Exterior House Trim: How to Do it Right!

Broadly speaking, there are three materials that are usually used to make exterior house trim: wood, plastic, and fiber cement. Each has its pros and cons.

Wouldn’t you like to know?

Wood

The world used wood for exterior house trim until better materials were invented. It’s still nice to make things with it–it’s nice to use any product made of a natural material for a change–but structural things that live outdoors just aren’t the best things to use it for.

Wood is prone to rot, bugs, and being consumed by flames. That’s why our carpenterial predecessors invented plastic siding.

Plastic

Plastic exterior house trim–also known as polypropylene–is great in temperate climates. There’s nothing for moisture to rot or bugs to eat. It does a little better amidst the flames of conflagratory mishaps too.

But it expands and contracts in very hot and very cold weather, which is sure to beget cracks and other degradation. You also can’t paint it as many colors as you can wood–dark colors on plastic exterior house trim are especially problematic.

Fiber Cement

Which is stronger, wood or cement? Plastic or cement? If you said cement twice, congratulations–you make sense.

Fiber cement exterior house siding is a virtually zero-maintenance product. It hardly notices fire and impact, and doesn’t rot or do any favors for bugs. Plus, you can paint it any (every?) color your whim suggests.

At this point, you may be thinking, “But isn’t fiber cement made with asbestos? Asbestos isn’t really my thing….”

But no. It’s not.

Granted, it used to be. But since that stuff went out of style, they’ve started using wood fiber–you can even get it with recycled wood fiber, which seriously cuts its ecological impact.

If you don’t need exterior house trim, then the exterior of your house doesn’t have edges. Perhaps you live in the side of a hill, or in your mind. But if you’re like most of us and your above-ground house is shapes, be ready–trim is going to come up.

Exterior door trim and exterior window trim are like little buttons of flare on an otherwise standard uniform. There are all sorts of stylish, interesting options to think about when it comes to exterior door trim and exterior window trim. Pinterest is a veritable hotbed of exterior window trim ideas.

Still, the same principles apply. Any of the above materials can be and usually are used for exterior door trim or exterior window trim.

It can’t be overemphasized–if your house has walls and corners and edges and boundaries, you’re going to need to address its edges. But not to worry–Fitzpatrick Painting isn’t just a painting company –we’re also a trim company.

Reach out today for a free estimate or just a free conversation about your trim needs. Not that we’re a bunch of know-it-alls, but we pretty much know it all. And we can find whatever answers our experts don’t have already locked and loaded. Let’s get the exterior of your house trimmed!