Hello,
I am currently building a house with the help of a developer. I also live within sight of the construction site, so I can at least see everything happening on the exterior. Recently, another homeowner from the same development told me that their building inspector discovered no corner beads were installed on the exterior (insulated) plaster. Now I have suddenly noticed that I have not seen any corner beads or plaster meshes on my facade either. At least 20cm (8 inches) of expanded polystyrene insulation was applied. The problem is, I hadn’t been paying attention. It is a small, very straightforward project (3 detached houses and 2 semi-detached houses).
The plasterers have their materials stored at our house. Although they are working on the last house, there are still 40 loose corner beads (plastic with a red mesh attached) as well as a fully sealed package of corner beads standing there. I assume those are for the exterior. Metal angles were installed on the interior. I have tried tapping on the corners to detect if corner beads were installed, but I couldn’t tell—neither in the house where corner beads were retrofitted nor in my own house.
Now I am a bit stuck. I still want to get something from the developer and don’t want to stir up too much trouble. The specification says: “The external thermal insulation composite system will be finished with a 1cm (0.4 inch) thick textured render, 2mm (0.08 inch) grain, in white, and an armoring layer with fabric mesh including all necessary corner reinforcement profiles.”
1. Question: Are corner beads “necessary,” or is it also acceptable without them?
2. Question: How can I find out whether corner beads were installed or not?
Regards, Richard
I am currently building a house with the help of a developer. I also live within sight of the construction site, so I can at least see everything happening on the exterior. Recently, another homeowner from the same development told me that their building inspector discovered no corner beads were installed on the exterior (insulated) plaster. Now I have suddenly noticed that I have not seen any corner beads or plaster meshes on my facade either. At least 20cm (8 inches) of expanded polystyrene insulation was applied. The problem is, I hadn’t been paying attention. It is a small, very straightforward project (3 detached houses and 2 semi-detached houses).
The plasterers have their materials stored at our house. Although they are working on the last house, there are still 40 loose corner beads (plastic with a red mesh attached) as well as a fully sealed package of corner beads standing there. I assume those are for the exterior. Metal angles were installed on the interior. I have tried tapping on the corners to detect if corner beads were installed, but I couldn’t tell—neither in the house where corner beads were retrofitted nor in my own house.
Now I am a bit stuck. I still want to get something from the developer and don’t want to stir up too much trouble. The specification says: “The external thermal insulation composite system will be finished with a 1cm (0.4 inch) thick textured render, 2mm (0.08 inch) grain, in white, and an armoring layer with fabric mesh including all necessary corner reinforcement profiles.”
1. Question: Are corner beads “necessary,” or is it also acceptable without them?
2. Question: How can I find out whether corner beads were installed or not?
Regards, Richard