It is very exciting and almost like having a child. Finally, we have reached the “big boy” club and are excited to see where this new journey goes. As wonderful as this is, now the real work starts and will continue for hopefully many years. Going into the big box retail marketplace is a numbers game. Our profit margin from ecommerce is good but the volume is not anything near what a big box store can do. Volume, volume, volume. Would you prefer to sell 1,000 products with a 40% profit margin or sell 10,000 products with a 15% profit margin? The game becomes one of reducing our manufactured price by volume purchasing because there is more risk and stress for us as we purchase high volumes of raw materials and wait for the next purchase order to come in.
Now that the celebration is done, we now must deal with the elephant in the room. We are not 100% in control. Any large retailer is going to have very strict expectations with any new product going onto their shelves. Keep in mind that the shelf space you see containing numerous products is very valuable. The retail chains’ revenue stream depends on the buyers’ selecting products that will sell and will achieve the dollars per square foot to meet the retailer’s forecasts.
We knew going in that price negotiations would be generally one-sided and not in our favor so the process for us to make sure we knew exactly what the COGS (cost of goods sold) is for each product. This includes manufacturing InstaTrim, packaging, shipping, commissions and more. Since we work through a distributor, we did not have to deal with the store chain ourselves and could concentrate on running the rest of the business. This is a huge time saver for us but it also costs money. Simply another discount to the distributor.
Creating new packaging must be approved by the retailer and the “exact” dimensions of each package so the store can set up their Planogram (this is the plan to layout organize all products in the store for maximum inventory and visibility). Our first purchase order was to get our products to the distributor and is one of the largest we have ever received!
Now we wait with anticipation until we hear from the retail buyer how sales are going. For the first three months there was very little retail input as it simply takes time for the consumer to start seeing our products and ultimately purchasing. From our perspective, sales appear very good, but we really don’t know what the buyer has set as a forecast for sales per square foot on our space.
This is new territory for us and we’re fortunate to have a distributor that is on our side to ensure everything works as best it can. We’re learning as we go and hope to expand our footprint in additional big box store chains such as Lowes and Home Depot but to do that we must perform in Menards. Time will tell as it always does.
]]>From the column: "I’m happy to be selling on several platforms, but our family-owned, Minnesota-made business will suffer if Attorney General Ellison and the FTC break Amazon’s successful marketplace model."
In 2010, after three decades building homes in Minnesota, I invented a better, less-messy caulking product. I was sure it would be a hit with contractors and homeowners, but I knew nothing about retail or marketing and I had no budget. But I had determination and persistence, and 13 years later our little company has grown to $3 million in annual sales.
Almost all of our customers buy from us online at Amazon, Home Depot, Lowes, or our own website. These stores, in addition to the products they sell, have online marketplaces where anyone can list items for sale, post photos, write descriptions, and start selling.
Today, nearly 80% of our sales is through Amazon, and the reasons are clear. Amazon provides access to the most customers, effective advertising tools to reach them, efficient warehouse and delivery services, and the Prime badge that customers trust.
What I don’t understand is why the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and our Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison are suing Amazon and trying to change how it operates. They clearly don’t understand that Amazon is one of the better partners ever for small sellers like me. And it is misleading for the government to claim that its lawsuit protects competition when, in reality, it would protect giants like Walmart and UPS while harming small businesses like ours.
I’m particularly perplexed by the government saying small businesses are bullied by Amazon and forced to pay ever-higher fees because we have no choice. We don’t feel bullied. Every day we decide — based on what’s best for our business — where to sell, how to price, whether and where to advertise, and how to ship products to customers.
We choose to sell on Amazon because that’s where millions of DIY homeowners shop. We choose to advertise on Amazon because almost every advertising dollar generates more dollars in revenue. We choose to use Amazon warehouse, delivery, and customer services because they save us money, guarantee Prime delivery in two days or faster, and allow us to promote our USA-made products. In addition, outsourcing these services with Amazon lets our team spend time growing our business instead of packing, labeling, and shipping orders.
To be clear, I’m a small-business founder and not an Amazon fanboy. We also love selling on Lowes.com, HomeDepot.com, and everywhere else possible and understand the benefits of having multiple online selling platforms. But, let’s face it, Amazon is the largest online-selling platform right now, and, during the pandemic, we saw a dramatic increase in sales due to our buyers being stuck at home and their easy access to our products on Amazon.
The combination retail/marketplace model works so well for Amazon that it’s been copied, and that’s why we are now able to sell in the Home Depot and Lowes marketplaces. It’s wonderful how competition works; we all win when businesses recognize consumer response and follow the leader.
I’m not sure why AG Ellison is trying to tear down Amazon and promote its competitors. Walmart is investing and catching up without needing government assistance, and if UPS can’t compete against Amazon delivery services then why should taxpayer money prop up UPS?
Every consumer wants great products for low prices, and every seller wants to showcase its products wherever consumers gather. Today, that’s Amazon. Tomorrow, it could be any one of a number of existing platforms, such as TikTok and Shopify, or perhaps a new platform that is still just an idea in somebody's head.
In January we will be in 350 big-box stores in the Midwest, and that achievement is due a lot to our success on Amazon and the access to our positive reviews and listings position.
Because I’m a determined small-business owner, I would have succeeded without Amazon, even if I needed to sell at flea markets. But Amazon made it a lot easier, faster, and more profitable. I’m happy to be selling on several platforms, but our family-owned, Minnesota-made business will suffer if Attorney General Ellison and the FTC break Amazon’s successful marketplace model.
Greg Amundson of Scandia, Minnesota is the inventor and founder of InstaTrim alternative caulking products.
Original Article Source // Duluth News Tribune
Hair Salon, Scandia, MN. This customer was frustrated with hair clippings getting stuck under the baseboard trim in the salon making cleanup a hassle and ineffective. They installed our ¾” trim with the new corner trim pieces and solved this problem 100%. Cleanup now takes less time and the trim along the floor looks clean and professional increasing customer satisfaction and a more professional environment. Problem Solved!
Resort and Casino, San Juan Island. This resort is an upscale location, and the casino was in the process of improving and updating the bathrooms in every room. The casino managers were looking for a better solution for the new toilets being installed as traditional silicone caulk looked unprofessional and was difficult to properly clean. Far too often the silicone caulk lost its bond to the floor and toilet and thus collected unsightly stains and odors creating a visual problem that customers did not like and often felt that the bathrooms we’re not cleaned very well. They reached out to us regarding InstaTrim as a better solution to caulk. InstaTrim is excellent in providing a professional flexible trim and seal around the toilet base that gave the appearance of cleanliness and was also much easier to clean than caulking. Problem Solved!
Camping Trailer Manufacturer, Nashville, TN. Here again traditional caulking was creating an ongoing maintenance problem where over time it would lose its seal to the application surface and expose the gaps and cracks it was meant to cover. InstaTrim was the solution by providing a flexible trim that would cover the gaps and cracks and provide a professional looking trim that matched the décor of the camper. Campers will always flex, and common caulking would lose its bond to the surface. Additionally, the temperatures of a camper could vary by as much as well over 100 degrees depending on the climate. Problem Solved!
Restaurant, Scandia, MN. Restaurants are easily one of the toughest environments for any caulking product. The abuse in a kitchen is extreme with the amount of water and food that may collect on any of the stainless-steel fixtures for food prep and washing stations. Silicone caulk does not last long in these applications and water will migrate between the silicone and stainless steel rather quickly. The other more significant problem is the potential for bacteria and mold to begin growing in these cracks and crevices which the health inspector is always looking for. InstaTrim can solve these issues with a better looking, easier to clean solution. With proper preparation, InstaTrim can last for years on these surfaces plus will save time and money on cleaning. Problem Solved!
]]>Almost everyone has seen the bugs that live in the cracks at your baseboard trim, around doors and windows and any other crack in your house that gives bugs access into your living areas. And why not, it’s the perfect place to live if you’re a bug. Ants travel through these areas all the time and it seems that no matter how much you clean these areas or use toxic bug sprays they simply go elsewhere.
