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Plaster Angle and Stop Bead Calculator

Angle and stop beads counted in whole stock lengths, because a bead cannot be joined mid-run — with the offcut shown rather than hidden in a percentage.

  • Answers as you type
  • Every formula cited
  • Calculated in your browser
SettingsSettings for this calculationUS
Market
Imperial · sales tax
Each external corner takes one angle bead, full height.

Count the corners that stick out into the room: a chimney breast is two, a window reveal returning into the room is two more, and a partition ending mid-room is one. Internal corners take no bead — they are made with scrim and the plaster itself.

Usually floor to ceiling.

Measure the longest of them rather than the average. A bead ordered for a 2.4 m corner will not reach a 2.6 m one, and the difference between the two is a return trip.

Every edge where the plaster stops rather than turning a corner.

Door linings take one run each side, window reveals one at each edge of the frame, and any junction with a finish that is not plaster takes one. This is usually the larger of the two counts, which is the part people under-order: most rooms have more edges than external corners.

A door jamb is about a door's height; a reveal is its own size.

Where the runs differ a lot — a 2.1 m door jamb beside a 0.6 m window head — work the two groups separately and add the answers, because the whole point of this page is that a long stock length spent on a short run is mostly waste.

The length beads are sold in, which decides how much is wasted.

This is the figure that decides how much is wasted. A 3 m bead on a 2.4 m corner wastes 600 mm and nothing else can use it; a 2.5 m bead on the same corner wastes 100 mm. Where both are stocked, the shorter one is often cheaper per corner even at a higher price per metre.

Bead lengths to order

10 lengths

High confidence

4 angle and 6 stop. 26% of what you buy is offcut at this stock length — try a shorter stock if one is available.

Angle bead lengths
4 lengths
Stop bead lengths
6 lengths
Offcut, as a share of what is bought
26 %
Bead actually run
74 ft
Bead bought
100 ft
Then change the inputs to see how far the answer moves.

Show calculation logic

How this was calculated

Formula source(s)

  • A bead runs the full height or width of its corner in one piece, so each run consumes a whole stock length: the count is runs divided by the runs a length yields, rounded up
  • Angle bead forms an external corner and stop bead forms an edge where plaster ends — different sections, ordered separately
  • Offcut is the stock length times the count, less the length actually run — a real figure rather than an assumed percentage

Inputs used

External corners
4
Length of one external corner
8 ft
Stop bead runs
6
Length of one stop bead run
7 ft
Stock length
10 ft

Intermediate steps

Angle bead lengths
4 lengths
Stop bead lengths
6 lengths
Offcut, as a share of what is bought
26 %
Bead actually run
74 ft
Bead bought
100 ft
Final result10 lengths

Confidence note: 4 angle and 6 stop. 26% of what you buy is offcut at this stock length — try a shorter stock if one is available.

What this calculation does not cover

  • Angle bead and stop bead are different products at different prices. The headline is how many lengths to order in total; the breakdown is what to order, and the two cannot be swapped.
  • A run is assumed to be made in one piece. Where a stock length is shorter than the run it has to cross, the count falls back to several lengths per run — but a jointed bead shows as a line through the finished plaster, and the right answer there is longer stock rather than more of the short.
  • Offcut from one run is not carried to another. The piece left over from a full-height corner could in principle serve a short window head, and a careful plasterer will use it; this page does not assume that, because the offcuts and the short runs rarely match.
  • Beads are fixed before plastering, with dabs of plaster, bead adhesive or fixings depending on the background. None of that fixing material is counted here, nor are the corner and stop bead's plastic or stainless alternatives, which are chosen for damp or external work rather than by quantity.
  • External render beads — bellcast, movement and render stop — are a different family with their own sections and are not what this counts.

Estimated cost — your price

This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.

8 ft
Schematic, drawn to the proportions you entered — not to scale on screen.

Part of bigger jobs

This trade is one line of several job takeoffs. Run the whole job and every other trade comes back with it, off the same measurements.

Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.

