I’ve been searching for an older house to rennovate and one of the things that I keep running through my mind is how to deal with the painted trim in these 1910-1960 houses. I’m sure they’ve got nothing but lead paint.
Presuming the moulding is in good shape but the paint is cracked/peeling badly, is it generally better to just remove and replace the moulding or put on the respirator and sand/repair/repaint. Reading all the precautions that you need to take with lead paint makes it seem VERY cumbersome, perhaps to the point where it’s not really practical.
Thanks for the thoughts.
Replies
It really depends on the paint, trim, and anything else you need to do in the room. Most old trim is worth saving, however it is sometimes easier to take down (mrk the locations) and strip on saw horses. Taking down window trim gives you easier access to fix weight ropes and to seal and insulate the spaces around old windows.
...that's not a mistake, it's rustic
on a side note...
if "restoring" to it's former glory...
keep in mind....thru some periods of time....paint was a sign of wealth.
Leaving the trim painted may be more historically accurate....if that's what U are shooting for.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
I faced the same situation in my 1940's home.
Interior trim, specifically door/window molding, I got very lucky in that the local millwork yard had the knife to cut the moulding and I replaced as renovation required, keeping it painted as per the original. Sanding, when necessary, done using a respirator and vacuum with HEPA filter.
Exterior trim, primarily rake moulding, paint removed using a hot air gun and moulding scraper. Clean-up sanding using a respirator.
2nd floor, garage, and attached porch clapboard siding/corner boards - replacing with fiber cement.
Eric S.
IMO, this decision has far more to do with the quality and value of the moldings, and what else is being done in the house.
Just because lead paint exists, is no reason to remove it. Sanding prep, and encapsulation with new paint will take care of it.
Dust control is the biggest issue with lead and you really need to do that anyway. going whole hog only adds a few percent to cost.
Excellence is its own reward!
Ken
What Piffin said, also as Jeff Buck said, sometimes the wood was painted from the git-go, if thats the case dont bother trying to strip it and think your going to get pretty wood.
If it was painted from the begining then you wont be able to strip it clean, if you decide to go the route of striping and refinising the wood make sure it is worth it.
Doug
Any idea about having it stripped in a tank?
Would it work, such as auto parts etc. That you can bring to a place and have dipped for you?
I think I watched a TOH where they did it, or maybe another show?
Seems like it could be worthwhile if you had an entire house of trim to do.
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
Before going to that point,I would just mill out new moldings.
Excellence is its own reward!
I'm not talking regular pine or oak colonial casing, something really speacial, what's it cost for a set of knives? ~75 an inch or so? plus the stock to mill out of.
dipping might be cheaper, maybe not I really have no idea, but if you wanted to really save something special, maybe?
or not, I don't know...
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
It costs me about five bucks a foot for five inch wide poplar paint grade to mill and install a nice pattern. More for oak. About same for pine.
To save the old stuff, you have to get it all off without splintering it. Figure to lose 10-30% of it. Then you have the labor to pull all the nails through the backs to avoid chipping out fronts. Then the cost of stripping and sanding, plus transporting it.
Then what you end up with is still nicked and bruised and old. Some of it won't fit so great going back up.
Maybe you save a little by keeping the old, maybe not. If I have mill out thirty feet of replacements instead of a whole house worth, it will cost more like fifteen bucks a foot..
Excellence is its own reward!
Those are some really good thoughts. I guess the bottom line answer is "It depends"... on the quality of the wood, the historic value of the house, the condition of the paint.
My thoughts are that I won't be restoring a house to it's original condition, but rather making it attractive, appealing, and certainly better than "builders grade". I looked at one house in an historic district that was a teardown and rebuild following a fire. It was rather disappointing to see that the builder used common 3" trim in what used to be a 1900's house.
Great thoughts for me to keep in mind as I look at these houses. THANKS!
Do you mill it yourself, or do you out sourse it?
If I remember correctly you had a W&H moulder, or is that Andy?Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
We've each got one. Great little machine. If a person had moderate wood working skills and a whole house to re-do, it would be worth while to buy one and he could sell it used then after the project was done and still be miles ahead. I've done trim for five or six houses on mine, and my chief trim sub liked it enough to buy one of his own, then he bought another one, both used. He's got them rigged differnetly, one with auito power feed in typical portable manner and the other is shop set-up with separate feed and exit power units so he can control the feed rates. I think he has a bigger tabel for it too..
Excellence is its own reward!
Not that I'm in the market but what does one run, in good condition used?
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
$800 or so depending on condition and what cutters are included.
If I were buying one, I would look closely at the feed and exit rollers and for signs if the cutters had been overheated. I would assume the cutters needed sharpening anyway since it is rare that someone will pay to tune up blades just before selling. The feed rollers are of three different kinds of rubber from hard to soft. The softer stuff can easily get chewed up for one reason or another, but one common reason is overworking the machine.
I would also check that the motor was a good one. You can buy just the machine or buy it with motor which is usually a 2-3HP Baldour. I've heard of guys going to look at one and discovering that the motor had beeen swapped out for a cheap 1-1/2HP craftsman of such, betting that the Baldour was on their tablesaw. Makes a good price bargaining point..
Excellence is its own reward!
Not bad at all thanks for the info.Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.
I'm considering knocking together a tank for the next room of trim to strip. My house has wonderful American Chestnut in the living room and dining room, but the rest of the house is clearly paint grade. The painted trim has milk paint, oil, and latex. The latex comes off with a stern stare, but it's the globbed on oil layers that have obscured the trim. That's the reason the stripping is necessary. Except in my Little Darlin's room, the paint had to come off to remove any chance of rubbed doors and windows grinding lead dust into the air. Milk paint is best left on. If there ever was a sign I would be prepainting the painted trim. it was seeing how incredibly tough milk paint is. If it weren't for the four or five flat color options, I bet it would have wider use today. Of course, paint grade oak 100 years ago is much nicer than any finish grade available today....that's not a mistake, it's rustic
Paint grade vs. Stain grade
It seems the "stain" grade windows we've been getting lately really ought to be firewood. I don't know if this is recent or been this way for a while, but I've noticed it a lot more since I've been finishing our windows and doors and trim at work.
We received a "stain" grade window from a company named Gradco, I'd never heard of them before this, but it was to match an old window that was being replaced because of rot.
the top was a half circle arch, They made the arch out of plywood, and it must have cracked when they bent it. It was not a laminated bend, it was pine ply... so.. they injected a bunch of glue to pull the crack together.
well, stain doesn't take to glue too well, had to veneer the arch or wait 3 weeks for another window... to top things off they didn't even veneer the edge of the ply, just left it there for stain.
The pella's we use haven't been much better.
pure crap.
same with trim, going to any of the lumber yards out here to get any amount of casing or base or crown to stain is an exercise in patience, picking through a hundred sticks to find a half a dozen that do not have any large irregularities in them is aggravating.
I know there's better windows out there, but I don't make those calls, as for the trim, I can't seem to find an amount of decent stuff at the local places.Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professionals built the Titanic.