So, what do you do? Cover these cracks and gaps with InstaTrim Flexible Trim and lock them out once and for all. InstaTrim is unique and unlike any other product, even caulking! Designed with Patented Technology to seal tight against the two surfaces with the use of adhesive and our unique flexible wings that ensure a double layer of sealing.
The best part is InstaTrim is simple and does not require any special tools or skill to install. Simply clean the application surface with a rag and isopropyl alcohol or acetone, let dry and press in your InstaTrim. You will need a razor blade for cutting but that’s it! To make this project even easier, add in our pre-finished corner trim pieces for a seamless installation that looks like part of your existing trim.
Big Tech is a big boost to small business
By punishing large online platforms for being successful, politicians will make things harder and more expensive for small businesses throughout the state.
By Greg Amundson
APRIL 25, 2023 — 5:30PM
Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day.
SUNDRY PHOTOGRAPHY, TNS - TNS
Thirteen years ago, I made the leap. After nearly 30 years building homes on the North Shore of Lake Superior, I started a small business in our garage in Scandia, Minn. I had invented a product for contractors and homeowners, and it was time to light my entrepreneurial fire.
The first few years were bumpy for our business. It was nothing like Shark Tank, where investors throw you money and connect you to opportunities. But we had seven patents, and I knew from experience that our product would solve a common problem using traditional caulking and would be useful to people doing all sorts of home renovation projects and commercial projects.
But our challenge was clear: How would a business with just two employees reach thousands of contractors and millions of homeowners who might want to give our product a try?
Turns out the answer is: technology. One hundred percent of our sales are online. We sell on Amazon.com, Amazon.eu, Amazon.ca, HomeDepot.com, Lowes.com, Etsy.com, Ebay.com, HSN.com and on our own branded Shopify website. Platforms like these are essential partners for small businesses. They make it easy and affordable for a small Minnesota seller to connect with customers nationally and globally.
Operationally, the platforms allow us to be in charge and help us reach the best customer prospects, transact a sale and deliver the product. We are an Amazon Prime seller, and that means we use Amazon warehouses and delivery services so customers know their order will arrive on time — sometimes the same day. Working with Amazon fulfillment services empowers us to focus on the parts of our business we are good at, while they take care of shipping and delivery at prices we cannot beat anywhere.
When the pandemic hit and people were spending a lot more time at home, interest in DIY projects skyrocketed. We got lucky when online influencers showcased our product, and sales took off. It's not just retail platforms that help us succeed, it's also Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest where we market, advertise and benefit from customer and influencer reviews.
The power of online platforms to match consumers with innovative businesses like ours has been amazing to experience.
Unfortunately, Attorney General Keith Ellison and several Minnesota legislators think the online platforms are too big and powerful, so they are supporting "abuse of dominance" legislation (HF 1563/SF 1744) that targets the giant tech platforms but will in fact hurt small businesses like ours. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar is leading this effort in Congress, and that's really perplexing because she has always stood up for the little guy.
It seems these politicians don't understand that if the platforms are punished for being successful, it will make things harder and more expensive for small businesses throughout Minnesota. We could never have succeeded without the platforms.
In full candor, our experience selling online has had challenges, and all of these platforms require daily management. But we've navigated the challenges and kept our products top of mind for our target consumers. Right now, the majority of our sales are on Amazon, but we're excited about our growth on Lowes.com, HomeDepot.com, and our own website. Amazon is still the e-commerce market leader, but the others are incentivized to invest online and catch up — and our sales growth shows they are starting to succeed.
I've never seen government regulation fix a marketplace by picking winners and losers. Does anyone think the health care market is consumer-friendly? Some may think the big online platforms don't have any competition, but I'm telling you from the inside that it's just not the case. And more importantly for small businesses — the big platforms help us compete and provides us with a level playing field with the big retailers and that's what really matters.
I understand concerns about the power of large tech companies, but these bills may create more problems than they solve.
Greg Amundson of Scandia, Minn., is the inventor and founder of InstaTrim, a flexible self-adhesive caulk and trim replacement.
]]>InstaTrim Flexible Trim Products can be a fun way to “think out of the box” because InstaTrim is not just for covering cracks. With our 5 popular colors and new corner trim pieces you can add a little flair with color that is easy and fun to do literally anywhere in your home or business!
Another unique and fun use is to apply InstaTrim products to enhance the face of your kitchen or bath cabinets. Most cabinets are constructed with a “face frame” that sticks out beyond the cabinet door almost in a picture frame style. Using InstaTrim to add an accent color to any old cabinets is a quick and inexpensive method to update old and tired cabinets. Using an accent color multiplies the effect and can add to the overall look of a tired kitchen and really make an impact on the overall look and feel of your kitchen.
InstaTrim is not just a crack or gap trim. The fact that it is flexible and will stick to any corner provides flexibility for consumers to get creative and upgrade areas of their home for very little money. With our color options of White, Grey, Black, Dark Brown and Ivory you can match OR accent any space in your house or business.
]]>
Score one for small business owners Greg and Betsy Amundson against the copycats on Amazon.
Sales of their Minnesota-made InstaTrim, a no-mess caulk-alternative, were crushed on Amazon last year by Chinese imitators, threatening their future. Using Amazon's new arbitration-like remediation process, the Amundsons in January knocked out nearly 20 sellers with products that seemingly infringed on InstaTrim patents. Those sellers declined to spend $4,000 to defend their trim-like wares.
For InstaTrim, victory is sweet. But doesn't guarantee survival.
"The biggest lesson was never give up," said Greg Amundson, founder of the 12-year-old company. "If you keep fighting, and don't run out of money, chances are you will win. Amazon provided a platform for us to seek fairness and justice at an inexpensive price.''
Amundson, 62, almost ran out of cash. InstaTrim sales fell 77% last year from $3.5 million in 2021. The fall mostly came from Amazon, but also because of a general pullback in home remodeling and improvement last year.
He considered bankruptcy until the Amazon arbitration win in January.
And Amundson added, "Our Amazon sales will not rebound to previous levels without a lot of work and time. We had to change our marketing strategy as well.''
Amazon is a titanic online bazaar, not a legal regulator — and long criticized for not cracking down more on counterfeiters who knock off products from soaps, baby formula, clothing and toys to industrial products.
Researchers have estimated that up to $1 trillion worth of fake goods flood the global economy annually. Many look identical to the original products, but often are produced with cheaper materials and may not perform as well.
Amundson in 2022 counted 40-plus patent-infringing flexible-trim products. He spent $75,000 last year in legal fees.
Amazon also has recognized the problem and worked for several years to address it. Under the relatively new Amazon Patent Evaluation Process, or APEX, complainants like InstaTrim put down $4,000 and state their case in writing to a neutral arbitrator. The defendant must also put up $4,000 and respond, or be banished from Amazon's online sales floor.
InstaTrim lost its first case late in 2022. It did not sufficiently defend its patents.
Amundson hired another attorney, William McKenna, who has more experience in the Amazon process. Amundson learned in January that InstaTrim won its second case.
"The problem a lot of sellers face … is that even if they get patent protection, [the case] can take years and cost millions," said McKenna, an Indianapolis-based patent attorney. "Amazon to its credit — and it's not a perfect system — set up a very quick arbitration process between patent owners and the alleged infringers. It puts the burden on foreign sellers who have no intention of acting responsibly."
Amundson's successful patent defense has achieved InstaTrim the powerful "trusted seller" status at Amazon.
"Amazon will act on InstaTrim's [next] complaint within 48 hours and take copycats down at a much faster rate," McKenna said. "That's important."
Amundson is pleased because InstaTrim products in days have regained top visibility and traction on Amazon, including new "project kits" that sell for more than $30 and are generating incremental sales. He and his family, no longer hemorrhaging money, also are less stressed.
"Amazon used to be approximately 80% of our overall revenue, and sales have started to turn upward recently," Amundson said. "And our diversified marketing strategy and winning the APEX case this month are already showing sales improvement."
InstaTrim is spending more on marketing and selling through its own website, Amazon Europe, Home Depot, Lowe's, eBay and Etsy websites. Dealing with more retailers also has increased costs.
