Building Curved Walls

By
Joseph Fusco

The way that I build any curved wall is to first make the top and bottom plates from 3/4" plywood. Doubling up the plywood to archive 1-1/2" thickness for the plates. The width of the plywood depends on the framing stock, i.e. 2x3's, 2x4's etc. I layout the plates as follows; lets say the outside radius of the rough wall is 24", I draw this arc on the plywood, then subtract the framing stock width to obtain the inside radius, say 3-1/2" for a 2x4, then draw this arc (20-1/2") on the plywood from the same center point. The angle of the arc determines the length of the wall. You can easily cut them out with a jig saw or use a jig with a router setup.

After the plates have been cut I then install the top and bottom plates, I nail one framing member onto another framing member to create the curve. You will need to determine how many framing members (studs you need to complete the curve, the more the better. Next after the wall is framed I apply a diamond galvanized wire mess to the studs and prepare to apply a scratch coat of structo-lite (made by U.S.G.) to it. I use structo-lite and joint compound to produce the curved section of wall.

With the use of a "screed" the structo-lite is smoothed to meet the adjoining dry wall.The screed should be made of solid wood or plywood, it's edge chamfered or rounded over, and made to a radius that is equal to the rough radius of the wall plus the thickness of the dry wall.

The way to start is to apply strips of wood on both sides of the curve section equal to the thickness of the drywall right at the point the drywall will start. This allows a place for your screed to follow. You just keep filling with the screed until you have the thickness you need. You can produce some very dramatic curves using this method. It is really more suited for curves with radii less the 30" but, works great for even large ones.

For larger curves bending the drywall around a large radius presents no particular problems, as the picture shows. The radius of this staircase well was approximately 11 feet. The use of this method truly lends itself to smaller radii.I then tape the joints between drywall and structo-lite, and finish with compound. I have always found this method to produce a much truer curve then bending could. 

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