Strait-Flex International is all about getting the job done right. And it’s not just the company’s line of 30-plus drywall trims, tools, and tapes that fulfills this mandate. The business itself, which has gone from one man’s idea to an international manufacturing company, has waded through financial ups and downs, numerous product developments, and various buy-out offers only to end up right where it belongs – strong, solid, and in the hands of the person who started it all in O’Fallon, Missouri.

After building custom homes for 20 years, Strait-Flex founder John Conboy was no stranger to the problems drywallers encountered on a daily basis and that sometimes prevented them from completing quality work. Edge cracking, framing irregularities, and compromised stability were just a few  problems he saw on a regular basis.

“My dad was one of the best concrete guys in St. Louis and he taught me to do things in a very particular way,” says Conboy. “Later, when I started with a remodelling company I saw how hard it was to get certain  things like coffered ceilings straight. So it all started with a need to get it perfect.”

Interior off-angles, inside corners, bay windows, and vaulted ceilings are just a few applications the Strait-Flex line renders simple and efficient. The company’s first product, Strait-Flex Original, is a strong, durable tape with a recess for perfect angles, including inside and outside 90 degree angles and interior off-angles. The real innovation behind Strait-Flex Original and the company’s subsequent products is its use of a patented, PVC tight-fibered cellulose composite material that is as flexible, but more durable than paper. The composite material is Conboy’s brainchild, as is the 180-foot-long machine used to manufacture it.

“I just started at the bottom and did it,” he says. “I flew around the country buying parts to make the machine and I had an engineer to do the software programming. It’s a touch screen manufacturing line, so it’s very in-depth.”

Having mastered his first handmade, sellable product – foot pegs for motorcycles – in his dad’s metal shop when he was 14 years old, Conboy continued to rely on mechanical aptitude and a strong desire to solve problems to get him through the challenging transition from home builder to manufacturer.

“I was in an industry I knew nothing about. I had to learn to find the best people in manufacturing and distributing – it was a big learning curve. What motivated me was, when I see a problem I finish what I start, and once I got started, I knew it would work.”

Strait-Flex has products for every level of skill and craftsmanship and almost every application in drywall. X-Crack is a patented metal die-cut material that eliminates cracks in off-angles and inside 90 degree corners in flat ceiling areas with its rigid, hinged backbone design. It holds drywall joints stationary while allowing structural movement of framing members and is adjustable to any angle.  Micro-Flex is a fibreglass, polyester, and cellulose composite tape that’s impervious to water and wipes down flatter on the wall for a flatter butt joint. It also minimizes the crown in the butt seam, allowing the finisher to produce a better product, easier and faster, while using less compound. X-M Tape is the first ever  mould-proof drywall tape – a fibreglass, polyester, and nylon composite.

On the manufacturing front, Conboy’s most recent venture is the development of a machine that puts a recessed edge into drywall. “It fits into the manufacturing process and automatically removes itself from the process if something goes wrong with it, so it will never stop production,” he says. “Manufacturers could easily get 50 cents more a board using it.”

Conboy says it’s been tested and proven at a drywall plant and he is currently gauging industry interest. He’s also considering the possibility of marketing it internationally, a move that is in some ways inspired by North America’s recent economic downturn.

Global interest in drywall is increasing, says Conboy, because though most countries that build with brick and mortar, concrete, or plaster still want that kind of stability on a building’s exterior, they are looking for more interior flexibility.

“We just went to Israel and are going to manufacture products for that country,” says Conboy. “In Poland drywall is very strong too. There are lots of small contractors and home centres, carpenters, drywall finishers, tile guys, and a lot of handy men. My product is good for that because it makes finishing very easy.”
Overall, persistence has been the key to Conboy’s success. “I worked for a year on the first machine and it was the worst year of my life, but it worked.”

“I really love building and making things. But my biggest pleasure is getting letters from people who can’t write very well, but who took the time to write me a letter on a napkin to tell me how much using my products has improved their work.”

Visit Strait-Flex online at <www.straitflex.com>.