Service
Coving and decorative cornice fitted, mitred and jointed, including matching original period profiles.
10/10
From 69 Checkatrade reviews
Free
Quotes, with no call-out charge
2020
Checkatrade member since
Local
Rossendale based, Lancashire wide
Coving does two jobs at once, and most people only think about one of them. The obvious one is decorative: it finishes a room off and stops a plain ceiling meeting a plain wall in a hard line. The less obvious one is practical: that junction is precisely where seasonal movement in a building concentrates, and a cove absorbs the small movement that would otherwise show up as a crack along the top of every wall.
Fitting it well comes down to the mitres and the joints. A cove that is cut accurately at the corners, bedded properly, and has its joints filled and worked in until they disappear reads as part of the building. One with visible seams and internal corners that do not quite meet reads as something stuck on afterwards, and no amount of paint hides it. The difference is entirely in the time taken at the corners.
Period profiles are the more interesting end of this work. A lot of the older housing around East Lancashire has original decorative cornice, and a good deal of it has been damaged over the years by a removed wall, a leak, or a previous repair that gave up trying to match. Where a section is missing, the profile can often be taken from a surviving run and reproduced so the repair follows the original round the room rather than announcing itself.
Getting the sequencing right saves money. Coving goes on after plastering and before decorating. Fitting it before the walls are skimmed means the plasterer has to work up to an edge that is already fixed, and fitting it after decorating means making good paintwork you have just paid for. It is a small thing that is easy to get wrong when several trades are booked around each other.
What is included
- Plain coving fitted, mitred and jointed so seams disappear
- Decorative cornice in period rooms
- Original profiles matched where a section has been lost or damaged
- Corners cut accurately rather than filled to hide a bad mitre
- Fitted at the right point in the sequence, after plaster and before paint
- Cracked and sagging existing coving repaired or replaced
What it costs
Priced by the metre plus the profile chosen, since a deep decorative cornice is considerably more work to fit and joint than a plain cove.
How long it takes
A single room is usually a day, sometimes less for a plain profile in a square room.
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Coving Across East Lancashire
Every town below has its own coving and cornice page, with the local building stock, the prices and the questions that come up in that town specifically.
Common questions
Coving and Cornice Questions
Does coving stop cracks along the ceiling?
It handles the small seasonal movement that causes most hairline cracking at the wall and ceiling junction, which is the most common place for it in an older house. It will not hide or fix cracking caused by genuine structural movement, and that wants investigating rather than covering.
Should coving go up before or after plastering?
After the plastering and before the decorating. That order means the plasterer works to a clean junction, the coving beds onto a finished surface, and you are not making good fresh paintwork afterwards.
Can you match the original cornice in my period house?
Often yes. Where a surviving run exists elsewhere in the room or the house, the profile can be taken from it and reproduced so a repaired section follows the original. Where nothing survives to copy, the honest option is choosing the closest available profile and being upfront that it is a close match rather than the original.
What size coving suits my room?
It scales with ceiling height. A standard modern room takes a 100 to 127mm cove comfortably. High Victorian ceilings carry a much deeper cornice and actually look wrong with a small one. Lee will tell you what suits the proportions rather than fitting whatever is on the van.
Can you replace cracked or sagging coving?
Yes. Old coving that has come away from the wall or ceiling usually lost its bond because of movement or damp above. It gets taken down, the cause looked at, and the new run bedded properly. Refixing a cove onto a background that let go once achieves nothing.
Do you paint the coving as well?
Lee fits and joints it ready for decorating. Where painting is part of the wider job it can be quoted in, and a fresh cove wants priming before its top coats the same as new plaster does.
Is coving worth it in a modern house?
It is a taste question rather than a technical one. Plenty of modern rooms look better with a clean shadow gap and no cove at all. Where it earns its place is in older rooms with taller ceilings, and in any room where the wall and ceiling junction is untidy.
How long does coving take to fit?
A single room is usually a day, less for a plain profile in a square room with no awkward corners. Rooms with bay windows, chimney breasts and multiple internal corners take longer because the mitres are where the time goes.
Can coving be fitted to an artexed ceiling?
It can, but the cove needs bedding to something sound, so the artex where the cove lands may need cutting back. If the ceiling is getting flattened anyway, do that first and fit the coving to the new surface.
Do you supply the coving or do I?
Either. Most people leave it to Lee, since getting the right profile and the right quantity, including the wastage that mitres eat, is easier for someone who fits it regularly. If you have already bought it, that is no problem.
Other services
Need Coving Doing?
Tell Lee what needs doing and you will get an honest figure back, usually the same day. Free, no obligation, and no call-out charge.