How to Install Corner Beads to Create Smooth Edges Around Walls
Create a seamless corner by finishing your drywall with corner beads. Here are two easy techniques to get you started.
Installed on the outside corners where two pieces of drywall meet, corner beads create a smooth, even seam and an attractive finish. Luckily for homeowners, installing corner beads and mudding them is one of the easier parts of the drywall process. When you install corner beads, apply light pressure on the bead itself toward the corner. This ensures that the strip registers evenly along both walls and runs in a straight line. Misalignment can make the bead twist up the corner, and your only remedy then is to rip it off and try again.
To account for mistakes, always buy spare corner bead ($4, The Home Depot). That will give you some backup material in case a strip gets bent or if a miter is miscut. Mudding beads is also relatively easy because you have the corner to guide one edge of your knife as you spread the compound. Avoid excessive pressure because that will curve the blade of your knife, resulting in an underfilled concave corner.
There are two different techniques you can use to create corner beads: a metal corner bead for crisp corners or a bullnose bead for rounded corners. Choose what works best for your space and follow our steps below to learn how to install corner beads on walls.
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