Amundson, who ran a custom-built home business, is a bootstrapped entrepreneur who only a few years ago moved InstaTrim from his Scandia garage to a warehouse he bought amid several years of double-digit sales gains.
Today, Amundson also pays much closer attention to "Amazon copycat products" that have a whack-a-mole way of returning under new ID numbers.
"We are energized and feel good about our direction,'' he said. "We realize that our Amazon sales will not rebound to previous levels without increased marketing and time. The Chinese sellers continue to sell numerous flexible-trim products. As long as their profiles do not copy our patented designs, all is good.''
Neal St. Anthony has been a Star Tribune business columnist/reporter since 1984.
Neal St. Anthony @STANTHONYSTRIB
Neal.St.Anthony@startribune.com 612-673-7144 @StAnthonyStrib
Star Tribune Article https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-maker-of-instatrim-back-on-track-after-a-win-against-counterfeit-sellers-on-amazon/600247049/
]]>Why is a tight, smooth, waterproof seal important? First of all, it is required by the health department.
Secondly, it is a representation of your business and shows what you care about. If the urinals and bathrooms are nasty what is your kitchen like? Let’s face it, the cleanliness of your restrooms is an impression on your business’ cleanliness overall.
One of the problems with urinals is that they need to be occasionally removed from the wall to repair and/or clean out any blockage. Therefore, the lucky person that’s fixing the urinal also must reapply the caulk. Rarely do both jobs get completed professionally and it’s usually the caulking that gets the least attention. In fact, you can tell by this photo that this person either didn’t know how or didn’t care about what the caulking looked like. (This is a photo of an actual restaurant urinal – eek!)
Urinals and most plumbing fixtures are unique in that the porcelain surfaces are very “hydrophobic” which means it repels water, the same as most caulking. Which is why plumbers use caulk to seal the gap around the fixture and keep moisture from getting behind the urinal. Here’s the catch, caulk degrades over time needing to be replaced often, and if it isn’t applied smoothly, germs and bacteria will thrive in the open spaces, like in the picture. InstaTrim is mold and mildew resistant, creates the perfect seal between the urinal and the wall, and is super easy to install.
The process of using our peel and stick InstaTrim is very simple, but you do have to remove all the old silicone caulk, and any built up residue from cleaning products that contain any wax or oils. To do this, cut off as much of the old silicone as possible with a razor blade and then clean the surface with acetone and a scrubbing pad or soft bristle brush. Once remove and properly cleaned, apply your InstaTrim with the ends terminating at the bottom where you can’t see the seam. Add a drop of permanent glue to the seam to ensure it stays in place for many years. There you go, great looking trim that will keep the nasty stuff from collecting and growing more nasty stuff, and you’re also enhancing the public’s perception of your restaurant.
Keep a few kits of InstaTrim in the supply closet, literally anyone can apply our self-adhesive caulking and it always looks perfect and professional.
]]>These are the easy “high impact” changes that you can make in your home but some come with a hefty price tag and will take a significant amount of time to complete so keep that in mind when you are trying to determine when to list your house.
What can you do to increase the eye appeal of your home? Don’t forget the details. Too many of us have become completely blind to numerous gaps and cracks in our homes that certainly could give a potential buyer reason for concern. Look at the following areas to determine if you have any unsightly gaps and cracks.
Most of these issues are a result of poor caulking and/or inability to re-caulk yourself. InstaTrim is the perfect product to fix these areas yourself and the results are professional looking and long lasting. With our six popular colors and new corner and end trim caps you can solve these problems quickly with very little money and be proud of adding the final touches to your home.
]]>Starting out with his logo, it is attractive and very simple. I saw the “goose head” right away and understood what it meant. Going to his website, it was attractive and very easy to navigate. Too many new entrepreneurs overthink these details and can create a mess. It’s easy to understand why, we want the world to see all of our hard work and how smart we are. The consumer does not usually care to much about these details and just want a simple buying experience without wasting time wandering through a bunch of fluff. First thing on his homepage simply says “True Waterfowl Obsession”. This says it all. Scrolling down I saw numerous pieces of apparel that I would wear and I’m not much of a bird hunter. In addition, the baby shirts are super adorable.
David, who is 26, is extremely passionate about what he does as a guide for hunters and also is one of the countries champion bird callers (yes, that is a thing and apparently a big deal). He has won the Minnesota State Goose Calling contest and the Rogers National Goose calling contest. His passion is very evident in his website and clothing line.
If you’re into bird hunting, David is the guy you want and can be found at www.pitproperties.com .
Remember, keep it simple, attractive and most of all, sell something the public wants or will see and feel like they need.
We wish David and his Team a lot of success and more importantly enjoy the ride, it goes very fast!
Yep, that’s me the InstaTrim guy
]]>
There is good reason for not leaving these cracks alone. The obvious one is that they tend to look bad and unsightly for sure. The other reason is that they do contain a lot of things we don’t want to hang around our house. A few of the more common items are bacteria, dust mites, skin cells, hair, dead bugs, soil particles, pollen, and different types of molds and mildew. Certainly, the more insidious cracks are along our floors and around plumbing fixtures in our bathrooms. The all-time winner in this category is the crack at the base of a toilet. We can all imagine what has seeped down into this crack and tends to smell and fester if not cleaned regularly with a strong cleanser.
This is where InstaTrim can be a huge benefit and keep some of these nasty things from hanging around these areas while providing you with a much easier surface to clean. Leaving these areas sanitary and looking better than ever.
InstaTrim has three components for sealing any corner. The first one is our butyl adhesive that provides a tight seal to the application surface and since our adhesive stays soft it will move with the surfaces if they expand and/or contract.
The second important part of our flexible molding is the wedge shape which fits perfectly into a corner, leaving now where for insidious things to lurk.
The third component is our Patented “wings” that only InstaTrim has. Our wings will flex and conform to the application surface and provide an additional layer, sealing your InstaTrim to the application surface. Our wings conform, along with the adhesive, to irregularities along the floor and walls to create a permanent sealing system that keeps all the “nasties” from getting in these cracks. You could say, InstaTrim helps protect your family and pets.
To better help you as the consumer we have launched our new caulk and trim project kits that come complete with a roll of InstaTrim, our Applicator Tool, and for the ¾ inch wide trim, Corner and End Caps are also included, to make installation as easy as possible.
InstaTrim is manufactured in Minnesota with all USA-sourced ingredients. We are a family-owned company, and our priority is always the customer. Don’t hesitate to give us a shout with any questions!
]]>It started out slowly and quietly.
One day, one of us noticed a new type of flexible trim product for sale on Amazon but we weren’t concerned since we were still dominating the Amazon Marketplace. When a customer searched for any type of flexible trim, molding or caulk strip on Amazon, our products covered the entire first page of listings.
Fast forward approximately two months. Things changed quickly and we saw several companies selling products that closely resembled our self-adhesive, bendable molding strips on Amazon in the USA. This got our attention quickly. We dug in and found that there were more than 40 sellers on Amazon copying our design, colors, and sizes - causing our items to be buried among the knock-off products. This has resulted in a low presence on Amazon and ultimately lower sales.
The decision to patent our design was one of the best decisions we’ve made, starting with the first patent in 2012. The patent process is expensive and takes a long time, but it is what protects companies against just this kind of thing. Many entrepreneurs don’t realize just how important this process is and decide to skip this step to save money and time. We can attest that going that extra mile is very much worth it in the end.
To-date, we have been awarded six patents and continue to file for more. It is truly amazing how fast a copycat product can negatively affect your business. Without intellectual property (patents and trademarks) in place, there is very little any company can do to deter copy-cat sellers except try to out-advertise the competition.
When we began the patent process, we made the decision to keep the patents in the USA because that is where we intend to sell the bulk of our products. This means that we are automatically protected against anyone else copying our design. Unfortunately, this does not protect us from companies in other countries making similar products that closely resemble our flexible trim.
When looking into the counterfeiters on Amazon we discovered they are all coming from China. Fortunately, Amazon has its own patent violation program called APEX. This allows sellers who believe that their patent has been infringed on can file a case with Amazon and the companies in violation must respond to a notice or their product listings will be removed immediately.
