restaining baseboards and door trim

1958 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by joecaption, Mar 15, 2016

Bill Gates

Discussion Starter · Mar 14, 2016

Hello, I'm new here. Long story short, I'm bored with Microsoft & my foundations, and decided to live in a old house and pretend like I don't have much money. :wink2::biggrin2:

I have been wanting to re do ALL of the doors & trim & baseboards in my house. The house was built in 1924, so It has tall base boards (1x8), I also have lath & plaster walls. It's a bit of a pain in the arse to pop it off...since it hasn't moved in 92 years, lol. Would it be smarter to take it all off, bring it in my garage so strip it, sand it, fill any holes, & stain it.
Or should I do that stuff while it's still installed on the house. I don't really care about my carpet, I want to replace that this year anyways.
I'm just wondering if I'm biting off more then I want to chew...
I'm also thinking of putting some kind of a top cap on the baseboards...which I figure will add a nice touch to it, and also cover up any pry marks that will likely happen. I worry about the wood splitting, since it's so old, I love tall baseboards since it adds charm to the old house. A few part might have to be replaced, from a century of wear.
But anywho, I'm rambling.
I would really like some advice going forward.

http://i63.tinypic.com/ekpx82.jpg
http://i64.tinypic.com/33bg46q.jpg
http://i63.tinypic.com/15z16yp.jpg
http://i68.tinypic.com/2rrow9d.jpg

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joecaption

· #2 · Mar 15, 2016

So what finish do you want when it's done?
Paint, stained and sealed?
Nothing but flat pine trim that could be sanded in place with a random orbital sander with a vacuum hook up.
Google "base cap molding"
Google "back band molding"

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Bill Gates

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 15, 2016

thanks for the reply Joe.
I want the finish product to be stained & sealed.
My trim is pretty flat and boring (as you can see in my pics). Which is why I'm leaning towards a base cap.
But, it appears they put the trim on, and then sprayed the texture. Back then they must have loved taping off I guess...?
I have pretty thick texture as well. So my fear would be, if I put a base cap on it, would it "sit" right...since the 1x8 below it is on a textureless wall.
(The pic below is my textureless wall)
One more question, would a new base cap, match stain-wise, with a 92 year old stained baseboard....

thanks.

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joecaption

· #4 · Mar 15, 2016

In order for it all to match and not spend days custom mixing the stain, sanding out all the flaws consider just replacing all the trim.
I would rip the baseboard to the width needed to have that base cap come out even with the texture.
Near impossible to find studs behind a plaster wall so take the time to mark the floor with painters tape where the old nails went into the base.

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