Joint compound didn't stick to corner bead

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maddfrog

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I recently ran into a situation that I've never seen before and I was wondering if anyone else has run into it.

I've been remodeling my basement playroom. As part of the project, I wrapped the center carrying beam of the house with drywall where it stuck below the existing finished ceiling on either side - basically a 3" high by 10" wide soffit. It's about 16 feet long, so I used four 8-foot all-metal corner beads to finish the edges. While I was sanding it, I noticed a hair-line crack running along the length of the bead where the mud meets the metal. I stuck a plaster knife under the edge and the mud popped off. I slid the knife along the edge of the bead and watched in shock as all of the mud just popped off on both sides of the corner with no effort until I reached the joint between the two pieces. The mud was stuck on the other three beads just fine.

I've since primed the metal with BIN and re-mudded the bead. Everything seems good so far. I used lightweight Sheetrock compound, which is what I've used for 20 years with no problem until now.

Anyone have any theories about why that one piece wouldn't hold mud?
 

Frenchie

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1st guess: you didn't apply the mud with enough pressure to key it in.

2nd guess: the corner bead had a lot of dust on it.

3rd guess: the corner bead isn't secured well enough to prevent movement; as you sanded, it shifted, mud popped off.

4th guess: premix mud, laid on in a few thick fills instead of many thin fills. The mud on the sheetrock dried, because the sheetrock absorbed the moisture; but the mud on the bead, couldn't...

5th guess: all of the above.



edit - woops - only ONE bead? then it was probably oily or something. Maybe got something spilled on it during transport, and it was the outside piece of a bundle... ?
 
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Construct30

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Pick one of frenchie's, but maybe if you have a dehumidifier and the furnace was on it might have dried too fast, but more than likely choose on of frenchie's, especially the dust or maybe even a bit of grease on that part if I chose just one. Usually dry too fast is only an issue putting on one corner, on a total job getting it to dry is hard.

We switched to mid weight over the lite because of having strange issues for seemingly no reason. We never used to have trouble with it.
 
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Bob NH

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The corner bead is usually nailed to the studs so that it is secured at both edges. If it is not well secured it can move during application of the compound, which will result in a crack.
 

Frenchie

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Usually dry too fast is only an issue putting on one corner, on a total job getting it to dry is hard.

Try setting compound. Just stay away from the lightweight, the difference is worse than with premixed. That "easysand" crap should really be called "easily-dented". Get USG, grey bag, big boxes won't have it but your lumberyard will.
 

maddfrog

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I originally thought it was movement somewhere, but the bead is fastened to the underlying stud with 1 1/4" drywall screws every 6 or 8 inches along both sides - nothing's moving.

It's also not from drying too fast - I mudded all four beads at the same time from the same bucket, so I should have seen the problem on all four.

After priming with BIN and re-mudding, everything is sticking fine, so I'm thinking there was something on that bead - I'm guessing some type of oil, but maybe it was just dust. The beads were stacked together face up on a shelf on the work site for several days. That may have been the one on top and gotten coated with dust...

Next time I'll probably try setting compound - it should stick better plus I won't have to wait so long between coats.

Thanks for offering your opinions!
 
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