Time will tell how effective this program will be for us. We’ve discovered that many of these sellers will just create new listings on Amazon using a different company name and new product numbers. We never imagined that this would be a game we would have to play. But if we look on the bright side, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?
]]>When you buy a home, you inherit all kinds of unique craftsmanship from the previous homeowners. Then, you add onto their house work with your own unique fixes. For one InstaTrim customer, removing a makeshift awning above a backyard deck posed more problems for the home than the awning posed in the first place. Learn how our customer, Hillary Glaser of Michigan, used InstaTrim for a simple decking repair project to fill the gap between her home and her deck.
In March 2022, we had our kitchen and living room floors ripped up and replaced. When the laminate flooring was removed, we noticed water soaking through some of the floor boards. I envisioned another homeowner nightmare and asked the flooring contractors what I should do about the water. They said the best thing we could do to fix this problem, outside of installing a new awning, was install caulk outside between the deck and the outside wall of our home.
Problem: the gap was too wide for caulk in many spaces.
The previous homeowners built their own deck. Between the craftsmanship and the elements, the deck hasn’t aged well and major gaps appeared. When we removed the awning to try to solve a raccoon problem, we didn’t think water would be our next major concern.
My husband assured me that caulk would be the best solution but I knew it wouldn’t be any solution at all and even caulk strips wouldn’t seal the space. So, I found a better solution: InstaTrim trim strips.
I am not a contractor but I was raised by a plumber so I understand where I can and cannot use caulk. Knowing that I cannot use caulk in this area, I thought about InstaTrim as a unique solution to this problem. We already used InstaTrim to update and seal bathroom sinks in our guest bathroom, so I thought this would be something interesting to try out and it worked! Here’s what I did after re-reading the InstaTrim installation instructions:
Using nothing more than a vacuum, I got as many cobwebs, twigs, and leaves out of the gap as possible. I did my best to clean away dog hair and other debris, as well. I also took a damp cloth to wipe away as much dust as possible. The moisture dried very quickly since it was 95 degrees outside.
The next step took about 30 seconds as I measured the flexible trim strip from the box against the gap. I very quickly realized there would be three spots where InstaTrim wouldn’t exactly fill the area but that’s OK. I laid the ½” gap, 10 foot long white trim strip on the line in the area I wanted to fill and snipped off the excess.
Once the trim strips were in place, repairing the deck took about a minute. I slowly peeled back the adhesive liner and pressed the strip into place as I went. I had to pick up the strip a few times to reposition it into place but this took about a minute to complete. In hindsight, I should have gone over it again with the applicator tool but using my fingers to press the flexible strips into place worked just as well.
We’re grateful for InstaTrim because using caulk or a silicone filler would have been a messy disaster that I would not want to clean up. From start to finish, this project took me about 6 minutes and I can tell the gap is sealed very tightly. I am confident that our floorboards will not get soaked after every rain storm and I still have about 7 feet of InstaTrim left to use for my next project.
]]>Glass walls are the easiest way to allow light to filter through the entire office. However, many people shy away from installing glass partitions and walls because of privacy concerns, as well as how ratty and discolored the seams between the glass and a solid wall can get.
Face it, when you spend tons of money and time redesigning your office spaces, you want it to look fresh and clean for many years. Caulking cracks, becomes discolored, and peels off in just a couple of years, resulting in having to pay someone to replace all of it far too often.
We’ve got some helpful tips and solutions to transform your office space.
So many offices are creating open work spaces. However, not every employee is into this kind of work environment. They prefer offices and cubicles for privacy, and to make it easier to focus on the tasks at-hand. How can businesses bring a nice hybrid redesign? Bringing a little more glass!
It’s true. Glass is see-through. Simple solution for the privacy issue? Frosted glass, as well as half walls that provide adequate sunlight but still provide employees with much-needed privacy.
Interior offices, as well as conference rooms, can have frosted glass walls. Or, shades that can be dropped down to create privacy when needed, but when not down, can offer that “open space” feel of an open office floor plan. Cubicles can be constructed with solid bottoms, and glass tops. When workers are sitting or standing at their desks, they still have walls for privacy and to help them block out distractions. However, light pours through and people can see one another, giving that open space feel.
Glass-to-glass seams are usually done with brackets and nothing is used along the corner seams. However, when walls and glass meet, silicone or caulk is used along the seam. The problem? Those materials don’t hold up for long. They all start to crack, peel, and change colors.
All that time and money spent to create beautiful spaces for your employees and you end up only focusing on how awful the seams look. Just makes your head hurt. The solution? InstaTrim! It’s not just for kitchens and bathrooms, and other rooms of a house. It’s the universal solution for businesses, too.
Office partitions don’t have to be ugly. You’ve got fresh coats of paint on your office walls, along with new flooring, why muck that up with ugly generic partitions because you’re afraid to give glass a chance? Bring light, bright spaces and beautiful universal trim to your next office remodel. InstaTrim comes in a variety of colors, and even better, it can be painted if you want to match the color of your painted walls to a T.
Cover all your office cracks with InstaTrim, so you never have to settle for less with your office remodel. If you’re not sure what color to go with, you’re in luck. We now have a sample kit to check out each of our colors, and if none of them work, remember they can be painted. When clients walk through your office, let them know just how dedicated you are to paying attention to the details!
]]>As a Universal Solution, InstaTrim provides the perfect seal for the burial flag cases Operation Honor has Veterans crafting for Arlington National Cemetery, as well as on their official website.
Operation Honor was created to enhance the lives of US Veterans, along with their families by providing United States Veterans the chance to build all the products available for purchase on their website. Their signature product is the veteran-crafted burial flag cases.
Burial flag cases are available for anyone to purchase, and the organization is proud to be the exclusive provider to Arlington National Cemetery. It’s the perfect item to honor, remember and show our military veterans respect.
As orders come through, Operation Honor assigns a Veteran to build a hand-made one-of-a-kind flag case. Each one has a label on it that’s personally signed by the Veteran who hand-crafted the burial flag case.
InstaTrim’s owners find great joy and pride supporting United States Veterans with a flexible trim that provides the perfect seal for the burial flag cases built by veterans. Memorializing these great men and women is one of the best ways to remember just how much has been sacrificed for our rights and privileges.
We aren’t kidding when we say our flexible trim is the universal trim solution! It’s perfect for not just home improvements and finishing touches, but it’s also perfect for unique projects in an RV, boat, business and of course, when crafting a case to preserve one of the most important items a veteran’s family possesses after the loss of their loved one.
]]>There’s nothing worse than an outdated stairway greeting you when you walk through the front door, it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth and sours the entire experience. If you’re not selling your house, that’s fine. Instead think about how amazing it will feel entering your home each day after updating your stairway treads. If you entertain often, guests will appreciate a beautifully updated stairway!
Your staircase or stairway has different parts to it. Each part has to work together to create a visually appealing experience for your eyes. It all starts with a stringer. The stringer supports each side of a staircase, and it’s what the flat treads and risers attach to in order to form them. Handrails and balusters are also added to staircases to make them functional and safe.
You can have a set of stairs with closed tread risers where you can’t see through the back of the staircase. Or, for a more modern look, a staircase can be built without risers between the treads. The space is there, but nothing is placed in the open space between the treads.
The treads are the flat horizontal part of the stairs that people step on to climb up or go down a stairway. Without them, you really can’t have a functioning set of steps!
How can you update your staircase for a big “wow” factor, without killing your home improvement budget? Especially if you’re doing updates to put it on the market!
If you have closed tread risers with carpet on them, one of the best ways to freshen them up is to remove the carpet. It will take a bit of sweat equity, for sure, but the stunning result will be worth it. Just make sure you have a solid plan for what you want to do AFTER the carpet is removed.
If you had carpet, and it’s been removed, now’s the time to choose whether you want to stain or paint the stair treads. A popular trend these days is to stain the treads, but instead of staining the risers people paint them. Then they get creative with the balusters and handrails.
