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Making your own cut-to-size cove
Making your own cut-to-size cove
Want to make your own cove? A cove on the wall or ceiling is a great way to achieve a neat, sleek look in your home. For example, you can hide pipes, a cooker hood or cables in a cove. You can also incorporate recessed spotlights or a light strip in a cove. In this article we explain how to make your own cut-to-size cove.
In this article:
- How to make a cove yourself?
- What items do you need to make a cut-to-size cove?
- What do you use the cove for?
- How to make a drawing or sketch for a cove?
- How do you attach a cove?
- What wood do you use for a cove?
- How do you finish a cove?
- What does it cost to make a cove?
- Examples of coves made by our handymen
- Get started with your own cut-to-size cove
How to make your own cove?
Making your own cove is not complicated, but you should take your time. It starts with thinking about the purpose of your cove: do you want to hide an extractor fan, for example, or is the cove just for lighting?
Then you start making a drawing, order the necessary materials and start making the cove.
An important part of making a cove is, of course, your choice of certain types of wood. You can easily order the wood material for this job at . We offer a wide range of products, including MDF, plywood, plywood, OSB and more. Moreover, we will cut your wood to size (mitre if required) and deliver it quickly to your home. That will save you a lot of tedious sawing work and stray sawdust.
Further on in this article, we also share with you some DIY projects by our handymen. Take a look at those projects at your leisure and get inspired by them.
What items do you need to make a cut-to-size cove?
To make a cove, you will need a number of items. Consider the following materials:
- Graph paper, pencil, eraser, ruler: for an accurate sketch of the cove
- Cordless drill: to easily pre-drill holes and drive screws into your material
- Primer and varnish: almost all timbers from have yet to be finished - primer first, then varnish
- Sandpaper: always handy to have on hand, with a coarse or small grain
- Tape measure: you will need it to measure the dimensions and mark off your wood
- Screws and dowels: to join the different wood materials or to fix the framework to the wall or ceiling
- Wood filler, putty: to neatly cover screw holes
- Mounting kit: for gluing the sheet materials firmly to the battens
Consider in advance which materials you will and will not need for your job. Don't have everything you need yet? Check out the accessories you can order along with your project.
What do you use the cove for?
Do you already know what you want to make a cove for? We see several reasons among our handymen for making a cove. A cove is often used for lighting in the form of recessed spotlights or a light strip: a so-called light cove.
A cove is also often used to eliminate any unevenness in the ceiling or wall. You can hide supply and drainage pipes (such as heating pipes) neatly behind a cove. And in the kitchen, you can build an extractor fan into a cove in a nice, clean way.
Once you know what purpose your soffit serves, you can start drawing it.
How to make a drawing or sketch for a cove
An incredibly important part of this project is making a sketch or drawing. This way, you make sure you think out your ideas properly, put all the measurements precisely on paper and avoid any nasty surprises later in the process.
Eventually, you will need an accurate drawing or sketch with an overview of all measurements and required materials. With this overview, you can easily order the wood from us, exactly cut-to-size.
You start by measuring and drawing the battens and rails. How many battens and rails do you need to fix the board material securely? How wide are the battens and rails? Also take into account the width of your panels.
You make a drawing on a piece of paper, with pencil, ruler and an eraser. You can also use a 3D programme, such as SketchUp or FreeCAD.
Tip: When you order your cove board material from us, give each board a unique reference (you can specify this in the ordering process). Then you will know exactly which board goes on which part of the cove once the wood is delivered to your home.
How do you attach a cove?
You attach the sheet materials of the cove to a style and batten framework. You first need to attach this wooden framework to your ceiling or wall. For this you use, for example, pine strips or beams, which you attach to the ceiling or wall with screws. You can see a good example of a sturdy framework in this project by handyman Paul.
The battens are in turn fixed to the wall with screws and dowels or impact plugs. In any case, make sure you pre-drill the holes in the ceiling or wall neatly with a hammer or concrete drill.
How do you attach the sheet materials to the battens?
To attach the board materials (such as MDF or plywood) to the battens, it is best to use screws. Pre-drill the boards with a wood drill and then screw them down. You can also choose to fix the boards extra securely with mounting kit. This can also help prevent any gaps between the board material and the battening.
What wood do you use for a cove?
By far the most commonly used wood type for a cove is MDF. Another type of wood that we occasionally see in coves made by our handymen is plywood.
MDF
MDF boards are available in many varieties, easy to work with and do not splinter. This makes it the ideal type of wood for a cove. MDF consists of wood fibres compressed under high pressure. MDF also comes in a varnish-bearing version. This saves you a lot of time painting, because you don't have to prime this variant yourself.
Plywood
Plywood panels are known for their structural purposes, making them very suitable to use for a cove. Plywood is versatile, strong and easy to work with. You can easily order this material from , cut to the millimetre and delivered to your home with ease.
How do you finish a cove?
Once the sheet materials are attached to the battens, you can start finishing the cove. Work away screw holes neatly with filler and sand them flat. Most types of wood need to be primed, so do that first. Finally, finish the cove in a colour of your choice.
What does it cost to make a cove?
The cost of making a cove varies widely. On our website you can see exactly how much the sheet material for your project will cost. Add in the cost of battens, beams, screws, paint and other supplies and you will know approximately how much your new cove should cost.
Making a cove yourself is the most budget-friendly option in most cases!
Examples of coves from our handymen
Our handymen went before you and shared their projects with us. Get inspired by these examples!
Light cove made of MDF
Several handymen have made light coves from MDF.
Handyman Peter had us mitre-cut the MDF for his false beams with spotlights. A neat result!
That a floating cove can also be very beautiful in the living room, handyman René shows with this stylish project.
Handyman Marco opted for a creative twist and built a cove within the cove, with space for cookbooks and some small items. Very inventive!
You can see here that a cove can also be used to cleverly hide curtain rails.
Handyman Jan chose for his cove with recessed spotlights .
Cove around extractor hood
To conceal the cooker hood, exhaust pipe and remote-controlled lights, handyman Fabian made this cove.
Bas also opted for a cove around the extractor, also to avoid grease stains on the ceiling. Clever!
Cover for water softener
Jan used plywood material for a cove to conceal the water softener and underfloor heating valves. A great job with a beautiful end result!
Eliminating the heating pipes in the hallway
A cove to conceal the heating pipes in the hallway - and make that form one unit with the meter cupboard and the furniture under the cove. Handyman Ramon managed that just fine with MDF from .
Stylish MDF cove in kitchen
Take a look at the before and after photos for this project. The stylish MDF cove with built-in spotlights really makes a big difference in this kitchen by handyman Matthijs.
New kitchen, new cove
To neatly conceal the cooker hood in the new kitchen, handyman Ron made this cove from black, cut-to-size MDF.
Illuminating a wall
That you can use a cove to beautifully highlight a wall is proven by handyman William. The result is an atmospheric room with very nice, indirect light!
A loose cove above the kitchen island
According to this handyman, making a loose cove (one that is not attached to a wall) is quite tricky. Yet he managed it just fine and here he shares exactly how he did it.
Get started with your cut-to-size cove
In this article, we have explained to you how to make your own cut-to-size cove. Ideal for concealing less pretty elements in your living room, kitchen or hallway. The inspiration projects from our handymen will help you get started on this DIY project with confidence.
For the wood for this job, you can of course turn to . We will cut the wood perfectly to size for you and deliver it to your home quickly.
When your cove is ready, will you share your results (and your method) with us? That way you can, in turn, inspire other (aspiring) handymen!
Have fun making your own cove.
