We live in a 7 year old spec home and want to upgrade the trim. The existing trim is the entry level 2 1/4″ tall MDF trim found in most spec homes (in Canada anyway).
I plan to remove the base trim and replace it with a taller and deeper profile, using plinth blocks where the base trim meets the vertical casing of the door trim. At the top of the door, I want to install transoms. This would require cutting the casing at the top and the bottom at the corner of the existing mitre. To do this I plan to use a Fein multimaster to get a quick and accurate cut.
Since the house is occupied and furnished the project is a little challenging. I have basic carpentry and trim skills, a mitre saw and the basic measuring and trim tools and have done a little trimwork before. I would invest in a nail gun /compressor.
Any hints or suggestions out there?
Replies
My only suggestion is hope there's no header above those doors.
If not and you are going to proceed, think about running the casing from block to top mitre-forget about splicing in at old mitre corner.
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Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Do one wall/door only first as a trial before tearing everything apart. Save the old material so you could put it back if you get exasperated. Not that you will, but it doesn't hurt to have it just in case.
I just saw yesterday something new at Lowe's that I haven't seen before. It is a thick, wide baseboard like you describe, but the back was cut out so it could be installed over existing baseboard without removing the existing. To me, though, it seems like a gimmick. Removing the old baseboard is the easiest part of the whole job.
If there is a header above the doors it can often be taken out. If the wall is not load bearing the header does nothing other than serve as a nailer for the trim.
If you're really short you could cut down the door and put the tramsoms there?
Pull all the trim on one wall at a time including the door casings if there going to be replaced and start with the door casings and run your base form them. If you can do mulitple rooms at a time it's quicker to get in the gorrove to do all the doors 1st then all the casings, or all the... works faster to stick with one repeating task at a time for me.
Do you really mean transoms? I think most people think a transom is a window the width of the door and approx 12 to 18 inches high installed over the door. Is that what you are talking about?
The local real estate agents call them transoms. What they really are is an "architrave molding", the local building supply has them ready made in MDF, though in high end homes they are made up of mutliple moldings. They are not trasom windows.
Okay, I think I understand. The "transom" is a a manufactured one piece molding that replaces the door trim across the top of the door. I assume you can buy it in the width you need. What I would do follows.Remove all of the trim carefully, pull the mails out of the side trim with a nail cutter or pliers from the back side of the trim. My guess is most of them will stay in the door frame. Install the new base and "transom" first. Cut the new base to the right length and install it. Use a plinth to mark where to cut the base and there will be a small amount of leeway in the side to side direction and still have the plinths look right. Then cut the old side trim to the right length on the chop saw and fit it tight to the transom. Then cut and install the plinths to fit. The logic is that the plinths can be trial fitted and recut several times if necessary to fit(make the first cut a bit too high) and are much easier to handle than the base and door trim. Getting perfectly square cuts on the installed trim with a multimaster is not easy. If you want to try the multimaster I perhaps you can clamp a guide to the door frame to guide the tool on a straight and level line.In any case, good luck and have fun.
Must be regional differences.
I'd mount the plinths, cut and install the base. Cut the side casings and install. Plop that architrave (never saw it b/4) on the top.
Fitting in between things makes for too many steps.
Plinth tops should be level to each other. Both side casings would be the same length (if the head jamb was level)
Old whacky houses require "magic".A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
The piece you describe is an architrave and sometimes marketed as a crosshead trim, or a head casing. Technically, it could be called a transom, but that term is more often applied to a small window over a door or combination of door and side3light. the term would mean 'hat crosses over it all' more of less.I would not assume that you can buy it already sized tho. there are some molded ones for exteriors from makers like Fypon that have them presized, but genrally we make them up from several pieces according to design needed, and cut returns at the ends.What you will need to be carefull of is designing this is that you pay attention to proportion relative to size of side leg casings.Another problem you could run into is that in too many econo-spec homes, there is no room widthwise in hallways and corners for using a wider casing or headpiece.
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I think they are called Rosette corner blocks not transoms.