Finishing off your stairs can sometimes be a challenge. Wood trim can be expensive, especially in our current economy. It’s also messy to install between the cutting, staining, and painting - it’s a chore to cover the crack between the stairs and the wall. Or, if your treads hang over the stringer, finishing the stair edge with a bit of flexible trim is much easier with flexible trim like InstaTrim.
Whether you paint your treads, or stain them, there’s a variety of colors of universal trim solution. However, if you’re not sure which color would be the best option, we’re excited to provide a sample kit to check out each InstaTrim color option. We want our customers to have access to the perfect tools to improve their homes and the perfect tool should always be the right color for your project!
]]>Don’t freak out, though. It isn’t as overwhelming as you might think it is to do a quick home refresh. We promise to make it easy to Cover Your Crack™.
Some of the simplest ways to update your home on a budget, which also means it is probably not going to take a long time to accomplish:
Easy fixes to prep your home are to fill in all the awful gaps and cracks around your home when it’s a little older. Old houses settle and gaps and cracks appear, like evil magic.
In all seriousness, more often than not, older houses have numerous cracks or gaps that look ugly. The ugliness can be where countertops meet a wall, or maybe along some cabinets.
Even though it isn’t pleasant to think about, let’s think about the base of your toilets. It’s a nasty area and when it looks dirty, gross, and cracked, it’ll turn off even the most enthusiastic home buyers.
And what about where your tile or wood floors and walls meet? Those edges are never perfect and a room needs a little help looking clean and finished. A clean, straight edge never draws attention to minor imperfections throughout a house. And that’s an important part of selling a house. Not drawing attention to the small flaws so that people can focus on the bigger picture: an awesome house!
What’s the easiest way to fix these issues and prep your home for the slew of buyers ready to provide you with offers for your home? InstaTrim. Yes. It really is as simple as digging out nasty, cracked silicone throughout the rooms of your home and replacing it with InstaTrim. It truly is as easy as rolling out, cutting and installing InstaTrim into the gaps and cracks throughout your house to polish off each room.
Trimming a room doesn’t have to be difficult. You don’t always need hammers, nails and a saw. Sometimes you just need a great universal trim solution available in a variety of colors, and an applicator tool, too. Prep your home quickly and get your house on the market so you can move on to your next adventure!
]]>It’s not much different for construction companies building houses, commercial buildings, and restaurants. I think we can all agree our world needs a lot less waste! Garbage building up means more pollution and we believe it’s important to do our part in reducing pollution and garbage.
Homeowners and construction companies have used tubes of caulk for years, because it’s been the standard since, basically, forever. Unfortunately this causes tons of waste in our landfills. Let’s break down a couple of the ways choosing InstaTrim can reduce garbage at our garbage dumps.
When a construction company chooses the universal trim solution instead of caulk when building any new structure, it will be years before anything has to be replaced. They’ll be saving our landfills of tons of disgusting, chemical-filled caulk. Which brings us to how InstaTrim is helping reduce pollution.
Did you know caulk is full of harmful substances? Hydrocarbons like acrylic, acrylic-latex, neoprene, polysulfide, polyurethanes, silicone, and vulcanized butyl rubber. No one wants these pollutants in our landfills, or our homes, or places of business.
Luckily, InstaTrim doesn’t contain toxic chemicals, nor does it have noxious fumes that irritate your nose, eyes, and throat. Instead, the universal solution meets ASTM 4236 for non-toxicity.
Since InstaTrim lasts for far longer than caulk, it doesn’t need to be thrown away as often - but if it does end up in the garbage, it won’t leach toxins into the air or earth. You can feel good about using it in your house, or on your construction site.
Homeowners and those on construction sites around the world can make one small (but brilliant) change when trimming all types of houses, and trimming commercial buildings - skipping caulk and choosing InstaTrim. We’re excited to be the small and brilliant change in the battle to reduce garbage and pollution all across the U.S.A. and Europe.
]]>We’re also excited that business owners are using our universal solution for trimming kitchen and bathroom sinks in their offices, restaurants, and more. It’s so easy to install that everyone is jumping for joy once they try it.
So, how do you install InstaTrim in your kitchens and bathrooms? We’re so glad you asked!
Kitchens. It’s one of the most frequented rooms of a home. The last thing you want to see is crusty old cracked seals around a sink. A sink you’ll be using to wash your dishes. A sink that’s sunk into your countertop. A sink that has to be not just attractive, but most importantly, hygienic.
Cracked seals around a home’s or business’s sink are the breeding ground for bacteria. It’s where itty bitty bugs, food crumbs, chicken slime, and dirt collect and create health problems. However, not many people have the time to replace cracked silicone-based caulk as often as is necessary to keep the area clean and sanitary. We mean to do it, but it just keeps getting worse and creates an unhealthy kitchen environment.
Even if it isn’t cracking and breaking off, it’s probably growing mold. Just nasty. There’s help, though. Stay with us to learn more.
One of the most important parts of a bathroom? Making sure any seal that fills a crack or gap will resist water and grime. It’s imperative that the seal is tight, looks good, repels moisture and will not grow bacteria, mold and mildew. We all know that bacteria is nasty stuff and can actually cause health problems if left to prosper.
Regardless of where the bathroom is, your home or business, the bathroom sinks need to look beautiful and they need to provide a safe place to wash your hands and face. Women take their rings off to wash their hands, and the last place you want them putting those rings is on a disgusting bathroom sink ledge sporting mold and bacteria.
Kids: we love them, but when they see anything cracking, they’re going to pick at it and pull at it and make it worse. They’re curious and want to find out “if I pull this gross piece of dried out caulk - what’s under it, how long of a piece can I pull off before it snaps”. It’s what kids do. So, let’s see if we can avoid all these cringe-worthy situations by trimming sinks with InstaTrim.
First, you’ll have to remove all that gross, cracked, and worn out caulk. Scrape it out, pull it out, and make sure you get all traces of residue the silicone leaves behind by cleaning with acetone. It will take a bit of effort, especially when you get to the silicone residue. It will often require a silicone sealant remover, or acetone, along with a good scrubbing pad or soft brush.
If you aren’t into chemical removers, you can grab white vinegar or isopropyl alcohol. Just be prepared to let that sit on the residue until the residue softens. Then grab that scrubbing brush or pad and go to town. Remind yourself you only have to do this ONCE, and then you’re done. It’s worth the important and necessary prep work, so InstaTrim creates a tight and lasting seal.
After all traces of silicone-based caulking are gone, get your flexible trim out of the box. Make sure you have the applicator tool, too. It will make it even easier to apply the correct amount of pressure during installation.
Once you’ve got everything prepped and ready to go, applying InstaTrim is easy. Just peel back the release liner, position your trim, and slowly, firmly and steadily press InstaTrim into place. Enjoy it for years and years and years. You won’t have to replace it unless you decide to redecorate and want a new color (which might not matter, as you can paint our flexible trim).
Focusing on the four “Ps” of InstaTrim each time you find a spot in your home or business that could benefit from this universal trim solution will provide you with beautiful results that will last for years to come. And always reach out to us if you have any questions, or run into hiccups along the way.
]]>What’s the first thing you do after you’re seated at your table in a restaurant? Your eyes probably scan the table, looking for cleanliness. Perhaps you head to the lavatory to see just how clean, or not clean, it is.
If you look around and see cracked, peeling, discolored caulk everywhere - your nose automatically scrunches up and you make that disapproving face. It sends shivers through your body. Why does your body react this way? It’s because your brain is asking “if this place can’t keep their gaps and cracks handled properly, what else are they not handling?”
If you’re totally turned off by it, can you imagine what health inspectors are thinking when they see it during inspections? Yeah. Exactly.
Restaurant hygiene has to be a restaurant owner’s priority, or patrons move on to the next “big thing” with fresh, clean, pristine caulking in their gaps and cracks.
Owners at restaurants have no time. Most of them couldn’t even tell you the last time they actually ate a meal. Ironic for a restaurant owner, right?
If you’re an established restaurateur, you know how many man hours it takes to remove and replace caulking throughout a restaurant, along with how often it has to be done throughout the lifetime of a restaurant (if it wants to remain open, of course). And the noxious fumes that linger for hours after caulking. It’s not a good scene. You can install our flexible trim at 12pm and you can open for lunch at 12:01pm.
