Finishing corners in an apartment is usually done by people who have small children or keep animals. Plaster finishing compositions do not have great strength, therefore, with light exposure, they are destroyed. Quite often, such a fate awaits precisely the outer corners.
Why do we need corner finishing
When the walls are covered with wallpaper, dents and notches appear on the surface in these areas. In order to protect the corners, special techniques should be used. The finishing process can be complex and responsible. Getting a flat surface is easier than leveling. Your task in the process will be to finish the corners to make them strong, even and beautiful.
The difficulty will lie in the fact that these areas are often subjected to shock loads, so their strength should be ensured. To date, there are several ways to solve this problem. ChoiceThe technique depends on the type of wall decoration. If the walls are plastered or sheathed with drywall, then plaster corners should be used.
They are perforated aluminum and arched. The former are used for finishing flat 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. Use a level during installation. This allows installation vertically or horizontally. This solution is used for interior and exterior finishing of corners in the 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, the corners can be decorated with profiles. This method is the simplest, and its essence lies in the use of corner elements. Their installation is carried out on the crate using a level. The profiles are attached to the stapler, and after the panel they are inserted into special grooves. Finishing can be done by bending the panel. To do this, you need to cut its inner side. It is advisable to cut a thin strip. Before bending, the front side is heated with a hair dryer.
Finishing corners in an apartment may also be required when the walls are sheathed with wooden clapboard. Not so long ago, it was customary to cut and fit boards under each other. The remaining gaps were coveredputty. 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 for internal corner joints.
If the walls in the apartment are covered with wallpaper, then decorative overlays can be used to solve the described problem. Such work involves the use of polyurethane or PVC corners. These products are made under a tree and look like an expensive baguette. The latter are made of polyurethane, look rich, and are used in classic interiors. Finishing the corners in the apartment can be done with a decorative stone. It is usually made from cement, plaster or natural material.
Stone finish
The corner must be prepared as if laying ceramic tiles. The base must be even, but slight unevenness is allowed. The wall must be reliable and durable, because any stone, whether artificial or natural, has a rather impressive weight.
As a preparation, it is best to carry out plastering of the finishing area with reinforcement with construction mesh. If the walls are sheathed with drywall, then it is strengthened in three transverse lines along the length. Finishing stone corners in the apartment is carried out on tile or silicone glue. You can use liquid nails. On sale there is also a special glue for stone. Sometimes the use of a conventional solution is justified, but it is desirableadd building glue and plasticizers to it for reliability. Tile adhesive or a special compound for stone is better. Its preparation is carried out according to the same scheme as in the case of tiles.
The required amount of water must be poured into a bucket or other container. The dry mixture is poured into water and mixed with a construction mixer. The result is a thick homogeneous composition. If the stone finishing of the corners in the apartment is carried out on a plasterboard wall, you should check according to the instructions for the adhesive composition whether it is possible to use it for mounting on cardboard. If such a combination is not mentioned, it is better to perforate the drywall to increase adhesion. To do this, you can use a toothed roller. The surface is primed with a deep penetrating compound.
Preparation of decorative stone
Before starting work, it is better to figure out where and how the stone will be attached. For this, a sketch is usually created. Further, 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 end-to-end. This should be taken into account when developing a sketch. All types of artificial stone and some natural varieties have a constant geometry, so the size of the areas decorated with the selected elements should have a correspondingly proportional size.
Next, a chip or cut of the stone is carried out so that the appearance does not suffer, but this is quite difficult to achieve. It is better to reduce everything with and to the use of solid material. When decorating the corners in the apartment, you should organize an even edge near the floor. Sometimes the material only reaches a certain height. Limits are placed in these places. It is better to use 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 butt laying technique, then you should attach the 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 a seam. These can be plasterboard strips, cardboard of different thicknesses, as well as plastic crosses. All these auxiliary elements are removed after the solution has completely solidified. Rows of stone elements are recommended to be laid with an offset in the likeness of brickwork. This will give you a natural looking result. This also applies to natural decorative stone, in which the dimensions are not the same. In this case, it is better to choose elements of approximately the same width for each row. So it will be possible to avoid randomness, which will look clumsy.
If it is necessary to cut and shape the corner in 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 are working with natural stone like marble or granite, it is better to entrust its cutting to a professional. This is the only way you can get high qualityresult. When a decorative stone of impressive thickness is used, it is better to lay it in three rows with a break until the mortar has set. This is necessary to prevent sliding of the trim array. If the corners in the apartment are finished 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 completion of the treatment of the area, its surface is covered with a protective primer.
