The trim wrapped around your exterior doors and windows fails more often than the doors themselves, and rotting wood casing is the usual culprit. That is exactly why vinyl brick mold has taken over so many remodels and new builds. Made from cellular PVC instead of pine, it never rots, never feeds termites, and never soaks up the water that destroys wood trim from the bottom up. I have torn out countless doorframes ruined by swollen, peeling wood brickmould, and switching to PVC has all but ended those callbacks.
This guide explains what brick mold does, how vinyl compares to wood, the sizes you will find, how to install it, whether to paint it, and what it costs per foot.
What Brick Mold Does
Brick mold, sometimes spelled brickmould, is the profiled trim that frames the outside of an exterior door or window. Despite the name, it is used with any siding, not just brick. It bridges the gap between the door or window frame and the wall cladding, sheds water away from the opening, and gives the installation a finished look.
Because it sits fully exposed to rain, snow, and sun at ground level where splashback hits hardest, brick mold takes more abuse than almost any other trim on the house. Traditional wood in that spot is fighting a losing battle against moisture, which is where the vinyl version changes the math.
Vinyl vs Wood Brickmould
The two materials look nearly identical once painted, but they behave nothing alike over time.
Rot and Moisture
Wood brickmould absorbs water through its end grain and any nail hole, then swells, splits, and rots. PVC brick mold is impervious to water. You can leave it half submerged and it will not degrade. In climates with hard winters or heavy rain, this alone justifies the switch.
Insects
Termites and carpenter ants tunnel through wood trim. They have no interest in cellular PVC, which offers them nothing to eat.
Maintenance
Wood needs repainting every few years to stay sealed. Vinyl holds paint far longer because it does not swell and crack the coating, and it looks fine even unpainted in its factory white.
Cost and Workability
Wood is cheaper per foot up front and slightly easier to nail without splitting. PVC costs more but pays it back in decades of no rot. It cuts and routs like wood with standard tools, though it expands and contracts more with temperature, which affects how you fasten it.
Standard Sizes and Profiles
Vinyl brick mold comes in the same standard profiles as its wood counterpart so it drops into existing openings. Typical dimensions:
- Width: The most common face width is 2 inches, sometimes listed as 2-inch or WM180 profile. Wider 2-1/2 inch versions exist for a bolder look.
- Thickness: Around 1-1/4 inches at the thick edge, tapering to a thinner outer lip that meets the siding.
- Length: Sold in stock lengths of 7 feet for door legs and longer runs up to 16 or 17 feet for cutting to size.
You can also buy it in prehung door kits already applied, or as loose stock to trim windows and replace failed wood. Match the profile to what is already on the house so the new trim blends with the rest.
How to Install Vinyl Brick Mold
Installation mirrors wood trim with a few PVC-specific adjustments.
- Measure and cut each piece with a miter saw. Cut the head piece and side legs with 45-degree miters at the corners for a clean joint, or square cuts for a butt joint.
- Dry-fit the pieces around the opening to check the fit before fastening.
- Fasten with stainless steel or hot-dipped galvanized trim nails or screws. Standard steel nails rust and bleed stains through the paint. Nail every 12 to 16 inches.
- Account for thermal movement. PVC expands and contracts with temperature, so do not over-fasten or pin it too tightly on long runs. Leave a slight gap and let the material breathe.
- Bond mitered corners with PVC cement or a compatible adhesive for a seam that will not open.
- Seal the perimeter against the siding and door frame with a high-quality exterior polyurethane or hybrid sealant, not cheap latex caulk.
Prime any freshly cut end that will show if you plan to paint, and keep nail placement out of the thin outer lip where the material can crack.
Should You Paint It?
Vinyl brick mold ships in a smooth white finish that looks clean unpainted, and many homeowners leave it that way. But you can paint it any color, and doing so is common when matching existing trim.
Two rules matter when painting PVC. First, use 100 percent acrylic exterior paint, which flexes with the material instead of cracking. Second, avoid very dark colors on sun-facing walls. Dark paint absorbs heat, and PVC can warp if it gets too hot, so manufacturers often warn against colors with a low light-reflectance value in full sun. Clean the surface with a mild detergent, let it dry, and paint directly. PVC usually needs no primer, though a bonding primer helps dark or drastic color changes hold.
Cutting and Working With PVC
Cellular PVC machines almost exactly like softwood, which is part of why crews adopted it so readily. A standard carbide-tipped miter saw blade cuts it cleanly, a router shapes it, and a table saw rips it to width without special tooling. It leaves a fine, snow-like dust rather than shavings, so a dust mask and good ventilation are worth having.
A few habits make the work go smoother. Cut PVC a hair long and shave to the line, since it does not compress like wood at a tight joint. Feed it steadily to avoid melting the edge from friction, especially in hot weather. And when you glue mitered corners, clamp lightly until the PVC cement sets, which usually takes only a couple of minutes. The result is a seam that becomes effectively one piece of material.
Common Installation Mistakes
Even a rot-proof material fails early when installed wrong. The errors I see most:
- Using standard steel nails. They rust and bleed brown stains through the paint within a year. Always use stainless or hot-dipped galvanized fasteners.
- Ignoring thermal movement. Pinning long runs too tightly causes the trim to bow when it heats up. Leave room for expansion.
- Skipping the caulk seal. Water that gets behind the trim reaches the wall sheathing. A continuous bead of quality sealant is not optional on exterior trim.
- Painting it dark on a sunny wall. Heat buildup can warp the PVC, so respect the manufacturer’s color guidance.
What Vinyl Brick Mold Costs
Expect to pay more than wood but less than the cost of eventually replacing rotted wood trim. As a rough guide, vinyl brick mold runs about $2 to $5 per linear foot for standard 2-inch profiles, compared to roughly $1 to $2.50 for finger-jointed pine. A prehung exterior door already fitted with PVC brick mold adds perhaps $30 to $80 over the wood-trimmed version.
For a single entry door, the trim material totals maybe $30 to $60. Across a whole house of windows and doors the premium adds up, but so does never scraping, priming, and replacing rotted casing again.
The Bottom Line
Vinyl brick mold solves the oldest problem in exterior trim: wood rot at the wettest spot on the house. It costs a bit more up front, but it shrugs off water, resists insects, holds paint longer, and installs with the same tools as wood. Use corrosion-proof fasteners, allow for thermal movement, seal it well, and stick to acrylic paint in lighter colors. Do that, and the trim around your doors and windows will still look sharp long after wood brickmould would have crumbled.
Prefer to explore on your own?
See how new flooring looks in your actual room in seconds — free, no signup.
Try the free Floor Studio →
