Inside a High-End Remodel Built to Stay Crack-Free

Chicago’s Chris Donatelli, owner of Donatelli Builders, is no stranger to wooden trim — he’s a finish carpenter by trade, has been working in the industry for more than 35 years and has been building or remodeling houses all his life. Specializing in high-end homes, Chris recently invited us to a project of his in Wayne, Ill., where he’d used several Trim-Tex products  — including one that helped him solve a problem that’d been frustrating him for most of his career. 

Find out what solutions Chris used — and the methods he used to conquer cracking in his finish for years to come — in this edition of our “Jobsite Journals” series!

‘Take it to a different level’ to conquer cracking

As a finish carpenter, Chris is very familiar with the process of installing base trim and molding; you affix the wood trim to the wall and apply a bead of caulk to seal it. The problem, he tells us, comes in months or even years down the line, when the house's various components start to move and that caulk hardens, which begins to cause unsightly cracks in the finish.

“Here in Chicago, we're dealing with both extremes when it comes time to the heating and the cooling in the summertime, so you're having these huge humidity swings,” says Chris. “Why is that important in a house? We have all these different materials, and they have different rates at which they expand and contract. As a carpenter, in the beginning of the journey, we wanted to put woodwork everywhere — we wanted to just show what we could do with all that woodwork. The reality was that, in most cases, if you approach that without putting extreme care into it, you end up with a lot of caulk cracking. You end up with a lot of things that are unsightly pretty much after the first heating cycle.

“In the last five years of this journey, we're trying to take it to a different level. That different level is all about trying to incorporate into the design things that are going to eliminate the need for caulk.”

Chris’s ingenious solution to that problem was simpler than it might look: where the drywall meets both his base trim and his crown molding, he first affixed to the drywall a Trim-Tex Architectural Reveal Bead. (He used a full ½” x ½” Reveal at the base of the wall, and a smaller ¼” x ¼” Reveal toward the top.) Why? First, obviously, it looks great — with a clean, eye-catching reveal effect running continuously across both the top and bottom of his walls.

But more importantly for Chris, these Reveal Beads provide a small amount of built-in expansion, meaning that, as the walls flex over time during different temperature changes, they’re able to move more freely without tension causing huge cracks in the finish. Chris will then affixing his wood trim to either end of the drywall (abutting the bead but not attached to it!). This way, the trim is also able to expand and contract over time without pulling away from the drywall, which moves at its own pace. No caulk, no cracking!

“We’ve designed this where the base is going to put a little bit of upward pressure on that molding,” Chris tells us, demonstrating with a spare piece of base trim. “We’re not going to caulk any of this. The two dissimilar materials will be able to move and prevent that cracking.”

Chris Donatelli & Trim-Tex: ‘There's a reason why we go with the best’

Chris has been using Trim-Tex solutions for many years. So, it should come as no surprise that, when remodeling his own home here in Wayne, he picked up several boxes of beads and accessories for the project. These include using Archway Corner Beads around the curved columns of his dining room, and Trim-Tex abrasives (both the rectangular Black Widow Pro Sander and the round Black Widow Web Spinner) to help him finish the job.

“What I like about working with Trim-Tex is the same thing I like about all of our strategic relationships: it's a long-term partnership of sorts,” says Chris. “We're after a very specific clientele, and we're after a very specific result. To me, there's just tons of value to be able to utilize the resources that you guys provide. If we're in a bind — I called you a week ago, and we needed something on a jobsite because we had a question, and you sent somebody out there. That goes a long way.

“The products are great. We have access to the stuff at Home Depot just like everybody else, but there's a reason why we go with the best.”

Finally, for his inside corners and off-angles, Chris opted for Trim-Tex’s Fast Edge® Roll to help him achieve perfectly straight angles and a level-five finish. For the kind of perfection Chris expects out of his work, he says, paper tape just won’t cut it.

“As you're well aware, the standard in the industry is to get the bazooka out and a thin piece of tape and roll it all out,” he tells us. “That's okay for some things, but we're really trying to get nice, straight, crisp lines. [Fast Edge Roll] is a heavier product. When we're level-fiving this later, if we've got an inside corner, an outside corner, we want products that we could put as tight to the wall as possible, so we're just skimming a minimal amount. This has been a great product. We use it on the inside corners, on all the off-angles.”

Thank you to Chris for showing us his amazing work here! You can find out more about Donatelli Builders — and get in touch with him for your own project in the greater Chicago area — here.

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