I was in a new office building in Phoenix and saw something that made me rethink corner beads

I was doing a walkthrough for a possible job last Thursday, checking out this big office space they're finishing. The place had these long hallways, maybe 200 feet each, and every single outside corner had a vinyl bead instead of metal. I've always been a metal bead guy, thought vinyl was for cheap jobs. But the super told me they used it because the building shifts a lot in the heat and they had zero cracks after a full year. He let me push on a few corners and they had way more give than metal, no sharp edges either. It got me thinking about all the callbacks I've had for popped screws and cracks on outside corners in sun-baked walls. Maybe I've been too stuck in my ways. Has anyone else switched to vinyl beads for big commercial jobs in hot climates and had good luck with it?

3 comments

3 Comments

casey1451mo ago

Zero cracks after a full year" is good, but is that really enough time to call it a win?

rubyg511mo ago

Seriously? A year proves nothing.

williamt4420d ago

Exactly, what's a year in the grand scheme of things? My old phone case looked fine for the first year too, then it totally fell apart in year two. These things need to survive way more than a few seasons to be called durable. I'd want to see it hold up for at least three years before trusting it.