How to nail Pvc Trim
PVC TRIM VS. WOOD TRIM? (Pros And Cons!)
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hey everybody I'm Ethan James with the
onyx carpenter calm I get a lot of
questions from my clients about PVC trim
versus wood trim what are the pros and
cons of each so I wanted to make a video
to clear up some of the mystery
surrounding this topic but I'm really
gonna focus on PVC trim because it seems
to cause the most confusion for
homeowners I think the reason for this
is because when you say PVC people
pretty much always envision this stuff
PVC pipe what we use almost universally
for plumbing drain lines what they don't
realize is that PVC has become a for
more versatile product these days it's
getting massively distributed compared
to where it was even just two years ago
it's overtaking many other products
where trim and casings are concerned so
I'm gonna answer a lot of PVC questions
here but before we get going I'll say
real quick that if you want to see more
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alright on to the tutorial in general
the words trim and casings refer to the
pieces of linear lumber that cover the
borders corners and edges of our homes
and for many many years all of this trim
was made of wood or wood byproducts but
the problem is wood trim really
struggles in wet locations or places
where it might get saturated because
it's organic it can rot there are
methods for making wood trim last longer
in these situations I discuss a couple
of my trim rot repair video but what the
construction industry really wanted was
a material that was truly impervious to
rot and water penetration what they got
was cellular PVC in essence this product
is chemically the same as plumbing pipe
and vinyl siding they're all made from
polyvinyl chloride a synthetic plastic
polymer that you can turn into almost
anything but cellular PVC trim differs
from other building products and that
it's basically aerated to make it
lighter and less dense you can see this
aeration when you look at the exposed
edge it has a foamy porous look similar
to end grain and wood the number of trim
products are making from this stuff is
greatly multiplied in recent years it
still can't compare to this staggering
number of wood trim products you'll find
but it doesn't really have to since PVC
trim is only necessary
handful of scenarios so what are those
scenarios where can you find PVC trim
and how much will it cost and what's it
like to work with that's what I'm going
to discuss here so let's start with the
where and how much the good news is that
you can get PVC trim virtually anywhere
these days all of the big-box stores
carry one or more brands you'll often
find it slightly separated from the
other trim typically in the doors and
windows section of the store and the
first thing you probably notice is that
it's pretty expensive just how expensive
is relative to product but for something
like a 1 by 10 board 8 feet long
you can easily expect to pay upward of
$40 you can kind of make you cringe a
little bit but the thing is it's not
nearly as expensive as it used to be
I've personally seen PVC trim costs come
down something like 25 percent in my
region in just the last couple years and
that means it's barely more expensive
than the dimensional lumber that we
often use for trim such as knotty pine
and clear pine both of which have
actually seen price increases in recent
years I used a bit exterior jobs two
ways one with wood products and one with
PVC products and clients always sprang
for the cheaper wood number just to save
on costs but as of the last year with an
ever-diminishing spread in costs I don't
even get my clients the option I just
bid exterior repairs with PVC my clients
hardly feel the price bump and I can
deliver a product that is truly meant to
withstand the elements with that said
where exactly should you use PVC on a
house answer is anywhere that may come
in contact with water which means that
virtually every trim component on the
exterior of a home is a candidate for
PVC insulation in next week's video I'm
going to discuss the most rot prone
areas of your home and details so be
sure to check back in for that but for
now I'll say that I especially like the
see PVC trim in a few places windowsills
brick molds around doors and windows in
fascia boards and that's the board
that's just upload your roofline these
are such water sensitive areas that
going forward I would personally never
do a new installation there without
using PVC but it's not just exterior
areas of a home where it can be used
certain rooms inside your house are
great places for PVC trim as well
most important is bathrooms especially
the baseboards and shoe molds in the
bathroom or any trim close to or sir
rounding the tub and shower also laundry
rooms and mud rooms are another good
area for PVC because they get mopped
frequently and because PVC trim is being
made in greater varieties than ever
before you can find a number of moulding
profiles to use around these rooms so
those are just a few spots where I think
you can most benefit from installing PVC
trim but as a product what's it like to
work with actually it's very simple to
work with in many ways it's almost no
different from wood for instance it cuts
a lot like wood you can see here
cross-cutting with the circular saw it's
virtually the same as cutting a flat
piece of lumber the product holds a nice
clean edge and miter cuts are no
different you can make extremely sharp
tight miters with PVC trim jigsaw
totally smooth and accurate if anything
PVC is easier to jigsaw because there's
no grain to resist the blade watch I can
run off this og detail like it's nothing
you can easily notch it to fit around
utilities PVC trim also sans a lot like
wood here you can see me easing a cope
or bull nose onto the end of this board
the material doesn't remove too quickly
or too slowly it's just the
responsiveness you want for sanding
that's for nailing also not that
different here I'm gonna hand drive in a
two inch spiral shank galvanized nail
what you frequently use on exterior trim
