Wish I'd seen something like this nearly forty years ago, when (with hardly any DIY skills at all) I moved into an old house in which the previous owner had removed all the architraves, taping the plaster/wood junction and painting over (you could see the frames working against the plaster too, where the fixings had loosened)...ditto the skirting boards where powder dropped on the plaster/floorboard junction any time you walked near where they should've been...surrounded by children, working long hours at an office job daytime and with no workshop, decorating every room was a late night orgy of refitting all the woodwork (with minimal tools/budget and maximum sticking plaster) before we could even start...and because the missus favoured the stripped/varnished timber style oh god...and the neighbours in the next door semi really loved me! By the time the bedrooms came round I'd got the confidence to essay picture rails, and in the sitting room the dado rail too...I've still no carpentry skills but aged close to 70 I can bodge things now!
The Tatty bye has returned and all is well with the world once more! Whilst you seem to get it in the neck from some viewers, I appreciate the detailed commentary you provide - thanks (PS love the thumbnail 😆)
I'm just doing this job at home for the very first time. Thankfully, I've been doing it the right way, although I used a multi-tool to get rid of the old plaster. I've found it made a much cleaner (but much dustier) edge for the architrave.
Nice work Andy, I was always taught to step them back to create a “quirk” . Looks much better . I’ve done this many times also, I put the strips on before they plaster now , so they can skim up to it . Works a treat. House is coming along great Andy
Cheers bud! Yup I think next time I'd do the strips first - I did ask them and they weren't bothered but I think it might have been easier for them too. 👍
Hi Andy. Just completed a similar job to this yesterday in daughter's 1960s house Reno. I didn't rip all pieces to suit individual skim thickness,I ripped every strip to 5 mm. No doubt I'll be using caulk when fitting architrave. Anyway this video was a Godsend as I wouldn't have had a clue where to start. Love all your vids. All presented in a straightforward,no nonsense way. Good luck with your future youtubing👍
When I see a 34 minute video, I think "I really don't have the time, I should get on". 34 minutes later, I am totally engrossed and sorry it's finished. Looks good, Andy👏🏼
You've made a pro job of those architraves. I think that fitting grounds is the best way to get over this common renovation problem👍 The only thing I would do slightly differently, would be to cut and fit the grounds first and then let the plasterer skim up to them👊 (splitting hairs though), Great video.
We do this regularly. The double margin method for the grounds and archs is the best way as you say. When it is painted only the keenest eyed tradesman would be able to spot it.
First time commenting... just want to say thanks for all the vids. I’ve been devouring them and they’ve been super helpful as we renovate our new to us house. Admire your zen-like calmness and skill as you approach these jobs. More power to ya! You’ve a beautiful home in the making there Andy.
Absolutely awesome video, yet again! Great advice, thank you. One bit of advice in return is to put a piece of A4 paper underneath the architrave at the corners to prevent it sticking to the floorboards. It's easy to overdo the mitre glue and end up with a problem. The excess paper is easily cut off 👍
In my neck of the woods in the US, the term architrave is rarely used. We refer to door and window trim. Skirting is also not that common here. We call it a baseboard. Another example of two countries divided by a common language. Unlike insulating and subflooring, now you're doing work that will show!
I've been waiting 7months for different chipys to come in and fit my architrave and skirting. Not one has shown up so now I'm attempting it myself. This video is probably the only video that's made sense, and looked good when done. My house is also old. Built 1953 and walls stick out further than the door liner! Great video!!👌
One of my fave jobs is skirting and arci. Customers reaction once its done is always the best. Top tip. Caulk it as you go. Makes a huge difference to how it looks and paint and decs will love you forever.
@@norm4260 small (narrow) switch. "...architrave light switches are ideal for areas such as where door frames are placed close together, or in tight corners. These restricted wall spaces cannot accommodate the size of a normal light switch, but equally they may be the ideal location for a switch due to wiring or functionality."
3rd option would be to rebate the back of the architrave, something I’ve done 😉 of course dependant on the size of the mismatch. CA joints all the way👍🏻
The joys of working on a reno. Deciding what extra work you need to do, to prevent a harder and more complicated job. Everything has pros and cons, and sometimes time restraints trump everything else.
I did this recently. I ended up chiseling the plaster away and 'embedding' the trim into the wall a bit. Inch thick plaster meant I could use plasterboard and filler to clean the gaps Main reason i did it this way is I took the doors off and wanted the archways to look thinner. Also: making a problem a 'feature'... I thought I was the only one! ;)
This is the first 30 min long video I have clicked on in a while… and it was worth every second. Incredibly useful. Thank you very much for taking the time to make this.
Yes I dislike cut outs in architraves. Can you put an architrave switch on a normal electrical box, or do you need to change it to a matching box? Andy has time constraints so that 1 switch could add half a day. Rewiring, replacing the box, filling or plastering and drying, before fitting that architrave.