Although prepping your restaurant for InstaTrim installation takes a bit of extra work - it’s a one-time thing. Much of the hard labor is during the preparation stage. All silicone-based caulk must be removed, along with the gross residue it leaves behind because ABSOLUTELY NOTHING sticks to silicone except MORE silicone.
However, once all your surfaces are prepared properly, you’ll easily install InstaTrim and you won’t have to think about it again for years and years. And years. Because it:
InstaTrim will be your best employee!
Simplifying restaurant maintenance is one of our favorite benefits of our flexible caulking strip.
Maintaining a restaurant’s cleanliness is a top priority for the owner, patrons, and staff. InstaTrim is the best way to destroy the endless restaurant maintenance wrapped up in gaps and cracks! Get in on this action - there’s a variety of colors that go with almost every decor, and if it doesn’t, you can paint it! We told you, it’s going to be your hardest working employee by far!
]]>Wait. We take that back. Let’s not give our windows a bad reputation! It’s really the caulk around them that’s letting all of us down. Windows are just doing their job, hanging out and letting the sunlight shine into our homes. All they can do is rely on the weatherproofing we homeowners chose to use trim windows.
Why is it important to properly trim windows? Let’s take you back … back to when you were house hunting and finally found the perfect place to hang your hat. Remember when you finally bought your home and everyone went on and on about windows and doors? You were told to make sure the windows were good quality and weatherproofed, and your doors better not have a draft, or you’d be paying top dollar for your heating and cooling bills.
All true. However, what no one told you was how dreadful caulking around windows and doors was and that you would have to replace all that caulking often. Why? Because caulking dries, cracks, breaks off and it also becomes discolored! Depending on where you live, it can be a yearly project each spring when doing spring cleaning and the yard clean-up.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could do this important task once, and not have to worry about it until you move and have to replace caulk in another new house? We thought so!
We’re going to keep it real here and now: installing InstaTrim is easy. However, the prep work before installing it can take a little time and effort, but it still isn’t as time consuming and messy as using caulk to trim your windows.
The first step whenever making the switch from silicone-based caulking to InstaTrim: remove each and every bit of caulk. Scrape that stuff off of the surface, leave none of it behind.
Residue Silicone is unique in that nothing will stick to it, including InstaTrim. If silicone is left on any surface, InstaTrim may adhere at first, but it’ll pop off quickly. We don’t want that happening, so after removing the caulking, make sure to clean off all the gross residue silicone caulking leaves behind.
You can clean off the residue using a silicone sealant remover, or acetone, and a cloth. If you don’t want to use acetone, grab some white vinegar or isopropyl alcohol, and leave it sitting on the residue until it gets soft and will wipe off with a scrubbing pad or soft brush. It might require a little scrubbing, but remember, you do this once and the hard work will be over quickly!
Now that you’ve done the prep work - just peel the backing off of the adhesive on your flexible trim, press InstaTrim into place evenly applying pressure (do not stretch) and stand back to admire your work! Could it get any easier?
Actually, yes! We created an applicator tool to help you evenly distribute the pressure needed to properly install InstaTrim. Our customers are to thank for this product. Without their request, we wouldn’t have known they needed a little something special.
Trimming your windows with the right product will save you time, and be a true safeguard against high electric bills. Air will circulate better without horrible drafty windows mucking the whole process up, and all your “bought air” will stay inside your home keeping you toasty warm in the winter, and cool as a cucumber in the summers.
]]>We know, caulk is horrible. But the important thing to remember is now that we have developed InstaTrim and you know about it, you can trim your kitchen and bathroom counters better….right? The old “when you know better you do better”!
No matter what kind of countertop you want to trim, the most important part of replacing the current product around your countertops with InstaTrim: the prep work. Before InstaTrim, most homes were filled with silicone caulking. It’s understandable - it’s really all that was around for many years.
But now… now there’s a flexible trim that blows silicone caulking out of the water. However, in order to trim out your kitchen and bathroom countertops properly, the silicone has to be removed. All of it. Even that gross oily residue it leaves behind.
In order to rip all that caulking from your countertops, you’ll need a sharp razor and probably a caulk removal tool. You’ll need to cut along both sides of the caulk along the surface it’s attached to. Then pull it off your countertop.
If the caulk is old and dried out, you will have to do a bit of scraping. Once you’ve removed all the physical silicone, now you have to deal with that gross, oily residue. Nothing sticks to that stuff except more silicone. Just like plastic wrap when you’re trying to cover your leftovers after a big holiday dinner.
Silicone caulking leaves behind a residue - it’s sometimes just a film, and sometimes it’s got an oily feeling to it. Either way, the residue has to be cleaned off, or nothing will stick to it. Not even InstaTrim.
Residue from silicone-based products is the kryptonite to InstaTrim. It’s why you have to make sure all of the residue is cleaned off properly. Unfortunately, the best way to remove silicone residue is with acetone. Since it is flammable and the fumes could make you pass out - make sure you open windows and properly ventilate while using acetone and a scrubbing pad or sponge to remove the residue.
You can also try vinegar if acetone isn’t for you. Vinegar does have to sit on the silicone residue for a bit of time and will require a bit of extra elbow grease. However, the odor is less overwhelming!
Kitchen countertops often leave gaps between the counter and the backsplash, or wall. We’ve all been conditioned to fill gaps with either caulk, or wood trim. Unless you’ve got a lot of time and are wicked talented, caulk and wood trim are probably not your best options for trimming your kitchen countertops.
Caulk is hard to work with, plus it has to be replaced often since it becomes discolored, dries out, and cracks. Wood trim looks nice, but it requires using a saw to cut it, lots of glueing and far more time and energy than one person has.
Instead of caulk and wood, you have a much simpler option! InstaTrim. Once the countertops and backsplash are cleaned and prepped, all you need to do is peel and apply pressure to install, with minimal cutting!
Luckily, there are multiple colors to choose from to match your countertops or the backsplash. If you have a painted wall behind your kitchen counters, you can use our paintable flexible trim to finish off your kitchen.
Bathrooms tend to have a lot of moisture, dust, and more opportunities for mold to grow and destroy your beautifully decorated sanctuary. Silicone caulking in bathrooms has been the norm for so many years, but it’s something that has to be removed every couple of years and redone. It’s a hassle and so much work.
InstaTrim is easy to install, and doesn’t have to be replaced every few years. Whatever the surface, as long as there’s no silicone or silicone residue on the surface, InstaTrim will bond to the surface and create such a tight seal - mold won’t have anywhere to grow.
Plus, our flexible trim doesn’t become discolored like silicone caulk does. You can’t go wrong with high-quality flexible trim for your bathroom countertops.
When you want the most polished and clean look for your kitchen and bathroom countertops, InstaTrim provides the most easy installation, along with a long-lasting option. It takes minimal time to install, and it lasts for far more years than any kind of caulk products on the market. No specific tools are required, but if you want to be assured you’re providing the proper amount of pressure during installation, pick up our applicator tool when placing your flexible trim order.
]]>Homes settle, walls shift and paint cracks. However, InstaTrim can help hide the eye sore in the corners of your rooms.
When you own your own home, you become more aware of just how important it is to create your own home style. When you rent a place, you’re stuck with your landlord’s style. Frankly, all landlords must have to sign something that says they cannot show any kind of fun in a rental home’s decor. Just keep it boring and blah, no matter what.
When you own your own home it's overwhelming to have all these blank walls and floors and rooms to splatter with your personal tastes. But you can’t forget just how important it is to complete each room with trim, so it looks polished and put-together instead of just “thrown” together. The corners of a room need special attention to detail, like corner trim. You don’t want to walk into your gorgeous freshly painted living room and your eye is just drawn to the ugly corner with paint chipping, or poor painting techniques are slapping you in the face.
Trimming a grey room with white trim always looks professional and polished, but you can make a statement by trimming the same room with black trim. Anything is better than yet ANOTHER floor lamp, or obnoxiously large houseplant.