Corner decoration
The decorative corner is attached with gypsum plaster or starting putty, sometimes the method of fastening with a stapler is used. These works are carried out after the installation of drywall arches or figured fragments of the ceiling is completed. These manipulations are performed before finishing the surface.
Finishing corners in an apartment with corners involves the preparation of some materials and tools, among them should be highlighted:
- scissors;
- level;
- setting mix;
- set of metal spatulas.
The level can be replaced with a straight rail. First you need to mix the solution, the consistency of which will be somewhat thicker. The mixture should not drip off the spatula. It is advisable to carry out mixing in a plastic container using a mixer. The side edges of the element are cut at an angle of 45˚. This will make the installation process easier. Finishing the corners in the apartment with decorative corners is usually accompanied by a starting putty or an analogue of "Rotband". The application of the composition should be carried out on the edge of the fastening structure using a metal spatula.
The decorative corner is applied and evenly pressed along the entire length. If you use a PVC element, it can be installed on PVA stamps. The flexible corner is attached to the putty. Mounting accuracy relative to the side planes is controlled by the level. Otherwise, after that, you will have to further level the resulting recess.
When finishing the corners in the apartment with decorative corners on the side faces of the element, an additional layer of plaster or starting putty should be applied, which will create a transition from the top point to the side planes. The next curly element must be attached in the process of fastening to the edge of the corner close, fastening in the same way.
Working on inner corners
Interior corners in the apartment can be finished with plaster. First you will need to install beacons so that the planes of the walls are connected at right angles. If there are several corners in a short section, you should step back a little from the perpendicular, this will not be noticeable. Then one wall is aligned along the lighthouses. This should be done using the rule, adjusting the plaster with a spatula and a trowel. As soon as one wall grabs, you need to start processing the plane adjacent to it. The instruction recommends using a spatula with a beveled blade so as not to touch the raised plane.
When finishing the corner of the wall in the apartment, you can plasterboth walls at once, but the rule will not need to be brought to the joint by 10 cm on each side. You can manually align these stripes. It is convenient to use a special tool to form an angle. The curved blade should come out from top to bottom, so you can remove excess material, creating a clear outline. The remaining solution is removed with a spatula. It is more convenient to do this when the composition starts to grab.
Finishing
Decorative finishing of the corner of the wall in the apartment involves the use of a hard sponge. An abrasive mesh can also be used. The choice of material is determined by the work plan. In the next step, you can stick wallpaper or apply putty. In the first case, the leveling of the surface is carried out more qualitatively. In order to speed up the grouting, adjacent walls are moistened. The planes are rubbed in a circular motion so that no streaks remain on the surface. The corner is handled carefully. Adjacent walls should not be entered. Internal corners are sanded with sandpaper folded in half. In order to facilitate the work, you can use a wooden wedge.
Features leveling plaster
After reviewing the photo of finishing the corners in the apartment, you can choose the most suitable option for yourself. Among other solutions, plaster should be highlighted. Theoretically, this process is simple and straightforward. Work is carried out on the same principle as the usual plastering of walls. The mixture is poured onto the prepared surface with a special bucket, and then it is leveled with the help of the rule. Butin practice, it turns out that finishing corner joints using this technique is a rather painstaking and rather tedious task. 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. Each subsequent layer is applied exclusively on a dry surface. Finishing external corners in an apartment using this technique can be carried out by applying a plaster layer no more than 3 cm in thickness. Otherwise it's impractical. But if there is no other way out, it is better to use a reinforcing mesh.
Among the main advantages of decorating corners according to this pattern are:
- great selection of mixes;
- saving free space;
- high surface strength;
- strong corners;
- inexpensive kind of work.
But if we compare it with the usual leveling of walls, then this method has its own technical features, and without knowledge of professional secrets it will not achieve a positive result at all.
Gypsum board leveling
You can finish the corners with drywall. You will have to act here according to one of the well-known technologies. The first involves gluing paintings directly to the wall. If the curvature is large enough, the second option will do. It is technically more complex andprovides for the creation of a special frame. Drywall is attached to it. This method is suitable for apartments with high ceilings with a significant deviation in the level of the corner from the base level of the walls.