Sources checked 2026-09-23 · v1.0.0

Regulatory standards & verification citations3
  1. A bead runs the full height or width of its corner in one piece, so each run consumes a whole stock length: the count is runs divided by the runs a length yields, rounded up
  2. Angle bead forms an external corner and stop bead forms an edge where plaster ends — different sections, ordered separately
  3. Offcut is the stock length times the count, less the length actually run — a real figure rather than an assumed percentage
Cite this page

Your workspace

Most jobs need more than one number. Add the calculators you need next and they open right here, underneath this one — your figures stay on screen and nothing is lost to a page change.

Tools and safety for this job

To skim a plaster finish. Generic types, no brands, no prices.

Protection this work requires

  • Wet cement and lime burn skin and eyes painlessly until the damage is done: waterproof gloves to EN 374, safety glasses whenever the mix can splash, and never kneel in wet mix in permeable trousers.
  • Most fatal falls on small jobs are from under three metres: use a tower or a ladder tied at the top, and never work off the top two rungs.
Show the 4 tools this job needs

Essential

  • Mixing bucket or tub

  • Paddle mixer

  • Plastering trowel and hawk

Recommended

  • Step ladder

what each plastering tool is for, and the spec that decides which to buy where one does.

Worked examples: A room replastered — step 3 of 6 · Stud partition with a door — step 7 of 10

The data behind it: Production rates by operation

How to calculate plaster angle and stop bead in 6 steps

  1. External cornersEach external corner takes one angle bead, full height.
  2. Length of one external cornerUsually floor to ceiling.
  3. Stop bead runsEvery edge where the plaster stops rather than turning a corner.
  4. Length of one stop bead runA door jamb is about a door's height; a reveal is its own size.
  5. Stock lengthThe length beads are sold in, which decides how much is wasted.
  6. Bead lengths to orderThe tool computes the bead lengths to order from those figures and shows the formula, its sources, and a confidence rating alongside it.

Bead lengths to order by length of one external corner

Page defaults, not your figures above.

Length of one external cornerBead lengths to order (lengths)
4 ft8
6 ft10
8 ft10
10 ft14
12 ft14
14 ft14

Frequently asked questions

How many beads do I need for a room?
Count runs, not metres: the page's default room, with four 2.4 m (8 ft) external corners and six 2.1 m (7 ft) stop bead runs, takes ten 3 m (10 ft) lengths. That is four angle beads and six stop beads, because each run needs one continuous piece and a 3 m length serves only one 2.4 m corner. Ordering by total length gives 22.2 m, which reads as eight lengths and leaves you two short.
Why is so much of the bead wasted?
Because stock lengths rarely match room heights. On the example above, 30 m of bead is bought and 22.2 m is actually run — 26% offcut, and none of it long enough to be another corner. The lever is the stock length rather than the technique: a 2.5 m bead on a 2.4 m corner wastes 4%, against 20% for a 3 m one, so where both are stocked the shorter is usually cheaper per corner even at a higher price per metre.
What is the difference between angle bead and stop bead?
Angle bead forms an external corner, giving a straight, protected arris where two plastered faces meet. Stop bead forms an edge where the plaster simply ends — against a door lining, at a window reveal, where it meets a different finish — giving it a clean, square termination instead of a feathered edge that chips. Most rooms need more stop bead than angle bead, which is the line most often under-ordered.
Is this the same as drywall corner bead?
No, and the difference is in how it is bought rather than what it does. Paper-faced and tapered drywall beads are cut from long stock and the site's drywall corner bead page orders them by total length with a small waste allowance, which suits them. A galvanised plaster bead has to run a corner in one piece, so it is ordered in whole lengths, and the offcut is a real number rather than a percentage.
Preliminary estimate, not certified engineering. This tool produces an indicative quantity calculation for planning purposes only — it is not a certified structural analysis, a guaranteed material takeoff, or a substitute for building department approval. Always verify measurements on-site and have a licensed contractor or structural engineer review any load-bearing, code-sensitive, or safety-critical work before purchasing materials or starting construction. Spotted an arithmetic or standards error? Report it to contact@craftquantities.com with your inputs — a confirmed fix gets a permanent check of its own, so the same mistake cannot come back.