Innov gfo PVC trim

rflHE growth of exterior PVC trim has come as no sur.l- prise, as builders increasingly use the products in place of wood. But there's also been an unexpected contributor to their success: builders inventing clever new applications for the versatile products.

KOMA Trim Products became aware of the trend while analyzing entries in its annual Building Professional of the Year competition. Countless projects had used their trim in innovative ways not originally intended, ranging from interior stair risers to church steeples and beach club showers.

The contest's most recent winner, mid-Atlantic roofing and siding contractor Sean O'Connor, used the trim throughout a northern New Jersey swim/beach club.

"Looking at the entry pictures, we couldn't believe the extent to which Sean's team had been able to use KOMA trim and our other products," said Patrick Shabal, national sales and marketing manager. "We saw extensive use of accent mouldings, fabricated components, panel work, door casings/returns to accommodate shingle-whips, cope and stick columns and pilasters, scribed-in transitions between windows and columns on bays, and possibly the largest PVC trim project we have ever seen."

In its booth at this year's Inter-national Builders Show, KOMA played a video montage of O'Connor's work, piquing the curiosity of other builders anxious to learn the install technique he used to vent soffits through space created with blocking outfitted with a breather element behind frieze boards.

The beach club's outdoor dressing rooms were clad entirely in KOMA products. Beaded sheets were applied to the walls and the ceiling, as well as throughout the interior of the dressing rooms, including peg boards for hanging towels and clothing.

The previous year's Building Professional of the Year truly went a different direction, using the exterior products indoors. Luciani Building Group utilized the trim for interior paneled walls, stair risers, custom size/style door casings, and numerous "durable trim" applications.

Owner Peter Luciani grew so confident in the trim's ability to withstand the demands of coastal New England that cladding the front of interior stair risers was a natural transition. Besides being incredibly durable, the material bends easy and holds paint well.

He also utilized these same attributes to justify the trim's use in interior raised panel work, one-off door casings/trim, beam cladding, special need jamb extensions, and other architectural elements. His team literally sets up a PVC millwork shop in the basements of its jobsites.

According to Luciani, the trim's hardness allows his "workers to use it on the jobsite without worrying about it being too delicate or easily damaged. Anywhere we need durability or bent boards we use KOMA."

In designing new products, KOMA is taking into consideration the expanding applications, as well as demands for greater curb appeal and lower maintenance. A new heat bending system enables contractors to bend the trim boards for radius work. Additions to the base trim board and sheet lines include one-piece corner boards, edge and center bead boards, extruded profile mouldings, edge and center beaded sheets, one-piece water table, and soffit system panels.

"As manufacturers, we always listen to our customers, look for reoccurring requests, determine what product innovations are within our skill sets," said Bob Lambert, field sales manager. "Our converting and fabricating customers will always grow the market with their own creativity."