How Does Tear Away Bead Work?
Tear Away Bead: How Does it Work?
If you’re new to drywall finishing or even if you’re an expert but you haven’t worked with vinyl corner and finishing beads much, you might be wondering what exactly tear away bead is and how it works. Fortunately, tear-away bead is designed as a very straightforward product that is simple both to use and to understand. Let’s take a look!

Where to Use Tear Away Bead
Tear away beads are designed for finishing the rough edges of drywall to provide a clean, smooth line at the edge of the board. You can use them to finish any spot where the edge of the drywall will be visible, such as around windows, at the edge of shower or bath enclosures, and even on decorative finishes like shadow beads.
How to Use Tear-Away Bead
Tear away beads provide a clean, finished line at the edge of the board, but how do they accomplish that? Basically, the bead consists of a mud leg with a small raised lip topped by a removable (tear-off) flange. You begin by installing the tear-away bead as you would any other vinyl finishing bead:
- Start by checking that your bead is the right depth – the return flange should match the thickness of your drywall
- Cut the bead to length and dry fit to ensure a good fit
- Apply spray adhesive to the drywall and insert the bead with the mud leg flush against the drywall and the flange flush against the adjoining surface
- Staple the bead in place and mud over, using the small raised lip and the flange as guides for your knife – the lip ensures a uniform thickness of mud and the flange ensures a perfectly straight line
- Smooth, dry, and sand the mud as you would normally
Where tear away bead differs from other types, however, is that once you’ve completed these steps, you can go back and peel the flange away. It will come off easily, leaving behind a smooth corner with none of the imperfection that can result from hand finishing. The bead gives the mud a perfect line, protects the adjoining wall from messes and spills with the mud, and saves you time on cleaning and sanding the edges since the whole board can be finished instantly by tearing away the strip.
That’s it! Now that you know how tear away bead works, try it for yourself on your next project.
Need to seal off a gap between a concrete wall that butts up to drywall? Caulk Channel Tearaway features a caulk channel ideal for creating a seal using acoustic or fire rated caulk
How many Cans of 847 adhesive would I need to apply 108 pieces of 12’ tear away bead?
With the 847 spray, the rule of thumb is 200 total linear feet of bead per can. That’s 200 feet sprayed on the bead with 200 feet sprayed on the corner to give you 200 total linear feet. Therefore you are looking at 7 cans to do 108 pieces of 12′ bead.