. So realistically your options are to either remove the remaining cornicing and choose something similar to replace (easy and relatively affordable). Or to find a company who will come out and create a custom template from one of the existing sections. They will then either create new sections and repair or remove completely and start from scratch. Fortunately you have enough of both the rose and cornice to do this if you want absolute accuracy. If you decide to replace with similar styles I would look for places that can provide 'wet' plaster as this is easier to work when installing. I've used this company before to order samples and they were very helpful. They also do a restoration service : http://www.victoriancornice.com/page.php?id=9&action=cct Her is a similar style cornice if you decide to replace: http://www.covingshop.com/dm3069-coving-late-victorian-edwardian-cornicing.html The rose looks quite unique though and probably would have been made out of several different components. It does have an 'adams' styling to it which may help you search for similar ones though.
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Sonia
3 years ago
A plasterer could easily sort that out for you. He will probably use plasterboard, then skim over it including the chasing cement finish, and then finally replace the cornicing where necessary. I don’t think it’s a job for an amateur, I wouldn’t attempt it. Depending where you are a plasterer charges about £170 a day, more in London.
C D
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks Sonia
Unfortunately I don’t have the budget to use a plasterer for this job,

I am happy with a DIY job that is not perfect as long as it look “fine”.

I was thinking of using expending foam to fill the hole and then use filler to make it smooth.
However I don’t know if expending foam is a good idea...

Happy to get suggestions on how to tackle this :)
sarh123
3 years ago
I did a temporary repair like this which worked fine. I found a cheap polystyrene coving of a similar size/shape and cut a piece to fill most of the hole and to form a base for filler. That took a few attempts of trial and error! I then used thin layers of good quality filler(I like Red Devil) along with mesh tape across the gap to hold the filler in place . It took a lot of patience (and probably would be frowned on by a builder) but it did work.

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