There are five doorways into hall. Five casings to replace, to match the period style of the rest of the (renovated) house. The architrave in these will be interesting – each custom fitted, as the distance to the ceiling varies from door to door, even though the doors are quite close together, and I assume built at the same time.
A few tricky/decision-requiring bits:
1. There are doors at both ends of the hall and the hall is only wide enough for the doorway and its casing. The tricky bit is where the baseboard on the long side of the hall meets the door casing at the end of the hall. The casing should be proud of the baseboard but this isn’t possible when the casing is on a perpendicular wall. My instincts said the casing should be on top, but even if I installed the baseboard and then cut it’s profile in the casing, the profile would be the same as butting the baseboard to the casing. So I butted the baseboard to the casing where they met at a corner.
2. In one corner of the hall, there were two doorways right against each other (perpendicular). The builder had left enough room for the door casings, sort of. At the top of the frames, there was a perfect space for a 3 1/2″ casing on each door, meeting tightly together at a 90 degree angle. To make it interesting, near the floor, there was 1/8″ shortage of space to put two casings in. So close, and yet so far. I installed one casing flush with the door opening, and then the next casing flush with it, and finished by planing the excess to make the casing flush with its door opening.
3. In the same corner, the architrave was even more interesting, at least to me. There was about 1/2″ difference in door heights, and not enough room for full length top casings. I don’t think I can write out all the reasoning that went into what I did in without creating a (kinda boring) book. Let me put it this way: I decided which door casing was on top, or the most prominently viewed. Then I made full architrave pieces, that I knew wouldn’t fit in the opening but would be the right starting point to cut down from. Then I fiddled, holding the pieces side by side and in the air, cut bits off, tried more air fits, cut more, glued at bit back on, and eventually came up with what looks like the ‘right’ configuration of the trim for two doors at 90 degrees to each other in a tight space. Crown moulding caulking will fix all the indecisive cuts.
Once the hard carpentry part is done (fitting the trims), it’s time to take it all down and finish. As I’m doing so, the idea pops into my head to consider a white stain/gel stain, rather than the semi-gloss latex paint I was planning. Looking at the wood and it’s fabulous grain makes me want to show it off, rather than cover it up.
After a good night’s sleep, there’s more ideas popping: since stain will need a topcoat, especially because I want a shiny finish on the trim, and I don’t have any white stain, but I do have white semigloss, why not see if a diluted version of semigloss will produce the desired effect.
I grab a piece of scrap and experiment with different amounts of water in the semigloss. It’s encouraging. With the right balance, I can see the pretty grain and have white boards.
Ok, EVERYONE knows that you shouldn’t put latex paint directly on softwood because it raises the grain, the wood bleeds through, and the paint chips. Exactly what I had in mind. I want to see the grain. Raising it means a less shiny, smooth surface but that seems an ok trade off to see the wood. Seeing the wood means there is real wood, like a craftsperson would have added 100 years ago.
Paint peeling in a couple of years is unacceptable but doesn’t seem like the biggest risk. I do worry about resin bleeding through. It’s not great if the trim is yellow – it should be white to contrast the faintly yellow walls. Even if it starts at the desired colour, will it stay, or will it become more orange over time? Time would tell. How much time? If it’s going to yellow in the next couple of years, I might as well prime and coat solid with latex now. If the horizon is 10 years-ish, I can enjoy the wood grain for a while before another DIY intervention is required.
So what to do? I’ll put them up and see how long it takes for the colour to drift. After all, I am a scientist, and experimenting to find the answer is my nature.
Well, that took about 5 seconds. Putting up a couple of door casings and the baseboard between them, clearly the colour is all wrong (looks pink next to the faintly yellow walls) and the texture looks like someone slapped a hasty coat of white latex paint on some varnished wood trim. Therefore, next steps, sand, prime with tannin-blocking, oil-based primer, then a coat of undiluted semi-gloss latex. Sometimes, you I just have to make sure conventional wisdom is right.
Finishing touches:
- fill screw holes,
- caulk gaps (the drywall was installed well in this area, allowing the trim boards to mostly sit flat on the walls, or maybe I’m getting smarter, with a combination of planing the trim to the door frames and finding wood to screw into (while missing the electrical) to pull the trim in tight. i.e. there are fewer gaps than in the first trim projects in this house),
- add a coat of paint.
Considering how this area started, with an open hole in the closet as an excuse for bathroom plumbing access, scattered orifices for abandoned receptacles for central vac., light switches, utilitarian attic access and return air ducts, it’s better. Love how the floor looks and feels. Overall, the ‘room’ isn’t stunning. There may only be so much that can be done with a 13 x 3 x 7′ cube whose primary function is to allow people to go somewhere else. It is pretty fancy for the attic.