Finishing corners in an apartment is usually done by people who have small children or contain animals. Plaster finishing compounds do not have great strength, therefore, with light exposure, they are destroyed. Quite often, such a fate awaits precisely the outer corners.
Why do you need corner trim
When the walls are glued with wallpaper, dents and nicks appear on the surface in these areas. In order to protect the corners, you should use special techniques. The finishing process can be complex and responsible. Getting a flat surface is easier than leveling. Finishing corners will be your task in the process to make them durable, even and beautiful.
The difficulty will be that these sections are often subjected to shock loads, so their strength should be ensured. To date, there are several ways that can solve this problem. The choice of methodology depends on the type of wall decoration. If the walls are plastered or lined with drywall, then plaster corners should be used.
They are perforated aluminum and arched. The former are used to decorate even areas, while the latter are made of plastic, and their main feature is increased flexibility. This allows them to be used for finishing curved surfaces. Gluing is carried out with putty or plaster at the stage of rough finishing. During installation, use a level. This allows you to install vertically or horizontally. This solution is used for interior and exterior decoration of corners in an apartment. Most importantly, this technique allows you to align the corners and protect them from mechanical damage.
Material selection
If the walls are finished with PVC lining, which is often found in kitchens, bathrooms and hallways, corners can be decorated with profiles. This method is the simplest, and its essence is the use of corner elements. Their installation is made on the crate with the help of a level. Profiles are attached to the stapler, and after the panel are inserted into special grooves. Finishing can be done by bending the panel. To do this, cut its inner side. It is advisable to cut a thin strip. Before bending, the front side is heated with a hairdryer.
Finishing corners in the apartment may be required in the case when the walls are sheathed with a wooden lining. Not so long ago, it was decided to trim and customize the boards for each other. The remaining cracks were covered with putty. Today, a wooden corner is increasingly used to decorate corners. Fasten it with window nails. It is advisable to bite off the hats so that they are not visible. This method is suitable not only for external, but also internal corner joints.
If the walls in the apartment are glued with wallpaper, then decorative pads can be used to solve the described problem. Such work involves the use of polyurethane or PVC corners. These products are made in wood and look like an expensive baguette. The latter are made of polyurethane, look rich, and are used in classic interiors. Finishing corners in the apartment can be done with decorative stone. It is usually made of cement, gypsum or natural material.
Stone finish
The corner should be prepared, as when laying ceramic tiles. The base should be flat, but slight unevenness is allowed. The wall must be reliable and durable, because any stone, even artificial, even natural, has a pretty impressive weight.
As a preparation, it is best to plaster the finishing area with reinforcement with a building mesh. If the walls are sheathed with drywall, then it is strengthened in three transverse lines along the length. Stone decoration of the corners in the apartment is carried out on tiled or silicone glue. You can use liquid nails. On sale there is also a special glue for stone. Sometimes it is justified to use a conventional mortar, but it is advisable to add building glue and plasticizers to it for reliability. Tile glue or a special composition for stone is better. Its preparation is carried out according to the same scheme as in the case of tiles.
Pour the right amount of water into a bucket or other container. The dry mixture is poured into water and mixed with a construction mixer. The result is a dense uniform composition. If the stone decoration of the corners in the apartment is carried out on a plasterboard wall, you should check according to the instructions for the adhesive composition, is it possible to use it for mounting on cardboard. If such a combination is not mentioned, it is better to perforate the drywall to improve adhesion. To do this, you can use a gear roller. The surface is primed with a deep penetration compound.
Preparation of decorative stone
Before starting work, it is better to figure out where and how the stone will be attached. To do this, a sketch is usually created. Then it is worked out taking into account the selected stone, its dimensions and laying technology. Any type of stone can be laid with the formation of a seam or butt. This should be considered when designing a sketch. All types of artificial stone and some natural varieties have a constant geometry, so the dimensions of the plots decorated with the selected elements must have correspondingly proportional sizes.
Next, a stone is chipped or cut so that the appearance does not suffer, but this is quite difficult to achieve. It is best to reduce everything to and to the use of solid material. When decorating corners in an apartment, you should arrange a flat line near the floor. Sometimes the material reaches only a certain height. In these places, limiters are installed. It is better to use the corners that are attached to the wall.
Styling process
It is better to apply the solution with a trowel or a spatula with a comb. Particular attention is paid to the laying of the first row. The solution is applied to the width of the first row. If you have chosen the end-to-end masonry technique, you should attach a trim element and twist it from side to side. The stone leans against the profile or below the row. Several different options are used to form the seam. It can be strips of drywall, cardboard of different thicknesses, as well as plastic crosses. All these auxiliary elements are removed after the solidification of the solution. Rows of stone elements are recommended to be laid with an offset in the likeness of brickwork. This will allow you to get a natural look for the result. This also applies to natural decorative stone, in which the dimensions are not the same. In this case, it is better to select elements of approximately the same width for each row. So it will be possible to avoid randomness, which will look sloppy.
