When you start an architecture project, whether it’s a themed environment for an upcoming attraction or a new business building that you expect to be around for decades, it’s easy to only think about the big features.
What’s the room layout going to be like? What features are going to make each room stand out? What’s the overall design theme? Those tend to be the main focus of most project managers.
However, it’s important to remember the small details.
Today, we’re going to focus on window trims. They’re not major features, but they have a massive impact on your building’s aesthetic. Specifically, we’re going to talk about what foam window trims are and all the benefits they offer over traditional options.
Let’s get started.
What are Window Trims?
Window trim, in general, is a form of molding that goes around the edges of your building’s windows to add a bit of visual flair. It’s both a functional addition and a visual one.
Functionally, window trim protects your insulation and helps retain your climate-controlled air instead of leaking to the outside.
Visually, it adds a bit of visual distinction and elegance that you wouldn’t get if it was just a square window put into a well-cut hole. The trim does a lot more than you might think when it comes to establishing the atmosphere in a room and elevating the design to the next level.
What is Foam Window Trim?
You have likely seen window trim before, but you might not have been around foam window trim yet. It’s relatively new compared to traditional materials, but it’s quickly overtaking the architectural world for many different reasons.
This is a molded foam compound, usually BAUTRIM, that is molded to the exact shape of the planned design and installed just like traditional window trim. However, since it’s a chemical compound that hardens into a polymer, it provides benefits that no other material provides.
The Benefits of Foam Window Trim
As we said, foam window trim provides a ton of benefits over traditional options. We’ll go over each one individually.
1: Unlimited Design Potential
Because of the way foam window trim is manufactured, it can take on practically any shape. Whether you want more traditional designs, or you want something that has never been done before, it can be done with foam.
The difficulty of the project doesn’t even scale up in most cases. It’s an extremely user-friendly material that, while it requires skill to produce, makes tremendous results without tons of room for error.
2: Indefinite Lifespan
You never want to have to replace delicate things like window trim. They’re small details, and you want them to just be installed and stay how they are practically forever. Well, you don’t get that with other materials. Foam does provide that longevity, though.
Foam doesn’t degrade over time like wood or other materials. It looks great and resists damage; all you have to do is clean it like any other part of the building.
3: Insulation Properties
The foam compound used to make foam window trims is extremely dense and amazing at insulating against the elements. Considering that’s the primary function of window trim, that's a benefit you can't afford to pass up.
It works even better than most traditional materials.
This can help you lower overhead costs by having a more insulated structure and sealing up one of the most common insulation weak spots.
4: Low Maintenance
You don’t have to do practically any maintenance on your foam window trims. Once they’re installed, you just need to keep them clean.
You don’t have to worry about sanding and refinishing them, buffing out scratches, filling cracks, or any of that. It’s an extremely durable material that doesn’t degrade.
5: Cost-Effective
Foam window trim isn’t “cheap,” but it is cost-effective. It costs less than premium wood varieties, and because it lasts so long while providing so many benefits, you get more bang for your buck.
These two traits make foam window trims the most cost-effective option, even when lower-cost options are available.
Even if you somehow damage your foam window trim and need to replace it, it's easy to make those replacements without going through the building and replacing everything. You can save a lot of money.
Especially compared to other materials where the original material might not be available, replicating the design exactly can be difficult, etc.
Do Foam Window Trims Match Other Trim Options?
Making a coherent visual design is crucial whether you’re building a home, business structure, themed environments, or anything else. You want everything to come together.
Foam window trims can help with this in two ways.
First, foam can be made to look like just about anything with the right craftsman working with it. It’s such a flexible material that it can blend in perfectly. So, there’s no need to redo existing trim or molding, but it is still recommended considering all the benefits foam has.
Then, there’s the fact that it can be used for so many different aspects of architecture. Foam isn’t just used for window trim. It can be used for wall trim, crown molding, facades, decorations in themed environments, foam sculptures, windowsills, and lots of other things.
It can even be used in both interior and exterior environments. So, you can create an extremely well-matched overall design with very little effort.
This is one reason that foam window trim and other foam trim pieces are often used in restorations. It's easy to make something that matches the original aesthetic due to how user-friendly the material is.
Are Foam Window Trims Worth It?
Let’s assume that you already have trim in the structure. Is it worth it to have that trim replaced with foam? We believe so.
Your existing trim is likely a traditional material that lacks many, if not all, of the benefits we’ve listed. Replacing it with foam window trim will give you all the benefits we’ve talked about, and you’ll eventually have to replace it anyway.
This is the direction architecture is taking, and if you want to stay ahead of the curve, this is a worthwhile upgrade.
Where to Get Foam Window Trim
Now that you have learned what are foam window trims, If you’re ready to have foam window trim installed, whether you’re building a project from scratch or restoring an old building, Baker Studios can help.
We’re the premier experts in BAUTRIM and similar foam compounds in the architecture industry, and we can take your project to all new heights with the latest foam technology.
Contact Baker Studios today.