My house is about 40 years old and the outside corners of the drywall show it – they are chipped to the metal in most spots. We are getting ready to paint, but it seems like this is just going to happen again. Is adding trim my only solution?
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I'll answer as something along the same lines as a "bump". I think trim is the solution if you think it may happen again--as in you have people/things bumping into the corners. I've seen clear plastic outside corners that may not be too bad--they're supposedly self-sticking. The wooden ones could be made more decorative with finials and so forth. (Embedding broken bottles in drywall mud would make people think twice about running into those corners, but may not be too practical--lawsuits and such.)
I suppose too that you could replace the drywall at the corners with something else--like a wood or metal "post". In my upstairs bath, the previous owner butted the drywall against quarter-round trim at the outside corners of a small wall separating the tub from the toilet. If you paint the wood the same color as the wall, it just looks like a rounded wall.
Instead of using and angled corner, you could go with a "bullnose" corner. Basicly it makes each corner into a rounded edge with a 3/4" radius. Fastens on just like regular corner bead. There are also special pieces made that will go from round to square at the bottom so your trim will still work.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
http://www.no-coat.com/
take a look here, I use them on all outside corner apps and they are not kidding about beating on them.
james
Thanks, that looks intriguing. I wasn't sure from the description - do you just mud it on and you're good to go? Could it be applied over the old corner bead or would I have to rip that out?
aimless,
if you use trim (wood I'm guessing ) won't that chip and dent over the years as well ?
If you read the install instructions on the no-coat link you see that they say you must hold the drywall back from the corners for bullnose application, and they also say you must apply the mud to a "clean drywall surface" with no contaminanmts, including no paint. Maybe it would be better to just sand the existing corner bead and then re-paint.
Geoff
Edited 12/6/2006 3:37 am ET by Geoffrey
Geoff,
I'm an idiot - I was looking for the instructions on that site and couldn't find them. But I neglected to look under technical specifications. You're right, that application would work better for new or remodel with new drywall.
aimless- idiot? no, It's just that your aim was a little off! :)
Geoff
What you have is the typical outside corners. They do chip when they are hit, and in 40 years there will be some damage. I'd just sand, spackle and paint. And quit hitting the corners.
At least you dont have the plastic corners. The plastic outside corner protectors are good if the corners get hit a lot.
I installed some trim pc.s for a customer. They were a turning with a quarter of it cut away so it fits on the corner.
I wish I had a link to a picture, but I forgot were she got them.
Just found them at the store. They look OK, and we may go with that. I think we'll start with paint and then trim when they start getting chipped up. Those corners take a lot of abuse from toys and kids.
What about getting rid of the kids and toys?
I finished a basement for a farmer who was in his eighties.His wife wanted to move to town from their farmstead, so rather that buying another house, he moved the one they lived in for fifty years. They reused all the old doors from the old basement.As I installed them, his wife and him would point to the old gouges and scrapes and laugh about how they happened--One their kids wrecked the trike when they were three etc.I got a kick out of that.