Skirting in curved bay window

[Vim]

ladylola,

Do you think steam on MDF will work? or will it ruin it?

 

[ladylola]

To be honest I frankly don't know but I'd be inclined to try it out on a piece of scrap mdf . Oh , and if it falls apart don't forget it was jobandknock's idea

 

[Chud]

Dunno about MDF but I saw a good trick for steam bending wood the other week: Use layflat plastic tubing - put the length of wood in it, tie up one end and connect your steam source to the other - you can bend the wood in situ whilt it is still steaming.

EDIT - here's the video I came across

 

[Vim]

Thanks Ladylola and Chudd.

Chudd thank you for sharing the video it certainly has given me an idea. Im gonna give the steam ago tonight, i'll leave it on for around 10 -20mins and see what it does to the MDF, i hope it doesnt completely dis-form the board but hey in the name of science ill give it ago anway.

will report back.

 

[Vim]

Hello All,

Heres a quick update..... after leaving the brick on the skirting board over night, the result this evening was a slight bend. As soon as i lifted the brick the board pretty much bounced back, not exactly straight again but near enough. I suspect this happened because i hadnt soaked the skirting board and didnt leave the brick for a longer period of time.

Anyways with your advice, tonight I steamed the skirting board with the wallpaper remover and then i put one end of the skirting board against the bottom corner of the wall and the other end i put a couple of screws to create a wedge. I then bent it with medium force to the shape it is now as shown in the picture attached. What do you guys think of how it looks?

Once the skirting board was up i went over with the steamer again on the back of the skirting board. I intend to go over with the steamer a number of times over the next few days so that it moulds into this shape. I fear that if i dont do this the board may spring back straight once i remove the screws.

Question - now that ive managed to create this bend. I think i maybe able to force this bend into the bay window itself and just screw the skirting board to the wall as i go along. I say force because im pretty sure that if i move the skirting board now it wont hold the shape that it is in the picture. Essentially what im trying to ask is can i cut corners and force this skirting board in place or shall i be patient and wait for the skirting board to naturally take this shape and hold its form?

if i do force it in do you think there will be any cons for example ripping out the newly plastered wall due to the pressure of the skirting board trying to stretch straight (hope this makes sense)?

thank again for your inputs.

Will attach a few pics.

 

[Vim]

 

[Vim]

 

[chappers]

To be honest I'm not sure why you're bothering. It looks like you have already managed to bend the skirting beyond the radius of your bay anyway.
Just start fixing at one end bending it in as you go (might need a hand or some temp screws in the floor to hold it). I would fix the whole skirting in over length first then mark off your mitre points, take it off, cut your mitres and then re-fix it. just make sure your screws are long enough to go through into the brick and knock your plugs through the plaster into the brick too.
Steaming with that thing isn't going to do anything anyway.

 

[geraldthehamster]

You can't steam MDF like you can steam timber. What you have there is bent MDF. However, it does look like sufficiently bent MDF.

 

[Vim]

Hi Chappers and Geraldthehamster (loving the names .

Chapper - The bay window is just constructed with wood going down (from window to the floor) at intervals and between the wood is just plasterboard. So i dont have brick work to screw this into. Im going to take your suggestion and try screwing this to the plasterboard and hope that the tension of the skirting board doesnt rip out the plasterboard itself. Obviously will try to find the wooden strips and try to screw into that instead. Will see how i get on.

Im going to leave the skirting board until the weekend before moving it into the bay window area hoping that the skirting board will takes some shape so theres less struggling when bending n screwing it into the bay window. Will probably apply some "no nail glue" as well for added strength.

wish me luck... will report back.

thanks

 

[Chud]

You can't steam MDF like you can steam timber. What you have there is bent MDF. However, it does look like sufficiently bent MDF.

Yeah I put that video up as kind of a side-track maybe for those looking to install solid wood skirting in a similar location but glad it was useful!

Here's a bit more on steam bending - the bit about not using kiln dried seems to be a bit contentious as quite a few resources online claim to have had success bending it with some advocating soaking it beforehand.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/html/05F1501ie.pdf

 

[Vim]

Yeah there doesnt seem to be alot of advice on bending MDF or more specifically bending MDF to fit into a bay windows which is what im trying to acheive.

Alot of the stuff i found online was advising to cut lots of stripes at the back/front of the skirting board which is quite labour intensive especially if you dont own a mitre saw machine (think thats what they are called). I suppose this would have been the only option if it was a really steep bend. But lucky for me its not.

i think the way I've done its should work for me, if it does i'll be really pleased considering it will have taken me alot less than 3 WEEKs to achieve it like it had for the the previous writer.

Will post pic of the final product. if it goes all well for me finger x :-s

 

[chappers]

find the wooden bay frame first and fix to that. What shape is the MDF holding when you release it . I think the only way you will truly bend it permanently is to wet it as the OP did.

 

[Vim]

Hi Chapper,

yead i intend to chip away a little bit of the plaster from the bottom of the bay window to find the wooden frame before bringing the skirting board to the bay window and trying to fit it in.

To be honest since ive properly bent the skirting board (as per pics above) ive not released it as yet so not sure how it'll hold when i do realease it. As its only been sitting there for a couple of days i dont have much hope of it staying like this unless if i soak it in this position.

Going to leave it until Saturday then will try to install with whatever shape its taken.

 

[Vim]

here's a quick update.

The MDF skirting board took its curved shape pretty well. Yeah it did bounce back a bit when i moved it into the bay window but with a bit of force it bent back to the curve shape pretty easily.

HOWEVER .......

As you'll see from the pictures the bay window itself is not perfectly curved resulting in big gaps at certain points at the back. I'm trying to bend the skirting board further with the use of some wood peices but this is proving to be a bit difficult as im trying to bend small sections of the board now.

Any suggestion on where i can go from here?? Im thinking of cutting lines as the front/back at the places where it is sticking out to make it bend in place, but i think it'll be difficult to cut now as the board is bent.

Any help as always appreciated.