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Exterior trim is often overlooked as an essential point for curb appeal when building or remodeling.
Yet selecting the right kind of exterior trim can add both personality and charm to the aesthetics of the home. The addition of trim can even be considered a sort of architectural eyeliner to the home’s face.
Moreso, choosing a durable exterior trim that can perform in all weather conditions provides additional benefits. To check all the boxes, Universal Forest Products has been promoting fingerjointed edge-glued trim as a low-maintenance exterior option.
Fingerjointed trim is often considered a more cost-effective alternative to other wood products on the market. This is made possible by the common practice of recycling lower-grade lumber into shorter high-grade lengths. These short lengths are then combined with weather-resistance glue to help bond the pieces together. This creates longer, more durable runs of product that can be installed the same as other wood products. This allows for easy installation without the need for specialty construction.
Fingerjointed trim can be produced in a variety of species, sizes and grains, depending on the application required. When combining fingerjointed trim products with a vertical grain, you get a product that allows for better paint adhesion. The flat grain is more stable, allowing for less shrinkage and swelling across the face of the boards. The stability of paint adhesion with the added benefit of being able to produce a longer length of run is highly desired when used in certain applications that require unbroken lengths.
Universal brands its premier fingerjointed trim product as UFP-Edge True. Each trim board is fingerjointed, edge-glued and primed for superior stability and long-lasting performance. It uses cedar, which has always provided strong advantages as an outdoor siding and trim product due to its natural resistance to rot, termites and moisture. Compared to other species, Universal has found fingerjointed cedar to be less prone to problems, reducing the amount of maintenance over time. With the proper care, cedar trim can last for decades.
The boards are knot-free Clear, which offers a smooth longest run trim product on the market. UFP’s product comes in 20-ft. lengths compared to the 16 and 12-ft. lengths of other manufacturers. The first primer coat on the boards is an absorbing tannin blocker, while the second coat is fortified using a durable, non-blocking PPG acrylic primer, which prepares the surface on all sides for a superior finish.
They feature a two-sided (smooth/resawn) face and are sanded between coats on the smooth side. Offering a reversible board face provides flexibility to the designer or architect.
“By combining cedar with fingerjointed trim you get a product that is more durable, with less cupping and warping,” said Brett Collins, Far West product and market manager for Universal. “It can withstand more diverse weather conditions allowing it to perform better in dry climates and beach applications.”
