removing baseboard without damage

You sound like you are doing what you need to be doing. Just go slow, and make sure that you have cut through the bead, as some places it is much thicker than others. Also, older baseboard is cut fingerjointed. That is like pushing your fingers together. It is weak there, and will usually break there, and in a lot of pieces of baseboard, they used the scraps, so runs of contiguous materials aren't very long.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B
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I'm partial to this $3 one-

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I like the 2 flat ends, and the 'keyhole' nail puller.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

Nate Nagel wrote the following:

First, with a utility knife, cut along the paint lines between the wall and top molding and between the top molding and baseboard. This will prevent paint chipping along the seams when you pull of the molding. After that, use a flat scraper, the wider the better, to pry the top molding off. Start at each point where there is a finish nail holding the top molding on. Some nails may pull through the molding and remain in the wall, others may just come off with the molding.

Reply to
willshak

I have one of those and I find that it often dents the molding or sheetrock when trying to tap it between the two. Once you use a thinner flat bade to start the removal, that tool will work to finish the removal, but I wouldn't use it alone.

Reply to
willshak

"Jim Elbrecht" wrote

I like a pair of old regular Vise Grips. You can clamp on to the nail, and the rounded back side of the head is perfect for soft continuous leverage (use a piece of plywood or laminate to prevent dimpling of drywall or baseboard), and the pull of the pliers is practically straight out. It even works for nails that have been broken off, and you can't get ahold of them with a keyhole nail puller. You can adjust the depth at which you grab the nail, and set the whole geometry of the operation at exactly the right angle.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

willshak wrote in news:tLKdnavwl-zunKjWnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@supernews.com:

Yep. A piece of thin plywood or scrap of heavy gauge sheet metal on the wall side.

Usually I hit the joint with a razor knife to break an caulk/paint beads. Then start with wall protector and a painters tool at or near a nail location,

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enough to get in a mini wonder flat bar, separate more, then a regular size flat bar. Work down to the next nail with duplicate tools if necessary.

Quite often I look ahead and just trash the existing and replace it. When you think about the time to carefully remove, fix all the dents and holes, sand and prime those spots so they don't show under the new semigloss paint replacing, it just isn't worth trying to save.

But I guess if you are only doing one piece in an area, you really don't want one piece to look brand new and stick out.

Reply to
Red Green

-snip-

yup! Perfect. And those 5 in tools will take a razor edge on that point.

I'm with you here, too. On some jobs I don't count my labor as worth much-- but on removing molding I charge myself $20/hr because I hate that work--- so if I can take out the wall and make it work I'd much rather do it that way.

Also- looking around, I note that most my baseboards are now 4/4x3 1/2 cherry with a plain bead- and oil-rubbed finish. They are strong as can be if they need to be removed, and they finish back up real nice if they get a dent or scratch.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

Good tool for removing nails- but I haven't ever had much luck *not* doing damage with Vise Grips. [I capitalize it too- as they are one of a few tools that it *really* pays to get the original.]

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

Wow, all these replies! Well, I went to the Orange Colored Store this AM and picked up a couple different varieties of prying technology, what ended up working was something like described above, with a 3" paint scraper behind it to protect the paneling.

Unfortunately I seem to have come to another "gotcha." I just ASSumed that the top part of my baseboard molding would have a little dead space behind it, like a typical inside corner molding

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however, it does NOT. Now the one piece of molding that I have about half removed has a corner missing from the one-by that makes up the main part of the baseboard. but I can't count on this being the case everywhere that I need to run grounds. If I had a table saw I would be tempted to rig it up and zing the hidden part of the molding off at a 45 degree angle to provide the space that I need, but I don't. Do you think I should just get a small block plane and have at it? Another approach to running ground wires? I'd originally thought to drop them down through the walls from the attic by drilling holes in the sill plates of the walls, but previous experience fishing wires in this house leads me to expect lots of firestops.

It doesn't help that I have at least three different types of wall construction that I need to deal with - wood paneling over framing (interior walls added in previous renovation) plaster over framing (original walls) and finally plaster over masonry (exterior wall against chimney)

ideas appreciated, although I'm tempted to continue with my original approach and just shave the corner off the baseboard molding.

(y'know, it would have saved me a lot of trouble if whoever had split the one big room into two little ones and a hallway had done the wiring

*right,* but hey, where's the challenge in that?)

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

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Sounds like you will have to remove the entire baseboard and all that entails especially on the old plaster walls...Expect some patching...Aren't old homes fun ??? LOL...Good luck....You should have seen what we went through in my dads old colonial NIGHTMARE.....But we laugh about it now....LOL...

Reply to
benick

Find a piece of thin strong metal and put it on the paneling to protect it and spread the pressure over a larger area. (The metal in a putty knife is about the thickness and strength you want. Then us whatever you have (the screwdriver will work) to pry the molding out enough that you can get the claw on a claw hammer under it, and use that to pull off the molding.

I like to keep the nails in the molding and just use them and the old holes to reinstall it (use a small piece of hardwood over the molding and pound that, rather than the molding, to preserve the molding); I'm frugal, and I don't like making and fixing extra holes, too.

Doing each nail halfway at a time, then redoing them takes a little longer, but will reduce the risk of breaking the molding. Take care to see how the corners are done. In most situations each leg is cut at 45 degrees, but in better construction one piece is cut square and the other shaped to fit over it; in that case, you would want to remove the shaped piece first.

