Exterior Trim Installation in Naperville, IL

What Is Exterior Trim and Why Does It Matter?

Exterior trim encompasses all of the decorative and functional boards that define the edges, corners, openings, and architectural features of your home's exterior. While siding covers the field areas of your walls, trim defines the boundaries, frames the features, and provides the finishing detail that makes an exterior feel intentionally designed rather than just clad. On a house with poor trim execution, even excellent siding looks amateurish. On a house with precise trim work, the whole exterior reads as polished and professional from the street.

Corner boards are the vertical boards that cover the junction of two siding planes at the corners of your home. They conceal the end cuts of the siding panels, provide a clean vertical line at the corner, and protect the siding edge from moisture infiltration and impact damage. Traditional corner boards were made of solid wood, which requires regular painting and eventually rots at the base where it contacts the foundation. Today's fiber cement, PVC, and composite trim boards provide the same visual result without the maintenance burden.

Window and door surrounds (also called casing) frame each opening in the wall and cover the gap between the siding and the window or door frame. Properly designed window surrounds include head trim above the window, sill trim below, and side casing on both sides — proportioned to complement the window size and the architectural style of the home. On traditional colonial or Craftsman homes, window surrounds are a major component of the home's architectural character and deserve the same attention as the siding itself.

Frieze boards run horizontally along the top of the wall, just below the soffit. They provide a visual cap to the siding installation and often include a slight projection that sheds water away from the wall below. On homes with pronounced eave details, frieze boards can be made with profiled molding that replicates original architectural details in durable modern materials.

Materials We Install for Exterior Trim

James Hardie HardieTrim boards are our most commonly installed exterior trim product for homes with Hardie siding. They're available in 4", 6", 8", 10", and 12" widths, 3/4" thickness, and 12' lengths — suitable for virtually any trim application. HardieTrim is paintable to any color, non-combustible, and carries a 15-year warranty as part of the James Hardie product system. It's also available in ColorPlus factory-finished versions for homeowners who want consistent factory finish across the entire exterior.

For homes with LP SmartSide siding, LP's companion trim products provide matching texture and warranty coverage. The SmartSide trim product line includes lap trim boards, fascia, and trim boards in profiles designed to complement the lap siding products. All LP trim products come primed and require field painting.

PVC trim boards (from manufacturers like Azek and Versatex) are an excellent option for areas of particularly high moisture exposure — base of walls, around ground-level windows, and anywhere water splashback is expected. PVC is completely impervious to moisture, never rots, and can be installed in direct contact with landscaping materials that would accelerate decay in wood-based products.

Our Installation Process

Is Exterior Trim Service Right for Your Home?

• Your existing wood trim is rotting, splitting, or losing paint continuously
• You're having new siding installed and want a complete exterior package
• Your home's trim details don't match the architectural character of the house
• You're replacing windows and want updated trim profiles to match
• You want to add architectural interest to a plain exterior through trim detail

Exterior Trim FAQ