Making square wall corners rounded: Making the 1970's contemporary.

I live in a typicall boring 1970's community. All the rooms are zsetup like all other houses/rooms of that time period 2 story suburban house.

All the wall corners are standard 90 degree corners. I would love to soften some of these by making them rounded corners where two walls meet (outside corners walls meeting). I imagine simply tearing out the corner framing and corner bead where the two pieces of drywall walls meet - maybe 12inches worth on both sides.

I wonder if there are and tricks then to position the framing stud and the trick to bending drywall in an arc?

Rather not guess ;^)

Thanks Todd

Reply to
Todd W. Roat
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Don't bother with drywall. Use quarter inch masonite then backfill by free hand plastering.

Reply to
SofaKing

You can actually purchase rounded drywall corners that are fairly simple to install. If you have the ability to do some simple floating, you shouldn't have any problem with this little project.

Reply to
TexasFireGuy

Just a "devil's advocate" warning here: if you ever sell the place, are you sure that potential buyers will see this as a positive?

I've seen it done first hand in a commercial remodeling job, they used steel studs with cuts and cut out notches to form identical top and bottom "plates", then used 4 or 5 studs around the arch to give it good backing. They also had a larger radius than you're talking, but the same method might work for you. They literally "hosed down" the drywall pieces to saturate them as much as possible, then laid them on a beam/sawhorse gizmo (10' long) so the weight of them would droop down the edges. Let them dry out that way and you have an arched piece of drywall that you can attach to those studs with a little finess and patience, I imagine it would be downright impossible with a rigid, straight piece.

Good luck!

Reply to
I-zheet M'drurz

Uh, if he actually wants to go back a foot from each corner(like he said), we are talking sections of a 2 foot cylinder. That gets back into the framing for that wall corner, which is NOT trivial for a DIY project, especially if either or both walls are load bearing. And how do you finish out the wall on the back side, if it doesn't happen to be dead space? Plus 'little' details like how to make baseboard look right, and piece the missing spot of floor back in. Not A Minor Project.

The rounded corner bead would be a DIY project, since the actual wall structure doesn't change.

Personally, I 1970s interior styles, as long as they were high up enough on food chain to have hardwood floors and trim, not shag carpet and printed masonite.

aem sends...

Reply to
ameijers

I'm sure that this isn't going to help the OP, but I couldn't help remembering a house I saw back in the '60s, in the vicinity of Columbia, SC, that had round exterior load bearing corners. They were made from solid quartered tree trunks which had been hollowed out so that they formed a base for the curved corners inside. It probably helped that the family owned a big lumber yard.

Reply to
Martin

I've seen metal tracks that are designed specifically for framing curved walls (Can't remember who makes them). They consist of a lot of small sections tied together that you can bend into any curve. Mount one track at the ceiling, another at the floor, and attach the studs in between. It might be something to look into if you're serious about a large curve.

I also saw an article in a magazine a few years back (Probably Fine Homebuilding or Family Handyman) that created the corner section by building a corner out of two strips of plywood, with plywood "shelves" every 16" to 24" or so. Each "shelf" had the curve cut in it. If I remember right, the curve was limited to the depth of the stud. So, the room with the inside corner on the other side of the wall still had the 90 degree corner. This would probably be the easiest, and least invasive, approach next to just using the nail-on drywall corners.

Keep in mind you'll need to bend the drywall, around the curves, and as ameijers said, you'll have to patch the floor and ceiling too.

Anthony

Reply to
HerHusband

Hey, thanks for all the thoughtful replies. Makes me more cautious about doing it (didnt think about the floors and trim that much). Also didnt consider whether the next owner would like it. Hmmm. Much to consider. Will think sthis thru more carefully, but think I will still try it.

But which method....hmmm.

Reply to
Todd W. Roat

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