With his Corner Trowel and Silicone Soap, Karl Dorn is awash with new ideas. Professional Builder’s Lee Jones talks to the plasterer about his new inventions.
Lockdown gave many of us the opportunity for thinking time, and for experienced plasterer, Karl Dorn it was the chance to pursue not one but two of his designs for time saving tools. The story of their development is a testament to the problem-solving ingenuity that is a tradesman’s daily lot.
“I’m a plasterer by profession but when you find yourself dabbling in different trades you tend to instinctively transfer the skills and knowledge that you’ve already accrued over many years,” explains the Essex-based spreader. “My father taught me how to run cornices in situ, for instance – by throwing the plaster up and running a prefabricated mould along it to cut the pattern out. My device for silicone beading is effectively a variation on the same theme.”
The Silicone Soap will deliver a perfect and consistent bead every time – even in corners. “It’s fast, flawless in the finish and designed to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand,” continues Karl. “In fact, I’m already talking to sealant manufacturers and they’re looking at supplying it with tubes of their products.”
The name is honour of the obvious resemblance to a humble bar of soap, and Karl is convinced it can provide a clean result in any scenario: “It’s simply a matter of applying the sealant from a gun, and then running the Silicone Soap along it. It can easily work behind taps and will provide the same quality result even when going areas where grout lines for tiles are evidence, where you will invariably find dents in the bead. The nozzle of the sealant gun can also be inserted into the Silicone Soap’s holes in order to gun the sealant and then run it with the same action. I’ve seen some very expensive bathrooms that have been really let done by the silicone but with my product it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Karl is in possession of his own 3D printer on which he fashioned some early prototypes, and has subsequently perfected the design and tested its effectiveness on his own jobs, but the concept has largely stayed true to the original. As a result, he’s been able to move quickly from drawing board to professionally manufactured and packaged product, and the Silicone Soap is now available to buy – but his interest in new innovations doesn’t stop there.
In keeping with the simplicity of his solutions the Corner Trowel is a skimming tool for use on 90° corners. “During the pandemic I knocked one up for my own use and, having shown it to a few people on site, ended up hand-making and selling around 150 of them,” recalls Karl. “That’s what convinced me there was a market for the tool and I’ve since engaged a manufacturer to produce them in greater quantities.”
Karl can already point to a long history in product development. He has a Bladefixer plasterboard fixing that is now available in a leading retail stockist to his name, for example, as well as a device for turning household appliances off stand-by to save energy.
“For a tradesman finding a solution to a problem is part of the job, and I do have the kind of mind that is always thinking of better ways to do things,” confesses the 54 year old. “That’s where the inspiration for the Silicone Soap and Corner Trowel come from – and I’m sure there will be more to come!”
For further information on the Deadsquare Silicone Soap and Corner Trowel visit www.rdr.link
