For nearly a century we have chosen our partners wisely. Today, more than ever, we know that choosing partners with shared values of quality, innovation, and sustainability is crucial. With confidence we put our name and our legacy behind every single door we craft, but we cannot do this alone. While our team of dedicated employees constructs the doors, our material suppliers play a necessary role in our consistency and reliability.

One partner who has demonstrated time and again their commitment to the product they make and the industry we serve is VERSATEX Building Products. Since 2004, they have become a leading supplier of diverse PVC products to the building industry. We began using their material in sheet form as our preferred primary material in 2015 because of their incomparable commitment to quality, innovation, and sustainability.

VERSATEX is a free-foamed cellular PVC material that replicates the beauty of wood yet provides long lasting protection against rot, cracking, and decay— all without requiring any paints or sealants to protect it from the environment. Unlike wood, VERSATEX is impervious to moisture, insect-resistant and will not rot, rust, or corrode. VERSATEX requires less maintenance than wood, wood composites, or fiber cement trims. It is an ideal solution for moisture sensitive areas, including those along coastal zones or regions affected by salt and high humidity.

These attributes of beauty and durability have given us the confidence and the capability to manufacture made-to-order, gorgeous, high quality doors with a product and a warranty that stand strong regardless of proximity to the ocean, rivers, harsh geological environments, and life's everyday messes. 

What do they make?

In its origin, VERSATEX made trimboard to add decorative elements to exterior applications where wood was once used. This offered the customer a lifestyle with less maintenance. This original product then expanded to offer the PVC in sheet form. In this form, we are able to apply the sheet to our fully insulated wood core to surround and protect the frame. Thanks to the nature of the material, we can machine and manipulate it to create nearly endless design options while offering the same, low-maintenance lifestyle on the garage door.

One rather new and stunning product of theirs is the Canvas Series. The tongue and groove PVC trim will complement your next project from porch ceilings to soffits and feature walls, the options are vast! Similar to the rest of the product line, this option removes the repeated demand of restaining hardwood. 

But they don't stop there! They also offer a variety of products, each developed with the end user in mind, that enhance the elegance of various project such as:

• Corners
• Column Wraps
• Soffit, Fascia, & Frieze
• Mouldings
• Beadboard & Shiplap
• And so much more!

Who are they?

First and foremost, the organization is built upon a strong value proposition for quality and innovation which is in line with ours. They also share our commitment to sustainability which they detail on their website. In addition, the team at VERSATEX is simply made of good people that quite frankly, we enjoy being around. In this way, like begets like, and they connect quality with quality. This network creates opportunities for relationships with other builders, OEMs, contractors, and so many others to build outside of this partnership.

VERSATEX is known for its commitment to the building industry to educate and inform. They continue to build models into their system to empower their customers to make the most of their product for the best possible results. Brand Ambassadors are trained and empowered to educate and inform. The Roadshow with Bobby Parks travels the country doing onsite presentations and offering educational opportunities on best practices and tactics for VERSATEX and beyond! (Side note: Bobby Parks is the MAN. He is pictured with me below after a hot August day doing demos in a parking lot with smiles on our faces!)

They have built an insanely strong presence in social media by connecting quality professionals with resources, support networks, and opportunities. Through podcasts, blogs, videos, and so much more, they have created a community of talent and experience from which we can all learn and grow. They even interviewed us twice: once in traditional podcast form and once on video. To join the community, click here to read a note from the team and sign up!

In short, they are the kind of people - the kind of organization - you want to be around, you want to work with, and you want to learn and grow from.

Pairing Fimbel ADS with VERSATEX, "you're only limited by your imagination".

To learn more about them, find them online and on social!

#TheVersatexWay

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

2020 has certainly taught us the value of our space - for better or for worse. As quarantine set in and the walls became a little closer and the delivery boxes piled higher, the valuable real estate in the garage became precious. For many the garage tends to act as a collection and storage unit which is great, but the garage is indeed intended for parking vehicles. Don't endure another winter parking the car outside the comfort of the garage.

Below are some simple tips to support your project of reclaiming the garage in a way that will last with limited maintenance year after year. Just like our doors, we want you to enjoy life in a low-maintenance, quality way.

Every animal who goes into a foster home brings down the number of shelter pets euthanized each year. Fostering an animal can be one of the most rewarding experiences as each fostered animal is a life saved! At Fimbel ADS we know a lot about this journey. Our participation with fostering has brought 23 pups to their fur-ever home. This passion project, charged by our President, Erin Fimbel, and her family brings our mission of sustainability and compassion for Mother Earth and her creatures to the forefront of our business.

