How to use corner beads for a seamless finish in your DIY sauna

Are you building your own sauna and want to achieve a professional-looking finish? Proper installation of corner beads can help you accomplish this goal. The different varieties of wooden edge trims and corner mouldings provide a straight edge for attaching the sauna cladding to, neaten up the interior and can help prevent cracks and other types of damage in the cladding panels on the walls and ceiling. In this article, we'll outline the steps for using corner beads to create a seamless finish in your DIY sauna. 

Why should you use corner mouldings in your home sauna?

When building your DIY sauna, it is useful to cover the joins between wall panels and the ceiling, as well any corners in the space to create neat finish lines. As a natural material, sauna wood cladding can shrink and cup over time. Gaps in the corners of the sauna are prone to opening up because of the potential small movement of the cladding panels. Suitable corner beads and mouldings cover these gaps and help to hold the wall and ceiling cladding in place.  

Different types edge trims are a great way to cover external corners and joins between lengths of timber, such as those around windows and doors. These type of wooden corner profiles usually resemble an L-shape or are flat cover mouldings. Internal corner beads fit nicely between the internal corners of the walls and the walls and ceiling. 

So, how to use and install the corner and edge beads to neaten up your DIY sauna? 

 This sauna has internal mouldings installed around the corners between the ceiling and wall cladding, as well as external mouldings to neaten up the outward facing sharp corners  of the wall where the benches break into an L-shape. 

Steps to install corner mouldings in your sauna

• Measure and cut the ceiling beads so they fit neatly at the mitres. 
• Install the rear bead and one side using stainless tongue-tites or similar fasteners. 
• Take an offcut of the corner bead and hold it in place opposite the side with the full length bead in place while you affix the sauna cladding. 
• Use the same corner bead off-cut to rip your final ceiling cladding board to the right dimensions. 
• Install the remaining two ceiling beads and fix them directly up using tongue-tites. 
• Measure and cut your four vertical corner beads. 
• Install one corner bead (usually furthest away from the door or glazing aperture, so that you can finish on the wall with the opening) using tongue-tites on both sides. 
• Using a corner bead off-cut as an analogue on the adjacent corner to the wall you're working on, measure and cut, and install your sauna cladding on the wall to fit. 
• Install the next corner bead against the installed cladding. Repeat the process up to the door or glazing aperture. 
• Any boards for the remaining wall will need to be measured between the rebate of the corner beads, then -6mm. In practice, you may find this dimension differs, so it's worth doing a test length with an excess piece of sauna cladding. 
• These cladding boards will then be "shuffled" into the rebate. Push the cladding in fully at one side behind the corner bead, then manipulate the other end of the board past the other corner bead. You can then shuffle the board along 3mm or so in order to give about a 3mm overlap of corner bead over cladding board. 

By following these steps, you can successfully use corner beads to create a seamless finish in your DIY sauna. With proper installation, the corner beads will help to protect your sauna and give it a professional appearance.  

Don't forget to use high-quality fasteners like stainless tongue-tites to ensure a secure and durable installation. 

You can browse our sauna corner mouldings and edge trims by licking on the link below: 

Sauna Corner Mouldings and Edge Trims