Every week this year, we’ve published a new article onto the Trim-Tex website — some have been purely educational about the art of drywall finishing, some have spotlighted our own solutions to common drywalling problems, and some have done a little in column A, a little in column B. We’ve had a blast all year seeing the way so many of these articles have been picked up and discussed in Instagram comment threads, Facebook groups and emails from our customers. These are the top 10 Trim-Tex articles of 2020, based on how many of you read them, discussed them and shared them this year!
1. How Much Time and Material Will Fast Edge® Actually Save You?
All the way back in February (feels like years ago!), we published the findings of a series of tests we conducted, putting our own Fast Edge and Fast Edge Paper — the most popular product of the year — head-to-head against some of the leading corner bead materials on the market. What did we find out? Fast Edge is 13% faster on average to install and uses 30% less mud than the next-fastest corner bead on the market (paper composite), not even counting the entire day saved to finish each bead.
2. Drywall 101: The 6 Levels of Drywall Finishing
One of the most popular series of articles we introduced this year was Drywall 101, which seeks to help beginners in the finishing trade better understand the basics of the craft. This series includes articles on everything from the benefits of using a corner bead with a tear away strip to the history of corner bead materials. But the most-read edition of Drywall 101 just came out in November, detailing the six standards for drywall finishing.
3. These Hot New Products Are Coming Soon From Trim-Tex
If you’ve been a loyal Trim-Tex reader, you’ll know we spent a ton of time this year talking about the first-ever line of fire and sound rated drywall accessories, which were rolled out throughout 2020. The first article on the subject we shared this year, previewing these code compliance solutions before most of them were in production, was also the most-read of the bunch. This is where it all started for us, with a fiery blog post — now these cutting-edge accessories have their own dedicated website.
4. How to Finish a Trimless Pocket Door
We love to partner up with contractors and finishers to show you, hands-on, how to put some of our vinyl beads to good use in the field. We were already big fans of Refresh Home Improvements’ videos, so we were excited to work with them to show off a couple different corner beads in order to finish a flawless, trimless pocket door. Those who have done a trimless door before will know, it’s easier said than done!
5. Kristi Slade: Women in Drywall
One of our favorite series on the Trim-Tex blog is “Women in Drywall.” We love talking to the women who have carved out a path for themselves in the trades and sharing their stories with the world, and in the process, hopefully encouraging more women to join the trades too. We featured seven women in drywall in 2020, and the most-viewed article in the series this year is also the most recent — Kristi Slade is a proud union member with a love for both taping and baking. You can find all our “Women in Drywall” stories here!
6. Backing You Up: How to Use Buttboard
Drywall Nation is another great group of creators of educational content for the drywall industry who we love. This year, we linked up with our friends at Drywall Nation to produce a few in-depth how-to videos, including ones for Tear Away Bead and Giant/Super L Bead. But the most popular of their videos was for a solution that Brian from Drywall Nation is especially passionate about: Buttboard. Be sure to check out the full video for a deep dive into this uniquely engineered drywall backer, as Brian visits an actual jobsite to show how Buttboard is used.
7. Why Construction Is Considered an ‘Essential Service’
Of course, you can’t really talk about 2020 without talking about the ways the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown all our lives and jobs out of whack. In this article, published in the early days of the national outbreak, we took a look at what an “essential service” is and why, in many cases, construction falls under that umbrella. This one really took off because the many lovely people who follow us on Instagram turned the comments section of this article into a space to talk about how they’re handling the pandemic, and whether construction is still active or on pause in their areas — social media at its best!
8. Introducing Sound Gasket, a Trailblazing Sound Rated Drywall Accessory
Soundproofing is a hot topic in the finishing trade at the moment, which is part of the reason so many folks read our article introducing our own noise dampening solution, Sound Gasket. Providing the same STC rating or better as acoustical sealant with none of the drawbacks, we’re proud to have rolled out this trailblazing drywall accessory this year, and are so happy so many of you have expressed interest in it too!
9. Why Firestopping Solutions for Wall Joints Are So Important
Again, we spent a lot of time this year talking about what our firestopping solutions are and how to use them. In this article, we took a look at why you should care. A head-of-wall joint may look small, but no space is too small for fire and smoke to spread through it. How quickly can your room fill with smoke if there’s just a pencil-sized hole in a wall that's separating you from an active fire? Read the article to find out!
10. Which Fire Rated Drywall Accessory Is Right for You?
Finally on this list of the top 10 Trim-Tex articles of 2020, just one more firestopping-centric story. We had heard from some Trim-Tex fans that, while they were as excited as we are about our fire rated drywall accessories, they were having some trouble figuring out what the difference was between them. In this story, we broke down where and when to use each variety of fire rated bead, so that our customers can visit their local dealer fully informed to pick the right tool for their next code-compliant job.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our top 10 Trim-Tex articles of 2020 as much as we’ve enjoyed making them! We won’t be slowing down with publishing weekly materials in 2021, so if you haven’t already, make sure to follow us on Instagram, throw us a “like” on Facebook and sign up for our monthly e-newsletter so you won’t miss a thing we’ve got coming your way!