First of all, why cope at all? Why not miter your joints? Mitering is great if all of your corners are square. If not, you either have to play with your miter or live with the big gaps. Sometimes compound mitering is required to get a tight joint. Playing with your miter, in my opinion, is often much more time consuming than coping. It requires you make numerous cuts to find the right angle so your molding sits flush against the wall and tight in the corner. Now you will always need to do some playing on the outside corners because there is no coping for out side corners but you still cut your time in half by coping inside corners. Again this is most true in old houses where the walls are not square anymore. With coping you can put the inside corner together at almost any angle and have a nice tight joint.
The first thing you need to cope is a good coping saw. This saw is shaped like a big “D” with a handle on it. The blade is very thin and can be turned on a very tight corner when needed. Learning how to use a coping saw is not hard. It does take patience. Using pieces of scrap molding you can practice a few times before beginning your installation.

Begin by installing a piece of molding butting the ends against the walls. This is the piece you are going to cope to. Next take your molding and, before cutting it to length, cope the end that will be put up against the installed molding. Cope it in this way.

First, cut a miter on the end to be butt to the other molding. Now, if you look at the cut you can see the profile of the molding. Take a pencil if you want and rub it on the profile to make it stick out better. Take your coping saw and start cutting on the profile line but with the saw angled in the reverse direction to the angle of the miter.

Follow the profile as closely as you can. The more you practice the better you will get. After you finished the cut take a piece of sand paper and gently clean up the edge being careful not to distort the profile.
Now your cope is complete. You can take your piece, put it in place and measure your cut. The other end will be butt up to the wall and the next piece will be coped to it.

Coping is really that simple. It can take a lot less time to cope than to experiment with miter angles to find the best miter. The more you practice your coping skills the better you will become at coping.

#1 – End of tenancy cleaning. For end of tenancy cleaning London landlords and lettings agents have some fairly strict, and potentially expensive, regulations. If you plan on vacating your current property in the near future, you have a seriously big one off cleaning job on your hands. Consult your landlord or lettings agent for a cleaning checklist, and call a professional if you’re running short of time or think you won’t be able to get it all done yourself.

#2 – Waste removal. From cleaning your gutters and storm drains to getting rid of household rubbish in large quantities, waste removal can be a big one off cleaning job. Be sure that you can use council bins in your neighbourhood. Otherwise, calling to arrange a removal company or have a skip placed outside your home is a good option before you get started.

#3 – Bathrooms and Kitchens. Stainless steel and porcelain or ceramic surfaces are among the hardest to clean, so luckily they don’t need doing every day. If you plan on tackling your kitchen or bathroom as part of this spring’s one off cleaning efforts, try baby oil, denture cream and

#4 – The washing-up. I know this doesn’t quite qualify as a one off cleaning job, but, depending on how long you’ve left it for, it may certainly be a big cleaning job. The key here is motivation, don’t procrastinate, don’t watch telly while you do it, just get in there and get rid of the dishes. If you are really fearful, bin the dirty dishes, head to IKEA and start over again; just know that if you don’t do them, no one else will.

#5 – The Oven. Yes, I know, it is positively beastly. It seems like no matter how much cillit bang you use, the grease streaks and leftover bits of lasagna just won’t come off of there. Its a cruel world indeed. Try white vinegar or an industrial strength degreaser to get the best results. If you still can’t manage this super-tough one-off cleaning job, order a takeaway for dinner and forget you ever had an oven to begin with. ]]> http://vinci-quality.com/2011/10/01/5-one-off-jobs/feed/ 0 http://vinci-quality.com/2010/11/11/bathroom-cabinet-options-for-your-bathroom/ http://vinci-quality.com/2010/11/11/bathroom-cabinet-options-for-your-bathroom/#comments Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:31:00 +0000 http://www.vinci-quality.com/?p=12 Bathroom Cabinets for the UK Market come in various shapes, colors and sizes to suit the mood and style. With a mind-boggling array of designs to choose from that have features like lighting and in-built sockets for shaving purposes; cabinets are available in choices of single, double or triple door varieties.

People need storage space but are not ready to compromise on refurbishing their bathroom to accommodate storage. That´s when the need for a Bathroom Cabinet comes in and there are many Bathroom Cabinets for the UK Market that are available which have facilities to be hung against the bathroom wall or under the sink or in a corner where one does not have to run out of space for storage. There are many uses for cabinets that do not limit itself to storage, it also has to lend an aesthetic appeal and combine two or three uses into one. It comes in a range to match your furniture so that it does not have to stick out like a sore thumb. Blending, mixing and matching choices are available in steel, wood and aluminum in sizes that you need.

Corners in the bathroom are never put to use and that´s when the use of corner bathroom cabinets come in. These cabinets blend in with the bathroom and is designed in such a manner that makes it less conspicuous. All a person notices in a corner bathroom cabinet is the front door and no bulky sides, so it remains sleek and appealing to the eye. They are installed in a manner where one can open it each and every way however, it also depends on how one installs it. Bathroom cabinets for UK Market are available to make your bathroom look larger. Mirrors on cabinets give a dimensional appeal that broadens the view of a bathroom; so even if you have a tiny bathroom it would look good with a mirrored cabinet that can store all of your lotions and other stuff and not just the toothbrush or toothpaste.

There is a requirement for a mirror everywhere and in the bathroom it is just indispensable, something that you cannot do without. Bathroom cabinets with mirrors are very stylish and come in choices of a single door or a double door. Double door bathroom cabinets have mirrors placed inside as well to give you the advantage of seeing the back of your head and the upper part of your body. Wall cabinets are installed at a length that suits your height. You do not have to bend or stretch to get hold of toiletries in the mornings. Additionally, you can be rest assured that medicines or other stuff will not get into your children´s reach.

Illuminated bathroom cabinets have a storage, mirror and also are illuminated so that you can find your items whenever you want no matter how dim or bright your bathroom lighting is. Ladies have the advantage of using the illuminated cabinets to apply make-up and putting up the hair in privacy and the Gentlemen can use it to their full advantage for their grooming purposes without the need of installing a separate shaver socket.

There are lots of spaces that often go underutilized, including closets (some organization would help us store more and better there), under beds which can be great for seasonal footwear and more, and certainly corners. Corners usually are simply empty, perhaps with a chair or other piece of furniture in front of them, or may simply have a pile of unorganized stuff temporarily placed there from months ago.

There is a better way to use corner storage space! Shelves are great in corners, both for storage as well as display of prized possessions. There are even specially made shelves just for corners.

Corner cabinets are also awesome, and sometimes can be stacked 2 or 3 high. They normally look pretty good too! Wall mounts are a third way to utilize corner space and they may hold a flatscreen TV, monitor, or other device. With a little creativity, you can use that corner space more effectively and have it look good too!