A corner with a polished trim allows you to have a few more decor options for the corner, because you won’t want to hide the corners, but rather show them off. Now you can hang corner shelves and display beautiful pictures or your crystal and show off just how gorgeous and spacious the room is. No corner clutter on the floor!
Do you offer handyman services? How many times have you gone to a client’s house or building and they have a project that requires caulking or trim? Probably too many to count.
You may be an excellent caulker. But more than likely, the thought of caulking sets your anxiety into overdrive.
Then there’s the cold sweats that set in when you see they need trimming done. We all know when trim is required you have to bring a chop saw, nail gun, compressor and haul long strips of wood trim to the job site. Torture.
The answer to relieving anxiety and cold sweats? InstaTrim!
InstaTrim will save you time and money and you’ll have an ecstatic client!
As you know, your handyman job relies heavily on time and unlike regular caulking products, InstaTrim does not have to dry or cure. Once InstaTrim is installed your work is done. Groovy, right? Even better, the repaired area can be used immediately.
Another big benefit of InstaTrim: our products do not dry out. Anything you don’t use immediately can be stored away for future projects. Unfortunately, when you open a new tube of caulk, but don’t use all of it, you have to throw it out. Waste of your money!
InstaTrim won’t end up in the garbage. Use exactly what you need for your current project and save the rest for later without worrying about it becoming dry or hard in the tube.
InstaTrim is a flexible trim solution for gaps, cracks and corners. We have designed a flexible trim product that’s:
We use a soft and tacky non-toxic adhesive that will bond to any surface (except silicone) and will save you time and money making repairs your client will love. We have six common colors (white, grey, black, dark brown, light brown, and ivory) to match any décor.
When you use InstaTrim you can quickly and easily permanently solve any gap or crack that your client needs fixing. It can be used to fill:
With the handyman in mind, our flexible trim offers single kit spools of 10 feet and also bulk rolls of 50 foot spools. InstaTrim comes in three widths to handle almost any gap and are ½” wide, ¾” wide and 1” wide.
We also offer a helpful applicator tool that will speed up the time it takes to install it, saving you even more time. Coming in 2022, we will offer pre-finished color matching trim pieces for inside corners, outside corners and end caps to make your install sizzle and look perfect.
]]>However, if you just want to finish off your room with interior trim to pretty it up and give your rooms a polished look - InstaTrim can make it perfect.
We can all agree the least expensive way to freshen up a living room, bedroom, or really any room, is to paint it. After a fresh coat of paint, any room in a house looks clean, neat, and brand new. But, sometimes, it’s just missing that little finishing touch. The cherry on top.
The best way to accent dull edges is to install trim. Along the ceiling, InstaTrim hides paint mistakes if you’re not the best of the best at cutting in during the painting process. Along the corners of rooms with painted walls, over time, the paint sometimes starts to chip off. Installing InstaTrim down the four corners of your room gives a clean look to the room and helps avoid some of that chipping. InstaTrim can also hide any “brush strokes” that show through from cutting in and not getting close enough with a paint roller.
No matter how well you plan and measure base molding before installing, there’s always going to be a bit of a gap between the floor and the molding. Houses settle, and walls aren’t perfectly straight, nor are floors. Gaps happen.
All kinds of dust, dirt, bugs, hair, and mold end up finding their way into those gaps along the floor. InstaTrim is a sanitary flexible trim solution. It’s easy to install, doesn’t make a mess, and won’t grow mold. It’ll stick to any surface, so if you have tile floors, wood floors, vinyl floors, or epoxy floors, it’s going to stick and stay for years!
Plus, closing the gap also looks darn pretty!
Dressing up a room by installing interior trim doesn’t have to be a hassle, involving tons of tools and saw dust. Sometimes it’s as easy as prepping, peeling, and placing bendable trim. Sure, it’s easier to install using our applicator tool, but it isn’t required. It truly is a great budget-friendly and easy solution to turning your boring room into a show-stopper!
Having plenty of color options available, along with the ease of installation, truly does mean you can trim out a room with ease with InstaTrim. You can zhuzh up any room in less than a day, and host a cocktail party later on in the evening on the same day. Plus, no toxic fumes means your guests will never know you were DIY-ing just a few hours earlier. SCORE!
]]>Imagine if you will: a bathroom. It’s beautifully tiled with impeccably done grout. Gorgeous glass, and pristine fixtures. And now… you have to decide how to seal all the gaps between walls and bathtubs, and showers.
You’re presented with your silicone-based options. And none of them sound like a good time! They all sound messy, toxic, and far too much work. However, what you aren’t being told is that even though caulking is waterproof, it doesn’t stay that way for long and it has to be replaced OFTEN.
If you don’t replace it, mold and mildew will grow, causing health problems and structure problems. Instead of caulking with silicone products, instead try a caulk alternative to solve the waterproofing issue permanently.
From top to bottom, a bathroom requires waterproofing. Builders normally use special drywall that’s resistant to moisture when building a bathroom. When sealing off the bathtub or shower, caulk is water resistant. However, caulk will fail and when it does, moisture and dirt will start to grow behind your shower and bathtub.
But why does caulk fail? Hydrophobic surface conditions. What the heck is that? It just means shiny tile doesn’t allow things to stay bonded to it for a long period of time. Caulk will start to “let go” of the shiny surfaces, and water works its way down behind it. That’s why your caulk turns black. That’s the mold.
And seriously, silicone-based products only stick to silicone. It’s kind of like plastic wrap for your leftovers - the stuff just sticks to itself, right?
Instead of having to replace caulk often, you can use InstaTrim. It was designed to be a long-term solution for sealing your bathtub and shower. Plus it looks darn good!
Caulk - regardless of what kind is in the tube - is messy to work with. Applying it to a beautifully tiled and designed bathroom is one of the best ways to ugly it up. It’s rare to have the skill needed to finish off a bathroom with any kind of product other than flexible trim strips.
Our strips are flexible, and self-adhesive. Once you’ve cleaned and prepped the surface area, Just peel back the adhesive liner off the trim strips, place the trim where you want to install it and press the trim firmly along the surface area with even pressure. Done.
No one enjoys breathing in the off-putting odor of caulk. Especially if you’re sealing a bathtub or shower in a smaller bathroom. The fumes just take over and make a Do-It-Yourselfer lightheaded. You can open windows, or run the vent, but it’s just overpowering.
Our flexible trim is non-toxic and odor-free. You can still open a window for fresh air while you work, but you won’t have to when working with InstaTrim!
It’s true. Silicone caulk comes in a few colors, along with a clear option. And sure, you can use acrylic caulk if you wish to paint it to match a specific wall color. Our trim product comes in multiple colors, many of the same colors people currently use in their bathrooms. We even made it paintable, just in case none of our colors work OR you change your bathroom wall colors in a couple of years after using InstaTrim to replace your moldy, old silicone caulk.
Caulking the shower and caulking the bathtub just got easier and let’s face it, prettier. Our flexible trim is so easy to install, and is almost impossible to install incorrectly, that it’ll save you time, money, and aggravation. It’ll withstand mold, mildew and dust, so it’ll last for years, saving even more time, lots of your energy and tons of your money!
InstaTrim just makes sense for sealing showers and bathtubs in your home's bathroom.
]]>Caulk is messy, and truly smells toxic. Applying it to fill gaps and cracks in your kitchen is probably the least enjoyable task of all-time. Okay, maybe we’re being dramatic, but still. It’s a stress-fest for do-it-yourselfers.
If you look around your kitchen, you’ll notice the walls are naturally uneven. It’s basically impossible to get your cabinets to sit flush against kitchen walls. The older your home, the harder it gets to eliminate the gaps between walls and cabinets. Houses settle, walls become more uneven, and even if you’ve caulked once, you’ll have to do it again as things continue to shift.
Instead of battling with messy caulk, and inhaling toxic fumes, use InstaTrim for easy cabinet trim installation. It’s quick to apply, flexible and the perfect alternative to caulking between your cabinets and walls.
We can’t say this enough: sealing up gaps and cracks doesn’t have to be a hassle, and it shouldn’t have to be a yearly task on your household chore list. With InstaTrim® you can check this less-than-desirable task off your list for many years! Why? So glad you asked!