One of the success stories Erin and our company share is mine! Our Sunshine, lovingly known as Sunny (pictured above), joined our family after a two week foster. During this time she was able to meet us and the kids, and we quickly found her personality jived with that of our family. She came to us with a healthy level of trust and basic house manners thus easing the burden of initial training and creating a smooth transition. Her time with a dedicated foster family made that success a possibility.

What's this got to do with Fimbel?

"My foster pups often come to work with me", said Erin. "The team loves our four-legged additions to the family. They interact, walk, play, and love our fosters as well as help promote and find them homes."

Our commitment to sustainability is not only prevalent in our products and practices but in our involvement with the earth and her creatures. Our garage doors are made to last and low-maintenance which means there is less to the landfill and less chemicals used over the course of time. Our practices for operations are focused on optimization and reduction of waste, so we recycle what we can and continue to innovate.

If we stopped there and accepted this as good enough, we wouldn't be Fimbel. For 95 years our family has manufactured garage doors, and today we want to give back in more ways than providing to the building industry. Through our partnership with One Tree Planted we plant one tree for every single door we sell in hopes of giving Mother Nature back what she so generously provides to you and I. Our participation in Erin's foster pup mission is just the same. We need to love the earth and her creatures, and this is the most joyful and effective way for our company culture.

One family value that drives who we are is a shared respect for and devotion to the earth and its beings – human and animal. This core value is seen today in our commitment to reducing our footprint as we honor the past and move to the future. To sustain this balance, our focus is all about quality and safety. These two measures are applied to not only the products we manufacture, but the processes and people involved. Our priorities are clear: supporting the environment, our global and local community, our team members, and our partners. Each of these priorities drives us to succeed only to the betterment of all.

Going green is more than a slogan:

Through our partnership with One Tree Planted (501c3) we do our part to restore our generous forests and our planet. It is undeniable that mother nature's bounty has provided for the garage door industry and our family since we both began manufacturing overhead doors in the early 1920's. Today, every single door sold by Fimbel Architectural Doors plants a tree through the hard work and commitment of our tree-loving partners. Together, we hope to make the world more beautiful and sustainable one door and one tree at a time.

At the end of the day, we love going green! From our strategy for logistics to the fact that we run on SOLAR and pass along our unused power back to the grid. We conserve on single use plastics, convert practices to paperless, purchase compostable products when single use is necessary, and so much more.

We know we cannot change the world with only a door, but we can challenge how we operate to make the world a healthier place. We do this with a focus to improve efficiency to reduce supply chain demand, retain and empower our Team, and build stronger communities. Our quality allows us to get it right the first time because our goal is to pave the way for the next generation.

We can always do more:

Because we know that planting trees to rehabilitate our forests is only one way to help the earth heal, we also back our donations with our efforts. We built an energy smart manufacturing process to endure and to save. For example, because of our processes and commitment to sustainability, our product results in honest and verified R-Values ranging from 8.12-13.12. This allows a reduction in wasted energy especially when combined with an energy efficient garage. Our quality insulation serves to reduce negative energy consumption, and our windload package allows our doors to withstand extreme winds and provide a safer community by enhancing the stability of the garage.

Our products are all low-maintenance resulting in a rather stress free ongoing relationship. They are easy to clean with gentle soap and water or perhaps Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are needed for stubborn spots. All Fimbel doors are made to be naturally unfinished and virtually maintenance free which reduces processes and requirements for harsh chemicals and finishes. When you do choose to finish our products, our water based and eco-friendly paints bring beauty and peace of mind!

All of these decisions are made to support our internal efficiency drive which will reduce our contribution to the landfills and our precious waterways. Our goal is to conserve resources in how we function, how the supply chain is managed, and how the door will continue our efforts when it becomes yours.

In our day to day operations, we make both big and small decisions to continue the efforts of our partnership with One Tree planted. Most notably, we run on solar, and we pass along our extra collected energy. We initiated this many years ago when it became clear we had to do more than manage our robust recycling program, reduce our logistics, and purchase sustainable supplies and goods. With our solar program, we are reminded daily to make good decisions.

About One Tree Planted:

One Tree Planted is a nonprofit on a mission to make it simple for anyone to help the environment by planting trees. Their projects span the globe and are done in partnership with local communities and knowledgeable experts to create an impact for nature, people, and wildlife. Reforestation helps to rebuild forests after fires and floods, provide jobs for social impact, and restore biodiversity. Many projects have overlapping objectives, creating a combination of benefits that contribute to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

"The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time is now." – Darrell Putman.

We cannot look at this and say we are late to the game: We must look at this and say what else can we do? We partnered with One Tree Planted to do our part to restore our generous forests and our planet. Together, we hope to make the world more beautiful and long lasting one door and one tree at a time. To learn more, visit onetreeplanted.org.