Architrave: new plaster + old casings

[Mjward]

Renovating an Edwardian property where the plaster has blown. Used three different plasterers (recommended by people on local FB groups) and found all three to be pretty poor.

The ones that did the bedrooms applied thin stripwood to the existing casing as they had made the replacement plaster proud and said they did this to make it easy to architrave.

Fast forward a few months later and I'm ready to add the woodwork to the bedrooms and I can get my head around this. They have applied wood about a foot short on both sides. Also given the door stops are already cut into the casing, these strips would mean refitting the original doors wouldn't line up.

Given we are talking less than 5mm difference between plaster and original casing am I better off just removing these strips and using a foam adhesive to apply the architrave?

 

[niall Y]

In that the thickness of the plaster is variable, feathering from 5mm to almost nothing at the base of the door linings, I would pencil a line where the outside of new architrave will fall and. use a Stanley knife and sharp chisel to sculpt a shallow rebate in the plaster to the level of the lining. This can be done very neatly, with only a tiny amount of filling needed around the architrave after it has been fitted. The archjtrave can be applied in the normal way - no foam needed

 

[Mjward]

In that the thickness of the plaster is variable, feathering from 5mm to almost nothing at the base of the door linings, I would pencil a line where the outside of new architrave will fall and. use a Stanley knife and sharp chisel to sculpt a shallow rebate in the plaster to the level of the lining. This can be done very neatly, with only a tiny amount of filling needed around the architrave after it has been fitted. The archjtrave can be applied in the normal way - no foam needed

Love this forum. Great idea/solution, many thanks!

 

[Bingy man]

Decorators caulk is brilliant at filling small to medium gaps and won’t shrink or sag if you buy a decent quality. Seems the plasterers have been a tad lazy as can’t see why they would leave those gaps in the trims -I’m currently gutting a 5 bedroom old house Victorian or Edwardian but the woodwork is amazing quality with virtually no rot or woodworm. The skirting alone must be 12 inches high. I’m going to start a post as all the architraves and skirting are being removed- they are all of course solid wood- pine I think but I could be mistaken..

 

[Bingy man]

Decorators caulk is brilliant at filling small to medium gaps and won’t shrink or sag if you buy a decent quality. Seems the plasterers have been a tad lazy as can’t see why they would leave those gaps in the trims -I’m currently gutting a 5 bedroom old house Victorian or Edwardian but the woodwork is amazing quality with virtually no rot or woodworm. The skirting alone must be 12 inches high. I’m going to start a post as all the architraves and skirting are being removed- they are all of course solid wood- pine I think but I could be mistaken..

Applied by mastic gun and smoothed with a suitable profile and left to set overnight.

 

[HOJ]

plasterers have been a tad lazy as can’t see why they would leave those gaps in the trims

I'm surprised they even tried, they are plasterers after all, no offence to them, but I know a few!.

Good call from @niall Y, I'd just be cautious as to how well the new plaster is hanging off bonded to the old, I've seen it come of in sheets in the past, another option is to plane a rebate up the back of the architrave to cover over the plaster, takes a bit of work mind, I use an electric plane.

 

[Mjward]

I'm surprised they even tried, they are plasterers after all, no offence to them, but I know a few!.

Good call from @niall Y, I'd just be cautious as to how well the new plaster is hanging off bonded to the old, I've seen it come of in sheets in the past, another option is to plane a rebate up the back of the architrave to cover over the plaster, takes a bit of work mind, I use an electric plane.

It was a complete back to brick job, full wet plaster ie not board and skim. In a few areas we were able to keep original skirting and architrave and plastered up to it but the bedrooms were knackered

 

[Mjward]

Decorators caulk is brilliant at filling small to medium gaps and won’t shrink or sag if you buy a decent quality. Seems the plasterers have been a tad lazy as can’t see why they would leave those gaps in the trims -I’m currently gutting a 5 bedroom old house Victorian or Edwardian but the woodwork is amazing quality with virtually no rot or woodworm. The skirting alone must be 12 inches high. I’m going to start a post as all the architraves and skirting are being removed- they are all of course solid wood- pine I think but I could be mistaken..