I’ve encountered this exact problem! Some parts of the house the plasterwork sits flush allowing larger profiles other up to 10mm debating whether to replace like for like to save a lot of issues 😂
Hi Andy, I worked in construction for over 50 years in the North East ( Newcastle, Whitley Bay, Durham, Gateshead etc) as a decorator, and picked up a lot of tips from the various trades I worked with so I had enough knowledge to be able to hang doors, fit skirtings, do a bit of plumbing, electrical etc etc, in the various properties I have owned over the years. I've always said that the main difference between a tradesman and an amateur is a tradesman knows how to get over any problems if something isn't straightforward. My problem is I faff on too much trying to get everything spot on level, plumb etc, whereas (as you mention) you have got to know when to walk away and accept that especially in old properties things are not going to be level and plumb. ( Mind you, some of the new builds that I've worked on would give these old properties a run for their money,( as you well know)😁Once more another great video, it looks like Mrs Mac has done a fine job mist coating !!
Hi Andy ☺ thanks for the video, some great problem solving tips there, I had to laugh when you mentioned that some houses might have flat walls, in my experience no house I've ever been in has had flat walls or 90 degree corners , a family member bought a pretty new detached house , and I helped them put down a laminate floor, we fitted new skirtings, and every corner was out on the whole ground floor, so I will watch whith interest how you go about fitting skirting in your house, and no doubt pick up some good tips as usual, cheers mate ,stay safe, best wishe's to you and your's, Stuart uk.
I've done loads of this recently. I've been glueing on strip's with Pu glue before plaster. Plasterer goes up to it, and the Pu fills the gap quite well and only needs minimal filling before painting 🙂 been working well
You didn't say it in this video, but the other day at work I told my co worker that something was "done and dusted". I am an American and I had never heard that phrase until watching your videos. Now I use it without even thinking about it. Funny how language travels. Hahaha.
I did this a few weeks ago, spent ages messing about trying to compensate for the door frames being out by adjusting the mitre angles from the door frames with the sliding bevel. Absolute ballache and ended up just 45ing the mitres and ignoring any misalignment.
Nice one Andy - thank you for the great content. I replaced a load of architraves in my late 70's ex-council house - none of the door lintels were level, none of the frames were square, none of the walls were square or straight...and half of the door frames were less than a full fascia moulding width from the wall - safe to say I upskilled my scribing technique! Shame was as soon as I finished it we decided to sell up and have bought a larger house in the countryside with parts dating back to 1850...she's starting to give up her dirty secrets after a few months and I can see the to-do list forming! :D PS - got my huge Screwfix dustpan and brush...life is complete.
Not much plaster on this side of the pond any more. When I ran into this problem I installed the packer early, before plaster and had the plasterer work to it. Once they got the hang of it, they liked it. We called the strip a "ground" in that use. Yours is coming together nicely. I have not done this in a long time and I am not sure CA glue existed. I shot them together with 1/4" wide staples. I think the glue would be better. Careful though, I know a turner who glued his finger to his eyelid.
Looks great with the double rebate, wish you had done it a few weeks ago though when I did mine. I had no idea how to get round the new plaster and I thought I was bodging it just by using a thin strip to make up the difference but at least I got that bit right. But I've just done the one rebate so got to try and sand or plane it down nicely with filler to hide the gap as best as possible.
Interesting, that style of instant glue wasn't around when we did this many moons ago, like 30+ years. Like the attention to detail as well in all the videos.
In my 20s house, back then they did first coat of plaster to the door frames (lath and plaster) then fixed the skirting, architrave then did the second skim after. The skirting board was just pencil round with fancy architrave. When I renovated, I used door stops on the face of the casing flush like your first method, and scribed using a multi tool. Doing it that way also means new door stops and relocating the hinges - I should've just made new door casings :) It was a fair wack of work, especially with the state of the old casings. I always check the old door frames for square (mine are terrible), I use an angle finder and bifurcate the angle and set the chop saw to that angle instead of 45 I don't use caulk for filling gaps on skirting \ architrave - I use something like the no nonsense plaster in a tube that fits in a skeleton gun, much better finish
Great channel, learning lots of stuff. My one observation is that I would have been very tempted to re-hang some of those doors on the other side, maybe swapping the doors over between rooms if they're a similar size, it's a lot more work though as the light switch has to be moved too
Hey Andy.... The double set back is always the way I attack this. Once you get the "hang over" of paint/stain scraped away it all seems to blend much better. Cheers, Bob.
I have always rebated the Architraves on my table saw to get a nice neat finish. No need to fill or use Decorators Cork. I don't like modern Gloss paint as it is not as good as the old Lead paint in terms of finish.
