Cornice and coving in Cambridge

Cornice and coving in Cambridge is mostly a question of respecting what is already above your head. Zavoré fits new plasterwork, repairs damaged period cornice, and makes fresh lengths to match the profile in your house. Our nearest showroom and training centre in London is open by appointment. A few photos of the ceiling and the room sizes are enough to begin.

Ceilings from three centuries of Cambridge building

Cambridge houses were built across a long span, and the ceilings show it. The Georgian townhouses of Trumpington Street and Regent Street tend towards restrained, classical cornice. The Victorian terraces of Mill Road and Petersfield, and the villas on Hills Road, Station Road and Chesterton Road, often carry deeper, richer profiles. Edwardian houses in Newnham are usually lighter again.

Every house is different, so we look at what is actually on your ceiling before deciding whether to match, mend or replace it.

Many of these rooms have lost something. A cornice is cracked after a century of settlement, missing where a wall was knocked through, or buried under decades of paint. Original plasterwork is worth repairing and matching rather than ripping out, and in a city this old that is usually the right instinct.

What we make and fit, and where it works

Plain curved coving, deep ornate cornice, ceiling roses sized to the room and the light, panel mouldings that turn a flat wall into a classical panelled one, corbels and columns for arches and alcoves, and bespoke profiles drawn for your scheme are all within our range. If you have already bought mouldings, our team can fit them.

In practice that means a new kitchen extension carrying the same cornice as the rest of a terrace, a dining room with its missing run rebuilt, or a hall with a rose at the centre. Hotels, restaurants and offices in converted Cambridge buildings use mouldings in just the same way. Our cornice and coving page covers the range.

People use the two words loosely. Coving usually means a plain curve where wall meets ceiling, while cornice implies steps, beads and ornament. We do both in plaster, and we do not sell ceiling roses or coving at the moment, only fit, restore and match them.

Plaster, not polystyrene

Foam coving is light and cheap, but its detail is soft, and in a period room the difference shows. Plaster keeps a crisp edge, takes paint properly and can be repaired like the rest of the ceiling. It is the proper material for period and listed homes.

Some cast cornices and roses are fibrous plaster, which is plaster cast in a mould and strengthened with hessian scrim, often with timber laths. Other period cornice was run in place by hand. Knowing which you have changes how it is mended, so we look before we recommend.

Listed buildings may need consent before work, and owners should check with their council first.

How a Cambridge cornice job runs

Send photos of the ceiling and the room sizes. Where a profile is being matched, we take the shape of the cornice already in the house and make new lengths to suit, so old and new run on as one. The repair is blended so you cannot see where the original stops.

We survey before pricing, looking at the ceiling and wall condition, cracks, damp, movement, access and protection of floors. Photos can settle small queries first, and we say plainly if something needs doing before the plaster goes up.

Cambridge is a fair distance from our centres, so a bigger job is booked as a block of days with the team staying until it is finished, and dates are set after the design and price are agreed. Details of the service are on our cornice and coving installation page.

If you want to understand the craft, our courses run at our centres in Birmingham, London and Manchester, and our decorative work shows where mouldings fit into a wider scheme.

More decorative work in Cambridge

A good cornice frames everything below it. Gilded edges are described under gilding in Cambridge, and deep gloss walls under lacquered walls in Cambridge. Painted ceilings and walls fall under murals in Cambridge, while panel patterns belong to sculptural plaster in Cambridge and carved scenes to bas relief in Cambridge. A mosaic hall floor is covered by mosaics in Cambridge, a garden rock feature by artificial rock in Cambridge, and stone textured walls by travertino in Cambridge. Read about our decorative finishes specialist in Cambridge for the overall picture and Venetian plastering in Cambridge for polished lime walls beneath a plaster ceiling.

Questions about cornice and coving in Cambridge

Can you match the cornice in my Cambridge house?

Yes. We take the profile of the cornice already in the house and make new lengths to match, so old and new run on together.

Can a damaged Victorian cornice be repaired?

Yes. Cracked, broken and missing sections can be mended and rebuilt, and over painted detail cleaned back, so the cornice reads as it was meant to.

Is plaster coving better than polystyrene?

In a period home, yes. Plaster holds finer detail, takes paint properly and can be repaired. Polystyrene is lighter and cheaper, but the difference shows.

What is fibrous plaster?

Plaster cast in a mould and strengthened with hessian scrim, often with timber laths. It makes a strong but light moulding, and many cast cornices and roses are made this way.

Ring 07592 929191 (Monday to Saturday, nine till six) or write to sales@zavore.co.uk with photos of the ceiling, room sizes and your postcode. If you are repainting the walls beneath it in plaster, a sample board is a good first step.