Reply to
Not

In news: snipped-for-privacy@news2.newsguy.com, Nate Nagel typed:

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Nate, First: How about considering SURFACE MOUNT wiring products that might, if conditions were right, allow you to run new, 3-wire wiring to all of the ungrounded circuits. They don't look bad, are mostly hidden by furniture, and can go wherever there is a place to mount them. That would sure be faster and easier than the jerry-rig of pulling all the baseboards. You can even add outlets along the way as you run the surface mount wiring. It's simple, easy to use, and made for such purposes as you seem to have. They come in pre-wired sections you just connect together, cuttable for different lengths, and usually made of hard plastic or aluminum so most any saw can cut them. They have a counterpart for about anything a conduit fitting can do, including sharp, 90 degree turns since they're molded & prewired. WATCH THE AMPERAGES CAPABILITIES. It must be equal to or greater than the outlet, etc. ratings. I don't recall seeing it for more than 20A services. It costs a bit, but so does the blood, sweat, tears and frustrations of your current approach. Plus, you could run two easily, right from the breaker/fuse box and everything would be a LOT closer to code, besides being so much easier.

Otherwise: I think I understand why you're doing this, but ... are you aware that EACH circuit from your fuse/breaker box actually should have its OWN earth ground? It sounds like you are going to run one earth ground wire to any/all outlets/switches etc.. They should only connect to each other back at the breaker/fuse box. What you're doing will work OK under no-fault conditions, but using one wire for all circuits creates some special conditions for safety and some headaches for future people working on the wiring. At a minimum, IMO, you should put a sticker in your power panel indicating which ckts share a common earth ground so that future electricians, etc. will be forewarned of the additional work such ckts might require for repairs. It's not as dangerous as a common neutral, but it can create problems, some related to safety, especially in the future when work is done for repair or maintenance. Although earth grounds should never carry any current, under fault conditions they -might- carry substantial current, possibly leading to heating and overheating. If you're running plain TW this might not be a good thing. It also seems you might be making some splices, etc., under that baseboard and technically those have to be done in boxes. If I were you I'd run the wires in the attic or basement, whichever is closest, going up and down as required. If you're talking single-story here, the basement is going to be closest to most outlets, of course, and likely not more than one firestop. If they're not close enough to you for normal drill bits, get a long jobber's drill for the task.

But I think I'd consider the surface mount idea if it were me.

Good luck,

Twayne

Reply to
Twayne

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I'm not enamored of the wiremold option... I think I can do this without going down that road. This is all on one circuit, and it's the second floor of a two story house.

On thinking about this more, I think tomorrow I will go up in the attic and replace the ceiling light box in one of the bedrooms (SWMBO wants a ceiling fan, and the box isn't installed right to begin with) and see if I can repull the wire from the first outlet to the ceiling box. If I can manage that that will solve the actual code violations (wiring done with grounded cable but not grounded, so there are boxes whose grounds are interconnected but not connected to earth ground) I was trying to avoid doing this due to all the insulation up there and lack of attic floor but it seems like the only way. Then if I still have any ambition left I will see what I can do about supplemental grounds to the existing receps that were original to the house. The first box is grounded as it was fed with BX unlike the rest of the wiring upstairs.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

clipped

It might be an off the wall idea (now I know where that expression comes from), but the Dremel tile grout remover might work. Any bit that works on wood plus the little jig for grout removing. I haven't tried it on wood, and the jig has a little tip that fits into the grout space as a guide....you can push or pull along a line (one is the approved method for grout and I don't recall which it was, as I did both). Should be quick work to run a fine channel in wood; went pretty quickly in grout.

Reply to
norminn

hmm, my dad got me a Craftsman thing that looks like a Fein Multimaster clone for xmas, maybe I'll get an excuse to use it right away? Maybe channelling plaster might be easier than trying to shave the molding. If you see my other post, I think I can get away from running around the baseboard in the one bedroom; the one that I'd still need to do would involve running it around two walls that are plaster.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

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Update - I just dropped all the light fixtures in the areas of concern (two small bedrooms and a hallway; used to be one large bedroom)

when I replaced the switches I assumed this was old school switch leg wiring because there's only one cable in each of the switch boxes, save for the one in the hallway, which has one 3-wire coming in the top and one 2-wire leaving the bottom, I ASSume to feed the recep a couple feet away.

Well, there's only one cable entering each of the three ceiling boxes. Only way I can think that this could work is if there's multiple concealed junctions in the attic. (as a bonus all three were apparently installed by someone who is unable to measure for height appropriately as they are hanging down below the finished plaster. this was concealed by large diameter light fixture bases)

Tomorrow will be a fun day. I see (puts hands to head and concentrates) a lot of rewiring in my near future. Fun stuff!

nate

(@#$%$%^&@# previous "contractors")

Reply to
Nate Nagel

If it works on grout, it ought to work on plaster, but haven't seen real plaster in a long time. You would have it embedded in plaster and then have to patch plaster. Hmm... I don't know the size of the wire you need to run, and I'm not up on big repair jobs .. just the tinkering level. When we moved into our condo, my hubby ran the cable for satellite TV from the satellite in through the patio sliding door, which always kept the door ajar a little bit. There was a hole in the outside concrete block wall and a hole inside same place .. I got a length of stiff plastic tubing to go through both holes, then ran the TV cable through the tubing and pulled the tubing out from the inside when the cable was through.

My hubby is a lot stronger than I so when I want to do something requiring muscle and he isn't around (preferable when I am truly inspired about a task), I need to engineer it. Usually works.

Reply to
norminn

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>>>

More likely the neighborhood "handyman" who worked for beer money....LOL...

Reply to
benick

"Not@home" wrote in news:hntZm.15906$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe16.iad:

My thought is that leads to a loose fit or one that will work loose, have gaps show up later or crack any caulk that was used between the molding and wall. I've never tried it because of that but I guess it works for you.

coped

Reply to
Red Green

Hope you put a drip loop on the outside cable where it enters the exterior wall. Just dress the wire to below the hole and then back up and thru the wall and caulk to keep water out.

Reply to
hrhofmann

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