Prep. Peel. Press. It really is this simple! Prep for flexible cabinet trim requires users to clean the surface you want to apply your flexible trim. Once the area is clean of dust, debris, and silicone, just peel back the adhesive liner and start pressing it into place! We even have an applicator tool to make sure you apply firm and even pressure as you install your caulk alternative.
Not only is the trim itself flexible, but so is the adhesive. As your home settles, and shifts, InstaTrim adjusts, which means it won’t crack and start falling apart. We’re not saying what would crack and fall apart, but we all know what does.
As great as it is that our product is mess-free, it’s even more amazing that it’s water resistant. Other products grow mold, and mildew if water creeps behind it. Other products also become discolored over time, and have to be replaced. Not our peel-and-stick flexible trim!
Since InstaTrim meets ASTM 4236, it means we’re non-toxic. We don’t contain any chemicals, and the trim does not release toxic fumes so we’re also odor-free.
If you don’t use all of the product for your project, no worries. InstaTrim’s adhesive never dries out. Store it in your garage for your next do-it-yourself household project. When you’re ready to use it again, just prep your surface, peel back the liner, and press it into place! SIMPLE, mess-free, and looks great for years to come.
Never doubt the simplicity of using InstaTrim, or how professional of a look it gives to your final kitchen design. It adheres to tile, wood, vinyl, metal, granite, wallpaper, paint, and more. If you want a perfect line every time you fill a gap, whether in your kitchen, or another room, the universal trim solution you want is InstaTrim!
]]>Now what do I do? The ants and spiders are still finding ways into my kitchen, spiders are surprising the family with surprise visits, and bees swarm us anytime we sit outside to enjoy the cooler temperatures, sipping our morning coffee!
How do I seal out bugs? InstaTrim can help!
The three biggest, baddest, most annoying bugs waging war on homeowners are ants, spiders, and bees (and all their stingy variations). Each critter has their own special way of invading a home, and once you know where they’re finding their ways in, it’s a lot easier to shut them out!
Kitchens are a favorite destination for ants. If there’s any kind of gap, or crack, in or around your kitchen windows or doors, ants march right on in. They’re in search of all your crumbs left on your counters and floors.
Once they have their marching orders, they come out in little teams and take over your kitchen counters and all along the perimeter of your kitchen floor. Can you blame them? Who wants to be outside in damp, gross weather? I’d find some gaps and cracks around your windows and doors, too, if I knew there was food and comfy accommodations inside!
Homeowners often rely on caulking around windows and doors in order to fill the gaps, and cracks around kitchen windows and doors. However, that has to be done at least once per year, and more often than not, twice a year depending on your climate. It’s a chore most people forget until it’s too late and the ants have taken over.
Instead, grab InstaTrim the peel and stick caulking everyone’s talking about, to fill the gaps and cracks once, and you won’t have to worry about it again for years!
Wondering where spiders like to gain access to your house? They’re big fans of staying low. They crawl in through gaps and cracks along the base of a house. Basement windows, your exterior doors, and let’s face it, if you have a garage, they are making their way in there.
Again, caulking is the old way to fill in the gaps and cracks around your home’s foundation and exterior doors. Instead, grab your favorite color from our InstaTrim line of peel and stick caulk to fill in the gaps and cracks, so you can sit and watch football instead of spending your Sundays filling the same old gaps and cracks around all your doors, and basement windows.
Spiders go low, but bees love to go high. They have wings and know how to use them, right? Unfortunately that means hauling out your ladder, relying on your kids to make sure it stays steady as you fill in cracks and gaps along higher points of your house.
Recipe for disaster, right? That’s the epitome of a one and done kind of job, so caulking each year isn’t ideal to keep bees, wasps, and all the stingy-est flying critters, from setting up their colonies in and around your house.
When they enter your house, they build a lovely home of their own, and take over the interior of your walls. Which means they’ll find their way into your house rather easily. When they create their little hives anywhere in, or around your house, they’ll attack you as you sit outside trying to enjoy the crisp autumn air.
Bees love to protect their home, and will make sure you know this if you get too close to their hive every time you try to spend time outside. So, be like the bees and protect your home! InstaTrim the heck out of those gaps and cracks so they move to the next house on your street and stay out of yours.
Don’t get it wrong, we love nature. We just don’t love when unwanted nature wants to hang out with us in our house. There’s a place for nature, and that’s outside the comfort zone of our humble abodes!
We’re all about living peacefully with our insect friends. Our adhesive trim is non-toxic and has no toxic fumes as it creates its famous seal, so everyone stays healthy, while living in the appropriate environment: humans in houses, bugs outdoors.
]]>People living in Germany, France, The Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, will be able to purchase our flexible trim products through Amazon.eu in just a couple of weeks! Who said Spring is the season for new beginnings? Pfft. We’re all about “falling into” new opportunities to share the InstaTrim® love.
We’re sure any new homeowner would love a stocking full of our flexible trim solution to help keep their homes protected from creepy crawlers and gusty drafts from windows and doors. A fun surprise shouldn’t mean a spider buttered into your holiday breakfast toast!
Anyone sprucing up their kitchens and bathrooms will want to finish them off with an easily applied trim so they can impress all their holiday guests. No one wants to be stressed about finishing home projects in time for being a hostess for family, and friends, over the holidays.
Now all of Europe will be able to experience the ease of use of our flexible, self-adhesive trim strips. Homes and businesses in Europe will have their unsightly gaps covered. Dust, dirt and moisture won’t be any match for InstaTrim®, and drafts from doors and windows will be a thing of the past, along with unwanted bugs moving in.
Rejoice sloppy painters, we’ve got your backs! Use our patented flexible trim to cover sloppy paint on ceilings and wall corners. InstaTrim®’s wedge shape fits into so many places, it makes it extremely versatile in every room of your home, or business.
We’re excited for all of Europe to experience our products, and fall in love with them like our North American customers have. Before shopping and ordering, learn more about how to install InstaTrim® in order to hit the ground running when your product arrives at your doorstep. It’s going to be an exciting time as we generate lots of international customers!
Whether you can apply pressure with your own fingers, or not, you’ll want to consider purchasing our InstaTrim Applicator Tool. It will ensure a strong bond between InstaTrim and the surface where you install it.
The KEY to success with your flexible trim strips is not just proper amounts of pressure, but also applying even pressure along the entire strip. Using our applicator tool will help make your InstaTrim last for years.
]]>Brutally cold temperatures bring snow, ice, sleet, and wind. If your home has gaps and cracks, those cold temperatures and gusty winds will find their ways into your home. None of us want high heating bills, nor do we want to have to walk around our own homes wearing 20 sweatshirts, a hat, gloves and a scarf in order to keep warm.
As the temperatures cool down, leaves have fallen off the trees, and the weather is slowly changes from light breezy winds to gusty cold winds that could freeze you where you stand, all homeowners know we have to:
One of the most important, yet often forgotten, home prep steps for winterizing your home is to fill in gaps around windows and doors.
Homeowners usually remember to swap out their screens for storm windows, right? We’re also on auto-pilot when it comes to checking the weather stripping to make sure that’s still good. What we often forget is to check for drafts coming through doors and windows.
We definitely feel the drafts once the cold weather hits, but who wants to deal with caulking? We completely understand, and we’re big fans of using InstaTrim® to keep those drafts out of the house.
Remove the caulk that isn’t working anymore, inside and outside. If the caulk is silicone-based, you must make sure all the residue is completely cleaned off. Then peel, stick and press InstaTrim® into the gaps around your windows and doors. We even have a tool to help apply the perfect amount of pressure when installing the flexible caulk trim.
Since it comes in a variety of colors, and can also be painted, you can choose the perfect color to match your outdoor décor. It’s the perfect way to achieve a clean finishing touch for all your windows and doors.
Drafts are great when sports season is here and professional athletes are being picked for sports teams. Drafts aren’t okay in your house! InstaTrim® The Flexible Trim Solution can make it a lot easier for homeowners to prepare for winter. Check out the wide selection of colors we offer, and remember, our trim is easy to paint, too!
]]>