Exterior Beads ‘Work Perfectly’ for Florida Publix Project

The project: coastal Publix, coastal problems

In an in-demand area of Apollo Beach, Fla., just south of Tampa, a massive supermarket (Publix #2141 from Bandes Construction) is being built as the centerpiece of an entire new shopping center — which itself will anchor an entire developing community, surrounded by more than 3,500 existing homes and an additional 1,800 homes planned.

Located just a few miles from the Gulf Coast, stucco exterior builders always come up against the same problems: heat, humidity and corrosion due to salty conditions. To finish stucco structures with metal trims and accessories is a losing game. This quality, in addition to other advantages, has led exterior finishers — like C Barrera Quality Services, the stucco contractor behind this project — to embrace another material: PVC.

“It doesn't rust — that happens a lot with some of the metals,” says Carlos Barrera, Vice President of CB Quality Services. “When we've done some restorations, we have to take some of the zinc out, but PVC, it's not going to rust at all. I prefer PVC, you know, vinyl. I think it's easier to use, it's better and it doesn't rust — it's just faster process for everybody.”

The products: Trim-Tex Exterior Solutions ‘help everything run smoother’

For a project of this scale, CB Quality (and their partner, RB Plastering & Stucco) didn’t just require one or two finishing solutions, they needed truckloads of them. In total, they selected five Trim-Tex beads for this job: the classic Corner Bead, the extra-large 4” Corner Bead, the Standard Flange Casing Bead, our Continuous Soffit Vent with vent clip accessories and our ULTRA-TRAC™ Aesthetic Stucco Channel Reveal, in addition to sampling our upcoming exterior masking tape (rolling out this summer — stay tuned!).

Corner Bead: ‘It looks perfect’

Trim-Tex Corner Beads were used all over this Publix project, from the edges of each and every side of the building to the knee-walls lining the loading docks. With a wide range of angles and applications, the flexibility of the PVC materials allowed the crew here to form straight lines wherever they needed to, making the stucco finishing process faster and easier. For the corners of their centerpiece walls and façades lining the front of their building, they used the extra-large version of the Corner Bead with 4" legs; for other applications, like knee-walls and sections on the back of the building, they used the standard Corner Bead with 2 ½" legs.

“With the Corner Beads, you create this perfect straight look,” Barrera tells us. “Once you have the Corner Beads, you don't have to strip the stucco, which is a little harder and not many plasterers can do it; that's a skill that you need. This allows the process to go faster. Especially in big commercial jobs like this, it just helps everything run smoother. We don't have to worry too much about the corners being straight edges and everything — with these Corner Beads, it just all looks straight, it looks perfect.”

Learn more about Trim-Tex Corner Beads here.

Casing Bead: ‘A clean separation’

The Standard Flange Casing Bead allows an even, seamless transition between two different substrates, like stucco against a window or door encasement. For this project, crews here used Casing Beads all over the place, attaching them to their Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU) walls before running stucco, making it easy to create clean lines wherever they were placed. 

“[Casing Beads] can help us,” says Crew Leader Freddy Aguilar (translated from Spanish). “We sometimes use them around windows or where it transitions to stone, for example — it creates the finish between the stucco and the stone. That’s where we always use a [Casing Bead] … It comes out perfect because it creates a clean separation between the stone and the stucco.”

Learn more about Trim-Tex Standard Flange Casing Beads here.

Continuous Soffit Vent: ‘More cost-effective’

Along the roofs of the structure are large soffits, each of which required ventilation. For this, the team chose our PVC Continuous Soffit Vent, as you can run it seamlessly around the entire length of the entire soffit. To complete this continuous look, the crew used vent clip accessories to connect each 10' vent.

“We've been using the vents because it needs to breathe,” says Antonio Barrera, Vice President of RB Plastering & Stucco. “If not, it's going to be hot all around. We use the vents so the heat can come out, and then we got air coming in, all that good stuff, so it's not as hot. It's also less expensive than doing icing because when you ice, the sealing is way more expensive for the GC — this has been more cost-effective for the GC, the builder, all that stuff.”

Learn more about Trim-Tex Continuous Soffit Vents here.

ULTRA-TRAC™ Aesthetic Stucco Channel Reveal: 'Pleasing to the eye'

These reveal beads, as the name implies, are mostly aesthetic — cutting eye-catching designs into the stucco that add a lot more intrigue than just a big, bare wall — but also do allow for some small amount of movement as well. (For more controlled movement, you’ll need to reach for a Control Joint bead.) By using crisscrossing ¾" x ⅝" ULTRA-TRAC™ Aesthetic Stucco Channel Reveals throughout this project, the crew here was able to easily create engaging façades that also protect against some forms of cracking. (Note: since sections of these reveal beads are exposed to direct sunlight, use this bead only with the proper kinds and colors of paint. View full painting guidelines here.)

“The reveal creates this area where, in case of the heat or the temperature, the stucco has to move,” says Carlos Barrera. “Most of the architects use it to divide the space. If you have a big wall, you can't just run stucco all the way around — you have to break it up symmetrically. You can see behind me there's certain areas where there's a 4' spacing, which creates that column look. Everything else is broken up symmetrical, so it's pleasing to the eye.”

Learn more about ULTRA-TRAC™ Aesthetic Stucco Channel Reveal here.

The payoff: ‘It all works perfectly’

By using these exterior-grade PVC solutions, the crews here were able to tap into Trim-Tex’s 50-plus years of expertise in manufacturing the highest-quality, highest-durability finishing beads and accessories. 

The flexibility of the beads make them more versatile; their advanced engineering make them easier to use for crewmembers of all skill levels; and their PVC materials make them last longer, no matter the weather or conditions.

“The difference that I've seen is, it's always easier to put them on and everything — they got more flex to it, and it's easier to use and get that level out,” Antonio Barrera tells us. “The main [advantage] is that it's more flexible, and then also the rust: we're in Florida — there's the beach all around us. The salt makes the beads rust and everything when they're metal. With PVC, they don't rust. That's a huge advantage.”

“It all works perfectly,” Carlos Barrera adds. “We've been able to just continue with it with such ease. The corners help out a lot. The Casing Beads, we're able to meet that good transition from stone to plaster. It's been great — I like it a lot. It's a lot easier to use.”

Thank you to the teams at C Barrera Quality Services and RB Plastering & Stucco for showing us around their impressive project. These five beads that crews here used are just the tip of the iceberg for what Trim-Tex Exterior Solutions has to offer. Take a peek at our full catalog to check out the full array of beads and accessories for stucco, EIFS, fiber cement board and more — hit the button below to get your free copy now.