Just when I was about to resign myself and accept the difficulty that is inherent with this process, I was introduced to NMC's wood-alternative molding line at the Surfaces trade show in Las Vegas. Not only have they been producing wood-alternative products for more than 50 years, the products are reasonably priced, and fast and easy to install with no nails required. Some of the products are also pre-primed, another manpower saver. Additional benefits of these moldings include mold, mildew, termite and insect resistance. These are maintenance free as they will not split, crack, rot or warp, and they have saved me costly service calls to recaulk seams.
I tried these products on a project shortly after the show. The results were impressive. Installation time was cut in half by using Arstyl and Nomastyl, as compared to other products on the market, which often require pieces to be cut the full length of the room and take days to install. When installing these moldings, the size of the piece doesn't matter. To hang the moldings, we used the Adefix adhesive. When I used this adhesive, the excess glue was easily cleaned off with a wet rag or sponge. It holds the molding immediately without requiring tacking nails and cures in approximately 15 to 30 minutes, which gave us plenty of time to line up everything properly. The adhesive is multi-purpose, as it can be used for bonding, caulking, as well as for filling the seams. What's more, it is solvent and toxic free. I had only one person doing the entire installation, which saved me valuable labor time.