# Ceiling to wall corners



## futtyos (Aug 11, 2013)

I have a question for all regarding ceiling-to-wall corners when skim coating both. I am painting at a hi rise condo where the GC commonly skims both ceilins and walls in addition to creating a few new walls with drywall.

He uses a wide mud knife on bothe ceilings and walls and gets the corners fairly sharp and severe as opposed to more rounded as corners on repaints tend to be after several layers of paint have filled in the sharp 90 degree angle.

Here is a diagram I drew to show what I am talking about:









When I cut in the skim coated angles for this GC it takes me far longer than if I was cutting in a repaint. The GC does not use a corner trowel and the corner he ends up with is not uniform, making it difficult to follow smoothly, at least for me. I know that if I was cutting in a lot more on a daily basis, that might solve my problem, but that does not explain why I can cut in repaints so much faster.

Has anyone here found a way to round out 90 degree corners just enough so that straight lines can be cut as they can with repaints?

futtyos


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Thin bead of caulking? Personally I find the sharp edges easier when cutting in, but maybe that's just me. Around here, good drywallers will often leave what I call a 'trench', where they leave an almost un-noticeable line that your brush practically follows on it's own leaving a perfectly straight cut in. I swear you could almost do it blind.


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

Wildbill7145 said:


> Thin bead of caulking? Personally I find the sharp edges easier when cutting in, but maybe that's just me. Around here, good drywallers will often leave what I call a 'trench', where they leave an almost un-noticeable line that your brush practically follows on it's own leaving a perfectly straight cut in. I swear you could almost do it blind.


Same here. I personally prefer sharp corners and love having a trench there.


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## SwampCat (Aug 31, 2018)

are you priming or painting the ceilings?maybe its hard because your cutting unprimed plaster/JC? I've painted a lot of new houses where they don't paint the ceilings just leave bare plaster.pain to cut the first coat.if your doing two coats cut the first coat as close as you can easily then hone it in the second pass.


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## Holdenholden (Feb 6, 2018)

I find the sharp corners much better to cut a straight line. But sometimes I will scribe the wall with my putty knife or even a pencil and follow that line. If all else fails I frog tape it. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Woodco (Nov 19, 2016)

Either go with the flow and use the sharp corners to your advantage, or caulk them. Im in the haboit of caulking lid lines because Im used to everything being textured, so caulking the lid lines helps out.


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## Brushman4 (Oct 18, 2014)

Holdenholden said:


> I find the sharp corners much better to cut a straight line. But sometimes I will scribe the wall with my putty knife or even a pencil and follow that line. If all else fails I frog tape it.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


This is the method we always used either a light pencil line or a mark with a putty knife or 5 in 1.

Sometimes if the ceiling line is way off and wavy you have to eyeball it even if it looks to you at ladder height uneven, often times at ground level it will appear straight!


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## futtyos (Aug 11, 2013)

*Priming first*



SwampCat said:


> are you priming or painting the ceilings?maybe its hard because your cutting unprimed plaster/JC? I've painted a lot of new houses where they don't paint the ceilings just leave bare plaster.pain to cut the first coat.if your doing two coats cut the first coat as close as you can easily then hone it in the second pass.


Everything gets primed with 123 first, then the GC points up the ceiling, then I cut in the ceiling with a 4" mini, then roll it out twice. The wall at the ceiling gets cut in by brush twice. Most of the time, any mistakes that get patched are also primed before painting.

If the corners were perfectly straight and without any imperfections I might agree about it being easier to cut in, but such is not the case. The GC claims it is perfect, but he is far sighted and I am near sighted and I can see what he claims is not there.

I would think that a slightly curved corner - like those one sees when doing repaints - would give a painter a better chance at cutting a straight line without worrying if the paint will somehow touch and cling to the ceiling every so often.

I do like the idea of a slight channel being cut up into the ceiling where the brush can slide into. Sometimes I encounter this on these condo rehabs and wish all of the corners were this way.

Maybe if I did more cutting in I wouldn't be posting about my rusty skill at doing so.

futtyos


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## futtyos (Aug 11, 2013)

*Viewing the corner from different angles*



Brushman4 said:


> This is the method we always used either a light pencil line or a mark with a putty knife or 5 in 1.
> 
> Sometimes if the ceiling line is way off and wavy you have to eyeball it even if it looks to you at ladder height uneven, often times at ground level it will appear straight!


I often see that when I am close enough to see the corner as I am cutting, it looks good, but when I get down from my ladder and view the corner from where the HO will I see where I missed. :sad:

This is why I am wondering if a rounded corner will give me the best chance of cutting straight both from viewing it as I cut as well as when down on the ground looking up.

futtyos


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## deadend (Aug 1, 2013)

https://youtu.be/8IxhE34-Fq8
...excellent video that addresses this issue...always be concious of the most common viewing area of a particular piece...
...GENERALLY...
...WALLS should be cut proud onto the ceiling because the overage from underneath is much less noticeable and more pleasing to the eye than gaps from a distance...
...same/opposite with baseboards...those seen perpendicular from a distance can tolerate slight overage from the wall to prevent gaps...those in a narrow hallway for instance can go proud onto the wall to keep the line clean when viewed from above...


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## Brushman4 (Oct 18, 2014)

futtyos said:


> Everything gets primed with 123 first, then the GC points up the ceiling, then I cut in the ceiling with a 4" mini, then roll it out twice. The wall at the ceiling gets cut in by brush twice. Most of the time, any mistakes that get patched are also primed before painting.
> 
> If the corners were perfectly straight and without any imperfections I might agree about it being easier to cut in, but such is not the case. The GC claims it is perfect, but he is far sighted and I am near sighted and I can see what he claims is not there.
> 
> ...


Fuuty, my my my 123 and no Guardz? Is the world coming to an end?


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## RH (Sep 7, 2010)

deadend said:


> https://youtu.be/8IxhE34-Fq8
> ...excellent video that addresses this issue...always be concious of the most common viewing area of a particular piece...
> ...GENERALLY...
> ...WALLS should be cut proud onto the ceiling because the overage from underneath is much less noticeable and more pleasing to the eye than gaps from a distance...
> ...same/opposite with baseboards...those seen perpendicular from a distance can tolerate slight overage from the wall to prevent gaps...those in a narrow hallway for instance can go proud onto the wall to keep the line clean when viewed from above...


Yep. Nothing looks worse IMO than a cut in where the white ceiling color is coming down onto the wall. The eye is automatically drawn to it.


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## futtyos (Aug 11, 2013)

*Pat myself on the back*

I will say this about creating corners with a mud knife. I have had the occasion to redo or repair some of my GC's work on inside corners where the wall meets the ceiling and for some reason I can cut those areas in a lot better.

I guess if one is coming in after a particular job is done, the same person doing that job creats a situation where the one doing both jobs realizes that the way the first job is done will affect the way the second job can be executed.

Now, I can't hold a candle to how my GC does skim coating, but I can do better corners than he normally does, even though he won't admit it. Perhaps if he was cutting in his own corners he might start making them a bit cleaner.

Just sayin'

futtyos


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## finishesbykevyn (Apr 14, 2010)

Tell him to stop being a cheap ass and put up some crown mouldings. .&#55357;&#56834;


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