the nail gets set in PVC just like it
would in normal pine trim then it drives
home much the same you can even use a
nail set to countersink the head which
leaves a perfect soft divot for caulking
or wood filler so there's a world of
similarities here well what are the
differences between PVC trim and wood
trim I'd say the most important ones are
chemical in nature I don't use the same
and adhesives
for PVC trim that I would use for wind
trim I only use a handful of products
that specifically state that they can be
used with PVC DAP is the leading
national manufacturer for conks and
sealants alright I won't use their Alex
Plus or Alex fast dry for PVC
I only use their Alex flex because it's
the only product that specifically
mentions on the tube that it can be used
with PVC trim same goes for adhesives
I've used liquid nails for a lot of
things over the years but on PVC
projects I turned a PL premium lock type
because once again it says on the tube
that it can be used with PVC
products I frequently use PL premium in
conjunction with Brad Neil's which you
can see me doing here in the shop but
it's exactly how I built these PVC wraps
for some wrought iron columns out in the
field if you want a great example of a
place where wood trim never should have
been used this is probably it
the original carpenters had wrapped
these columns with clear pine which they
brought down into direct contact with a
stone and masonry patio and what
happened the wood wick water up out of
the damp surface and quickly rotted it
was guaranteed to rot from the start
TV sees the perfect replacement here
because it can stand up to the ground
moisture without a problem in with a
combination of PL adhesives I can get
all the components bonded to each other
and sealed at the base by the way some
of the pieces for this project were so
wide that I had to buy whole sheets of
3/4 inch thick PVC and then rip them
down to the sides as I needed this stuff
is harder to find and at a hundred and
sixty dollars a sheet it seems crazy
expensive but it's actually not any more
expensive than buying say for 12-inch
wide boards of PVC at the same length
you just don't want to mess up a cut on
one of these whole sheets because it
would be a really pricey mistake
so sealants and adhesives must be PVC
formulated but paint doesn't necessarily
have to be a Zek royal trim boards and
other manufacturers state that you can
use any acrylic latex paint on PVC here
you see me using valves for paint plus
primer to put on a couple coats most PVC
trim paints exactly like wood and now
they're even adding some surface texture
to the product these days to give it a
little more tooth or something for the
paint to latch on to here you can see a
totally normal finish and Sheen at this
angle so one difference though is that
many of these companies say you should
not use dark paint on PVC trim it
creates this heat index problem that
causes the paint to fail a really it's
best to stick to lighter colors for your
paint choice on PVC trim this brings us
to a couple other oddities about the
product like wood ABC is prone to
expansion and contraction but the thing
is it doesn't expand and contract for
the same reasons wood swells because of
moisture content it gets humid and
bloats up but PVC expands because of
heat so in wano the product will shrink
and summer it will expand because of
rising temperatures so it's best to sort
of treat it like pine or other lumber
install it with some gaps around your
boards during winter or in the hotter
you can run it a little tighter so long
as your boys are acclimated to the
temperature outside and speaking of
which here's one place I think it's
really superior to wood it doesn't warp
because of environmental factors if you
leave a wet treated pine board out in
the Sun for a little while what do you
get a curlicue just like this deck board
I tore up to replace but leave a few
board the PVC trim out in the Blazing
Sun and what happens to them nothing
except it'll probably reach their
maximum take on a curve if you store
them incorrectly but they won't do it up
because of a drying out process which is
one less headache on a jobsite so I just
listed a lot of benefits of PVC but what
are the drawbacks one is that it can be
marred or damaged pretty easily as you
see here even some light contact with
tools can ping it up sometimes it can be
hard to find a board in the store that
doesn't already have some surface defect
another drawback is one that I already
mentioned in the video when you cut PVC
the exposed edges will look very porous
like end grain only a little bit worse
and it's on every exposed cut edge it
can be hard to buffer sand out this
appearance manufacturers recommend some
ways to seal it in their warranty
guidelines but I've found that to some
extent you just sort of have to deal
with it that brings me to probably my
biggest pet peeve PVC sawdust I've never
seen anything like it this stuff sticks
to everything if you rip a long board
you'll come out looking like you've been
coated in coconut flakes you really
should use dust masks and vacuum dust
collection every time you cut PVC even
so you can't get it all and often feel
bad about littering yards with this
stuff it doesn't go anywhere and it's so
visible we've got more than enough
problems with the proliferation of micro
plastics these days it seems like this
can only be making it worse but again
the product is very difficult the dust
managed on a jobsite and that just seems
to be the way things are from now so
those are the drawbacks of PVC at the
end of the day though this is
undoubtedly the best trim product ever
created to stand up the water intrusion
PVC cannot rot and that makes it
invaluable in certain situations now
that it's getting cheaper year by year
you'll see it replacing wood trim more
and more and that's it for the video
PVC trim versus wood trim I hope
tutorial was helpful be sure to post
questions or opinion
down in the comments I always try to
respond as always thanks for watching
and be sure to check back in for more
videos thanks everybody
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