I have tile (sorry, i figured wood trim folks would be more familiar with a complex cut such as this one) chair rail that I am trying to install on an outside corner in a bathroom. The chair rail profile does not allow it to sit flush on the wall. Only the top and bottom of the rail make contact with the sheetrock. Also, the chair rail is not symetrical when looking at the profile. Long story short, my corners come up very short...only the bottoms of the chair rail meet at the corner.

Any ideas as to what i am doing wrong?

 

The piece you are cutting needs to be placed on the saw table the same as it is placed on the wall. Since it doesn't fit flush on the wall, it can't fit flush at the saw. I'm probably not explaining real well as I only have a passing knowledge of tile saws.

 

I don't use tile saws but if my wooden chair rail cut came out like that I'd check the alignment of the saw.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I think my problem is that I am trying to do a 45 degree cut. Since the trim piece is not symetrical, I think my cut needs to change. Like marksr said, I guess I will need to put it on the saw just like it will be on the wall and look at the angle. Too bad each chair rail piece (13") cost about $30!

Thanks again.

 

If you are working out the appropriate angle for your cut, do so on one of the pieces that have already been scrapped. You can make plenty of test cuts on those pieces. Once you've found the technique/angle, you can then use a good piece to do your final cut.

Hope this makes sense... Today hasn't been a good brain day

 

Thanks for the replies.

After listening to some advice provided here, I realized that when cutting an outside corner my chair rail could not lay flay on my tile saw's mitre tool attachment. When cutting inside corners I could lay the chair rail flat since that was the way it went up on the wall. When cutting outside corners I had to flip the chair rail onto it's face. On it's face, the chair rail does not lay flat. I basically needed to prop up the chair rail in order to compensate for the fact that it did not lay flat.

So, long story short, it took me a while but I figured it out.

Thanks for your help!