If it is necessary to trim and shape the corner with pieces, the cutting of the material is carried out by a grinder with a circle on concrete. You can use a professional machine for ceramic and paving slabs. If you work with natural stone as marble or granite, it is better to entrust its cutting to a professional. Only in this way you can get a quality result. When a decorative stone of impressive thickness is used, it is better to lay it in three rows with a break until the mortar grasps. This is necessary to prevent slipping of the array of finishes. If the corners in the apartment are decorated with decorative stone, then the walls will be protected from the formation of moss and fungus when exposed to moisture. But natural stone does not provide such protection, therefore, after the processing of the site, its surface is covered with a protective primer.
Corner decoration
The decorative corner is fastened with gypsum plaster or starting putty; occasionally, the method of fastening with a stapler is used. These works are carried out after the installation of drywall arches or curly fragments of the ceiling is completed. These manipulations are performed before finishing the surface.
Finishing corners in an apartment with corners provides for the preparation of some materials and tools, among which should be highlighted:
- scissors;
- level;
- mixture for fixation;
- set of metal spatulas.
The level can be replaced with a level rail. First you need to mix the solution, the consistency of which will be somewhat thicker. The mixture should not drain from the spatula. It is advisable to knead in a plastic container with a mixer. The lateral edges of the element are cut at an angle of 45 °. This will facilitate the installation process. Finishing corners in an apartment with decorative corners is usually accompanied by a starting putty or an analogue of “Rotband”. The composition should be applied to the edge of the mounting structure using a metal spatula.
A decorative corner is applied and evenly pressed along the entire length. If you use a PVC element, it can be installed on PVA marks. A flexible corner is mounted on putty. Mounting accuracy with respect to the lateral planes is level controlled. Otherwise, after that, it will be necessary to even out the resulting recess.
When decorating corners in an apartment with decorative corners, an additional layer of plaster or starting putty should be applied to the side faces of the element, which will create a transition from the top point to the side planes. The following curly element must be applied in the process of attaching to the edge of the corner closely, securing in a similar way.
Work on the inside corners
Finishing the interior corners in the apartment can be done using plaster. First you need to install beacons so that the planes of the walls are connected at right angles. If there are several angles in a short section, you should step back a little from the perpendicular, this will be imperceptible. Then one wall is aligned with the lighthouses. You need to do this with the help of the rule, adjusting the plaster with a spatula and a trowel. As soon as one wall is seized, you need to start processing the plane adjacent to it. The instruction recommends the use of a spatula with a beveled blade so as not to touch the ejected plane.
When decorating the corner of the wall in the apartment, you can plaster both walls at once, but the rule will need to not be brought to the joint 10 cm on each side. You can align these stripes manually. It is convenient to use a special tool to form an angle. The curved blade should extend from top to bottom, so you can remove excess material, creating a clear outline. The remainder of the solution is removed with a spatula. It is more convenient to do this when the composition begins to clutch.
Finish finish
Decorative wall corner decoration in the apartment involves the use of a hard sponge. You can also apply an abrasive mesh. The choice of material is determined by the work plan. In the next step, you can stick wallpaper or putty. In the first case, the surface leveling is carried out more efficiently. In order to speed up the grouting, the adjoining walls are moistened. The planes are rubbed in a circular motion so that no stripes remain on the surface. The angle is processed carefully. Do not enter adjacent walls. Internal corners are ground by sandpaper folded in half. In order to facilitate the work, you can use a wooden wedge.
Features leveling plaster
Having examined the photo of the decoration of the corners in the apartment, you can choose the most suitable option for yourself. Among other solutions, stucco should be highlighted. Theoretically, this process is simple and straightforward. Work is carried out on the same principle as conventional wall plastering. The mixture is poured onto the prepared surface with a special bucket, and then leveled using the rule. But in practice it turns out that finishing the corner joints using this technique is quite painstaking and rather tedious. In addition, it is accompanied by the formation of a large amount of dirt.
Plaster is usually applied in several layers, the total thickness should not exceed 3 cm. If the angle has an unevenness greater than the permissible thickness, then the work must be carried out in stages. Each subsequent layer is applied exclusively on a dry surface. Finishing the external corners in the apartment by this method can be carried out by applying a plaster layer of not more than 3 cm in thickness. Otherwise, it’s impractical. But if there is no other way, it is better to use a reinforcing mesh.
Among the main advantages of decorating corners according to this scheme, we can distinguish:
- large selection of mixtures;
- space saving;
- high surface strength;
- strong angles;
- inexpensive type of work.
But if you make a comparison with the usual alignment of the walls, then this method has its own technical features, and without the knowledge of professional secrets, it is not at all possible to achieve a positive result.
Drywall Alignment
You can trim the corners with drywall. You will have to act here according to one of the well-known technologies. The first involves gluing paintings directly on the wall. If the curvature is large enough, the second option will do. It is technically more complex and involves the creation of a special frame. Drywall is also attached to it. This method is suitable for apartments with high ceilings with an impressive deviation of the angle level from the base level of the walls.