Covering a crack with... coving? Or what?

LE_Bore

Here's a problem that's driving me nuts. 

We live in a dormer bungalow with upstairs rooms that have uneven curves between the ceiling and the walls where they follow the roof line. There is no coving on these wall-to-ceiling joints because, presumably, the angles would be a nightmare to get right where it curves round the corners. But narrow cracks keep opening between the wall and ceiling on one wall. They are not a problem and only hairline, but they are unsightly and roam about a little, so they're not all directly in the corner of the joint between wall and ceiling. Every winter I fill and paint them; the following winter they reappear. They have been filled with flexible filler maybe 6 times now. 

I am fed up with this. I am sure there must be some kind of cornice that I can press into the curves of the ceiling, but cannot find anything. They would ned to be small and very plain as the room is quite plain itself. I bought some sold as cornice or coving on Amazon that was sold in a roll, but it just would not stay up there and I complained and sent it back: it might have been suitable along a floor but not against a ceiling. I've seen some online that claims to flexible pvc but it says it must be screwed to the wall and I can imagine that just opening up the crack more or the pvc splitting. Plus it was about £60 for a couple of metres! 

Does anyone know what I could use to cover these cracks, please? Before I crack too!

Many thanks for reading.

Bendy_House

Photo, or I won't tell you the secret.

LE_Bore

I like a good strong forumite who knows what they want. 

EssexExile

A good plasterer should be able to fit coving there, then you'll get cracks where the coving meets the ceiling or wall!

grumbler

immac said:

Here's a problem that's driving me nuts. 

they're not all directly in the corner of the joint between wall and ceiling. Every winter I fill and paint them; the following winter they reappear.

Next time, when filling, create a straight artificial crack where you want it.

stuart45

You can reduce the chance of a crack reappearing at the wall/ceiling junction by using joint filler and paper tape.

Bendy_House

The secret is, that I don't know the best answer.

Bendy_House

immac said:

I like a good strong forumite who knows what they want.

Which 'flexible filler'?

It looks as tho' the 'filler' has lifted away rather than cracked?

Have you tried decorator's caulk? Comes in a large cartridge. Skins very quickly, so you need to not hang about. But it should be flexible enough to cope.

You'll need to trim that away first, tho', to ensure you have a good surface underneath for it to adhere to. If you run a snap-of blade-type craft knife, with its blade nicely extended so's it's flexible, flat along each surface in turn, with the tip just cutting in as far as the corner, you might be able to cut away that old stuff quite easily. 

Clean up thoroughly, perhaps even prime the corner using emulsion paint first, and then run your bead of caulk. Use a moistened finger or Fugi-type with a light spatter of water tool to get a neat, crisp finish, blended in tightly - and hopefully fully adhered - to each surface.

What I also tend to do in such situations is to - after it's all cleaned up - brush in a slightly-diluted coat of PVA, and try and get it right into the cracks; brush over and over, run your finger along, that sort of stuff. Then, when you are happy you have got the PVA in there as best as possible, wipe away the excess with a damp cloth - don't let any dry on the to-be-painted surfaces.

Then caulk when dry.

stuart45

Bendy_House said:

The secret is, that I don't know the best answer.

You do now Bendy, it's tape and joint filler.

grumbler

stuart45 said:

Bendy_House said:

The secret is, that I don't know the best answer.

it's tape and joint filler.

And usually this doesn't work if the surfaces keep moving, even slightly.

stuart45

It always works when I've done it. That's why it's done in the trade.