What is happening to my walls?

[Fishur]

Hello. I've been working on home repairs lately at a novice level and have noticed something happening to my walls around certain edges and railings. It is hard to describe so I've posted a few photos. It is essentially peeling off in a strip. Any idea what is happening and how difficult/involved this would be to fix? Would a repair for a crack in drywall be effective?

Thank you

[adnadeau]

Looks like the bullnose corner bead is pulling away from the drywall underneath. Could be from dryness in the house causing shrinkage or from the studs drying out, or from the house settling, or from being installed poorly in the first place. The straight line crack in your 1st picture is where the edge of the bullnose flange is. In order to repair this, you'll have to remove the joint compound (mud) along the flange and re-do it. Many drywallers these days use a "lite" joint compound which is weak. I recommend using a "setting" type compound for the first layer. This stuff comes in a bag, you mix it with water, and you have about 20 minutes to use it before it hardens up like concrete. So don't use too much of it; it doesn't sand easily! Then use normal "green lid" drying mud for the other layers. Or you can remove the plastic or metal bullnose entirely and use NoCoat bullnose which is applied totally differently.

[HayZee518]

as long as you are going to remove the bullnose or quarter round why not go with a metal corner bead. you're gonna have to re-apply compound to the joint anyway. this way you can feather out the compound to the edge of the corner.

[pushkins]

I don't believe they make a metal bull nose corner bead.

[HayZee518]

ok then why not use a piece of quarter round to form the corner?