How To Cut Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic Textured Wall Paneling

Try swivel head shears sheet metal shears or table shears.

How to cut fiberglass reinforced plastic textured wall paneling.

Fiberglass is hard and will quickly dull any wood cutting blade. Drill a hole into the x. Lay panels next to one another on the wall. Whether you want to trim off the end of a panel or create a cutout in the middle use electric shears when working with thin pieces of frp.

Moldings can be cut with aviation snips or a miter saw. Draw the opening on the panel with a pencil and mark the center with an x. You will need to cut a rectangular hole in any panel that needs a light switch plumbing pipe or other opening. Put on your safety glasses and dust mask to protect your eyes and lungs while you work.

An electric stapler speeds the installation of molding on drywall. Panel adhesive can be applied with a notched trowel included with some adhesives or a homemade notched trowel cut from a scrap of frp. For a better cut use a clamp to hold the panel in place. Measure the wall area where you plan to install your fiberglass panel.

Place the sharp edge of the utility against the cut edge of the frp tilt the blade on a 15 degree angle and drag the knife along the cut to remove any burr remaining from the cutting process. Do not push the blade along the cut this will damage the frp panel. Sometimes referred to as a skill saw the circular saw works well if you re cutting a straight line and if you re using a blade with fine teeth. A drill and hammer are required for installing rivets.

Aline the jaws of the blades so they can bite down on the edge of the frp. Don t try to cut the frp all the way through. Scribe and snap in a pinch you can just slice into the panel with a good sharp knife and then fold back and forth along the slice. How to cut a fiberglass wall covering for bathroom paneling.

Frp looks like it should be really easy to cut but the fiberglass component makes it much harder. Leave a 1 4 inch expansion joint at the top and bottom of each panel and a 1 8 inch expansion joint. Cut the panels to fit the space with a fine toothed saw or a pair of shears for small areas. Use handheld electric shears to trim or cut thin panels.

The jigsaw will work better than some other saws if you need to saw curves in the panel.