Stripping interior moldings

I second Brooklynista’s comment that it depends. We’ve done both and been happy with the results. I have a couple old doors now that I’m considering stripping, but with all the gouges, moved hinges, moved door knobs, etc. I’m thinking I may be happier with new hardwood doors. The old doors can be utilized elsewhere.

I feel the need to defend pine a bit. Pine from 100+ years ago is not the same pine today. Our moldings were originally stained/finished, and I thought they were mahogany. I took some of them to my uncle (who does furniture restoration) to be stripped, and he confirmed that it was pine – however he referred to it as “heart pine”. It can be fine grained and very different than today’s pine.

From a woodworking website – “Southern forests contained a limited amount of heart pine and by the turn of the century overcutting nearly exhausted the supply of this valuable wood. Today the pine forests of the South have been cut several times over and this newly harvested wood exhibits very few of the qualities that made heart pine the wood of choice up until the early 20th century.” Of course, not all old pine is heart pine, but it’s something to think about before repainting/removing moldings.

sorry, it’s http://www.RefinishNY.com
718 783 4112

You should definitely find out what kind of wood you have. With all that paint, it’s likely pine, which was always meant to be painted.

For our pine woodwork we stripped and repaired the door casings in place, which were substantial and really nice hardwood (compared to today’s pine)and replaced the baseboards–they were nothing special and totally beat up. We replaced the baseboards, refinished the floors, and installed pre-painted shoe molding last.

We replaced the baseboards with wood that was a little bit taller, which hid the patching required after removing the old boards.

I know the usual advice on the forum is to keep the original moldings no matter what. Well, I’m going break from the pack to suggest to you that it all depends. On what? On what kind of wood you are stripping, for one. Is it premium grade wood like mahogany or cherry or a turn of the century builder’s grade wood like pine? What is the overall condition of the wood? Is it heavily pitted and gouged or even have whole chunks missing? If your answer is “yes” to one or both of those questions (which could be likely in certain rooms of the house that may have been relegated to service quarters, for example), then the cost of stripping AND restoring the wood could significantly outweigh whatever bang you hope to get with your bucks. On top of that, the final appearance you are hoping for,even with restoration, may still be less than optimum.

We’ve done both stripping and replacements in our house and there’s no question our preference is to keep the original detail intact as much as possible. In a recent gut reno of our kitchen, however, we chose to go with trim replacements. The original moldings had 100 years worth of paint on them and the nicks and gouges in the wood were way too many to count. Especially since this is a period white kitchen, and we were intending to paint the trim white anyway, we went with reproduction work that is a near-faithful copy of the moldings in the other parts of the house. The topnotch carpentry crew that did the work produced a look which is historically appropriate, super crisp and clean. In some places, such as with the base and shoe moldings for example, the new trim work appears even more elegant than that of the original.

All that said, if you’re intent to with stripping and premium refinishing (if necessary), then go with Joe Salem. He does really excellent work.

I second Joe Salem….