@@GosforthHandyman Lol that's my house. Not one door frame is level or plumb. The house is going to be amazing. Great job. Really enjoying this series of videos.
This is how work should be done, had the same problem but the joiner went ahead installing the architraves, spend a lot of time and money caulking large gaps
Great job. I would have moved that light switch to the wall on the right of it. A simple redirection of the cable route from the ceiling to that wall It’s not too late
Good video and like the rebate. I’ve just been doing all mine and my god for a full house with skirting prices have gone up nearly £250 since December 😳. Great work
Andy, would love it if you would mention the names of the musical pieces that are being played during your videos. I am really loving some of them and would like to see if I can find them for my own use. I didn't see any mentioned or listed in your notes. Thanks
It would have been a good idea to fit the door frame plants before plastering so they can all be the same thickness and just skimmed up to used as a guide
Thanks for explaining all the issues involved. I would much more appreciate if you could explain also the thickness of the shim that you are putting on the jambs as it would be different for each frame even for each jamb and I reckon it's a main challenge of such situation. Thanks a lot
Another reason to remove skirting and architrave in a property of this age is that is will be covered in lead based paint. It is way quicker and cheaper to simply remove it all than try and strip the old lead based paint. The worst task in my house was removing all the lead based paint from the door frames, staircase and kitchen walls. Yep you heard the last one correctly the kitchen walls were all gloss painted, with the lower half being done in cement rather than plaster with a sort of dado rail run into the plaster at the join. Apparently it was a cheap alternative to tiling the wall.
Toolstation have a clearance sale on some Freud blades. It's been going on for a few weeks but it's worth checking online for stock at your local stores.
Looking good sir the trials and tribulations of renovating an old property. I think it’s getting to the point where you need to consider a new build . You know what works and doesn’t . And obviously you can project manage such an undertaking , I’ve done similar renovations in the past but realised to late that time creeps up on you . So suddenly you haven’t the energy to go for the next big challenge , you have obviously a lot of talent so capitalist on it and become a director rather than a player . Best wishes and kind regards as always 😀👍👍👍
I think you do a great job of balancing the final look of the job Vs time/effort required. It's all too easy for people in the comments to say rip out the door liners replace with new etc etc but you have a deadline to keep, it's really not a job for a perfectionist.
Renovating an old house, at some stage for each job you have to say this will do and refurb from that point. I had wormy floor board ends in 1 room, worm killed and proofed, replaced the floor, but 1 of the joists was twisted! Still creaks a bit but a new floor joist with same dimensions as the original split tree joists would have taken time and tools I didn't have. So a 1720s house creaks a bit, not a big surprise!
Oy vay. My plumber came in this week (after a 3 week wait) to fix a leak for a radiator. He ripped out vast swatches of wall and floor. I now have a couple weeks of work just to repair them.
A thing I've missed from previous vids: what happened to the coal house? A 1920s house would not have been built without a coal house, some were actually inset into the house which may explain your mystery short internal walls. The house across the back from the house I grew up in had one of these inset jobs, it took up about a third of the kitchen. Sorry for asking so late.
Great video. What would you suggest if the upstairs of your 1950's house was built with all light space saving bricks and your door frames are all wonky?? 🙈🙈
I like how we speak the same language but use different phrases & terms. we condense the sentence and just say trim. we very rarely say timber, once milled we say lumber. we do say frame, framed, etc ... oh & we work the crap out of the word ain't too. I like how you all (ya'll) refurbish your homes. it's what honest decent people do. God bless the United Kingdom. 🇬🇧
@@GosforthHandyman I apologize not my intent to tell you what to do or say. Just I thought that I could be a little bit informative stupid me to think every body else in the world is as obtuse as us(americans). just joking. I find the phrases, labelings & perspectives of our 2 countries wonderfully enlightening. that's the real reason I brought it up. meant no offense.
Just had to re skirt a bedroom in an old ex council house. The hardest part was removing the old stuff as it was buried under god knows how many re-skims. And the customer had had new carpets fitted last year, big thick pile ones. So I couldn't pry it up without damaging the plaster, which they'd recently repainted and I couldn't pry sideways without bring up the carpets. Was a hot sweaty ball ache of a job, and I went thru all my multitool blades. Also, they didn't want the arcs replacing so I had to put returns on the skirtings because it sat about 5mm proud where I was butting up to the arcs. Looked pretty decent afterwards tho. Customer was happy. I wasn't, I priced it thinking it would take a day, took me a day and a half. Oh well, live and learn
@@GosforthHandyman swings and roundabouts. I knew it would be a bugger but still I underestimated. Didn't mind too much as the client is a repeat client and knows and trusts me and has given me plenty of work over the last year or so.
Can always rebate the back of the architrave if it's only a small protrusion but I do prefer pack out method, plus it makes more boring moulds like ogee and torus look a little more intricate
