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Like almost every other building product category, drywall trim is seeing innovations to boost creative space making, ensure ease-of-use, and provide speedy installation on the jobsite.
Constructed from steel, vinyl, paper, wood, composites, or a mixture of materials, drywall trim is used to close seams, shape walls, and connect drywall panels to other building components such as ceilings, windows, doors and floors.
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While trends in contemporary design have minimized some of the more intricate profiles, drywall trim is nevertheless evolving to embrace technology like LED lighting, provide enhanced durability to interior walls and corners, and provide crisp, clean edges where drywall sheets join to themselves or other housing components.
Beadex Flexible Metal Tape-On Corner Bead ensures straight, strong corners at any angle on cathedral and drop ceilings and in a variety of other applications. Made from steel and paper tape, it’s applied with joint compound to eliminate nail popping.
“I think the major interior category trend remains contemporary, with clean trim lines or even no trim,” says Joan Johnson of White River Hardwoods and Woodworks. “This is a look that can be elevated and look really great, and it seems to me that a lot of the products filling the space have their origins in commercial interiors as much as they do residential.”
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Reveals, which expose raw trim units for decorative and design considerations, is a key category segment where drywall trim makers are innovating to answer demand from the architectural community.
Aluminum Base Projecting Round Reveal is a profile that creates a combination reveal and projecting detail line at the bottom of a wall just above floor surface or at the top of a wall just below the ceiling surface. The round edge adds a classic detail, while the ridged face is provided for taping and floating. Anodized and powder coating finishes are available with custom color matching.
“We’ve changed our tooling to extrude vinyl reveals with a sharper edge appearance and metallic color to simulate anodized aluminum,” says Mike Garcia, vice president of sales for Trim-Tex Drywall Products. “You can’t tell the difference until you touch it, but it comes at a much lower cost point with the flexibility for radial walls, so you can bend without custom ordering.”
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Jobsite demands are also driving what Garcia says is a constant refresh of product, particularly when it comes to accomplishing tasks faster and more efficiently. “We’re designing the products in a way that they use less mud, are easier to install, take less coats, need less material, and allow you to move at a faster pace,” Garcia says. “Yes, we’re building more and more durability and similar impact resistance, but whether we’re focusing on the carpenter or finisher as our customer, it’s all about cutting days out of the application process.”
Fast Edge corner bead features a sharp nose with no mud bump and tapered legs to significantly reduce mud usage for faster installation. The nose also acts as a hinge to accommodate framing variances, and mud locks keep the corner held firmly in place without the need for staples or adhesives.
Levelline Flex corner bead features a polymer core with a built-in hinge that flexes to any inside or outside corner angle. Designed for cathedral ceilings, inside and outside corners, bay windows and more, it eliminates the need for pre-measuring.
Vinyl Rip L-Bead provides an exceptional finish at intersection of gypsum panels to ceiling grids, window returns and dissimilar wall types, the company says. A tear-away strip on the L-Bead provides a protective edge and guide for drywall finishing knives. Once joint compound is applied, finished and painted, the tear-away strip is removed to form a crisp, clean edge.
The new Impression Series Narrow In-wall Channels and Lenses offer an innovative lighting solution that allows beams of low-voltage light to be recessed directly into 5/8- or ½-inch drywall.
Medium density fiberboard radius corners originally designed for fixtures and cabinetry offer a cost-effective and versatile method for incorporating smooth, consistent radius corners. Available in L corner, J corner, and quarter round profiles in five different sizes.
No-Coat corner bead provides optimal strength and performance for a tough, straight application. The mud-applied corners that can withstand severe impacts and won’t blister, bubble, dent or crack, the company says. A variety of styles are available.
Constructed from extruded vinyl, silver architectural reveal beads are designed to match the look of clear anodized aluminum reveals to create details in walls that allow for up to ⅛-inch expansion control.
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