Good luck with the renovation, I started my 12m project 18m ago and still have at least a year to go

 

[HOJ]

It was a complete back to brick job, full wet plaster ie not board and skim. In a few areas we were able to keep original skirting and architrave and plastered up to it but the bedrooms were knackered

 

[HOJ]

Interesting, was it lime plaster before, so did you have to lay a base coat over the brick (bonding)?

 

[Mjward]

Interesting, was it lime plaster before, so did you have to lay a base coat over the brick (bonding)?

Thistle hardwall which is for medium/high suction ie old bricks. Finding a plasterer to use that was few and far between as they all seem to like doing 5 day courses with dot and dab

 

[Bingy man]

Good luck with the renovation, I started my 12m project 18m ago and still have at least a year to go

Well it’s a full strip as with your plastering back to brick , ceilings are lath and plaster overboarded twice and are being taken back to the joists. Owner of the house has a 6 month schedule-

 

[Mjward]

Well it’s a full strip as with your plastering back to brick , ceilings are lath and plaster overboarded twice and are being taken back to the joists. Owner of the house has a 6 month schedule-

Wish I could have gone the overboarding route given the mess of taking down but needed full rewire, replumb and insulation added plus it had started to bow in several places I had to bite the bullet. Thankfully the horrible jobs are out the way and I've got lots of carpentry ahead!

 

[clogs]

Prop skilled plasterers are a dying breed.......
even in the old days 30 odd years ago the one I used for all my jobs needed a rough booking at least 3 months ahead.....
he would do the odd job for me at night or weekends.....
I treated him like a king.....

 

[Bingy man]

Wish I could have gone the overboarding route given the mess of taking down but needed full rewire, replumb and insulation added plus it had started to bow in several places I had to bite the bullet. Thankfully the horrible jobs are out the way and I've got lots of carpentry ahead!

Trust me you have done the right thing, same situation here . No electricity- cable’s stolen by towrags ditto with the pipe work, no gas - nothing. When you go back to joists the dust and debris is overwhelming but once it’s gone and replastered it’s done for ever .

 

[Mjward]

Trust me you have done the right thing, same situation here . No electricity- cable’s stolen by towrags ditto with the pipe work, no gas - nothing. When you go back to joists the dust and debris is overwhelming but once it’s gone and replastered it’s done for ever .

This is it. If you are planning to spend 10yrs+ it's worth doing

 

[Mjward]

Prop skilled plasterers are a dying breed.......
even in the old days 30 odd years ago the one I used for all my jobs needed a rough booking at least 3 months ahead.....
he would do the odd job for me at night or weekends.....
I treated him like a king.....

100%. I found it to be the trade with the most cowboys and I guess it's because sparks, gas engineers etc all need official qualifications. Anyone can call themselves a plasterer and found many do without much experience or training sadly.

 

[pip1954]

When we where our extension we tried to get some one to wet plastering but they all said don't do that anymore none of them were any good wish I was up to doing it myself but had back op a few years back and wife keep saying your not doing that so had get a builder to do she'll fore and I finished it of tradesmen are hard to find these days

 

[MikeJhn]

100%. I found it to be the trade with the most cowboys and I guess it's because sparks, gas engineers etc all need official qualifications. Anyone can call themselves a plasterer and found many do without much experience or training sadly.

No such qualification.

 

[joncooper27]

I have repaired all my lather and plaster ceiling from big cracks to small cracks!
I fill the small cracks with lime putty mix wet it first.
The big cracks I drill holes along the crack just through the lathes then inject with a good liquid nails I normally use gorilla stuff then get some 50mm plastic washers and screw back up to make solid leave it 24 House then fill it all in.
It’s labour intensive but the lime looks great again still breathable and good soundproofing. Hopefully should last few more years already 100 years old looks great again painted with clay paint