Ripping thin strips of wood from PSE timber

[shawesome]

Hi all,

I hope this is the right place to post this, my apologies if not.

I'm sorting new architraves as part of my renovation after having my walls replastered. If you've done this before you'll be aware of the problem I'm running into which is that the new plaster is proud of the original door frame so you can't just put the new architrave in place because there would be a gap.

I did my first door over the weekend by buying some stripwood from b&q but it cost a fortune. I think each strip was something like £5 and I bought 3. Not only that, the smallest size they do was 4mm thick and was too wide so I had to do some messing around with it to get it down to the size I wanted.

I've looked around my other doors and the thickness of the plaster isn't always 4mm so I will need to be able to product some thinner pieces of stripwood at about 2 meter lengths.

I'm looking for some advice on how I can get this done. I was thinking that I could buy a bandsaw or a tablesaw and then rip down some PSE timber to strips the thickness I need. But before I invest I wanted to see if anyone here could offer some advice to me.

 

[Jacob]

I'd call the plasterer back to do a proper job.
If not possible I'd look at cutting the plaster back, perhaps with an angle grinder or disc sander. If you got a neat straight edge to match the architrave it wouldn't matter how rough it was behind the architrave and any visible gaps could be filled with polyfilla etc

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A plasterer is only going to add to plaster that's already there, unless you're completely demolishing walls - it's going to be proud of the linings. A 7 1/4" circular saw. Get a board the thickness you need and rip some strips off.
I've just done a couple of mine for the same reason, it's tedious but not difficult - if you glue the strips in place you can pin them as you go, allowing as small as possible an overlap. A quick pass or two with a plane or a spokeshave and then a sander and it won't show when painted.

 

[PerryGunn]

It's a bit late for you, but if I'm having a room skimmed, I always
- remove the architrave
- scrape/sand back the edge of the door liner to bare wood
- add a wood strip about 5mm thick by 20-25mm wide (depends what I have available) to the outer edge of the door liner
- fill and sand the join between the wood strip and the door liner

This increases the depth of the door liner by 5mm and gives the plasterer something to work up to. You end up with plaster level with the wooden strip and you have a flat surface for mounting architrave.

 

[clogs]

never had plaster skimmed on top of old plaster...
always gone to bare brick or block.....

 

[baldkev]

Another option is to rebate the back of the architrave over the plaster and caulk in any gaps......( if its being painted ). so if you rebate 4mm and end up caulking 2mm in places, it wont matter. Just make sure you use a real caulk, like geocel, not a cheap tube, as it will crack / check after you paint over it and it shrinks.
A quick google search will reveal the best caulks. I use geocel

 

[Phil Pascoe]

never had plaster skimmed on top of old plaster...
always gone to bare brick or block.....

Ever tried going back to bare lath and plaster or bare plasterboard?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's a bit late for you, but if I'm having a room skimmed, I always
- remove the architrave
- scrape/sand back the edge of the door liner to bare wood
- add a wood strip about 5mm thick by 20-25mm wide (depends what I have available) to the outer edge of the door liner
- fill and sand the join between the wood strip and the door liner

This increases the depth of the door liner by 5mm and gives the plasterer something to work up to. You end up with plaster level with the wooden strip and you have a flat surface for mounting architrave.

As in the photo above your post?

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi all,

I hope this is the right place to post this, my apologies if not.

I'm sorting new architraves as part of my renovation after having my walls replastered. If you've done this before you'll be aware of the problem I'm running into which is that the new plaster is proud of the original door frame so you can't just put the new architrave in place because there would be a gap.

I did my first door over the weekend by buying some stripwood from b&q but it cost a fortune. I think each strip was something like £5 and I bought 3. Not only that, the smallest size they do was 4mm thick and was too wide so I had to do some messing around with it to get it down to the size I wanted.

I've looked around my other doors and the thickness of the plaster isn't always 4mm so I will need to be able to product some thinner pieces of stripwood at about 2 meter lengths.

I'm looking for some advice on how I can get this done. I was thinking that I could buy a bandsaw or a tablesaw and then rip down some PSE timber to strips the thickness I need. But before I invest I wanted to see if anyone here could offer some advice to me.

A bandsaw would be my weapon of choice for this - plane the edge flat, slice a strip off and repeat - thickness infinitely adjustable, and the cut face can be the one glued to the existing lining. Obviously, next time, the trick would be to put some strips on before the plasterer comes, as already mentioned. You don't need a particularly big or beefy bandsaw, but a sharp good quality blade properly set up and tensioned will ensure no 'wandering' of the blade in the cut.

 

[PerryGunn]

As in the photo above your post?

I thought you were putting them on the end of the architrave after plastering? I put them behind where the architrave will go before the plaster goes on so the plaster matches the extended linings

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I thought you were putting them on the end of the architrave after plastering? I put them behind where the architrave will go before the plaster goes on so the plaster matches the extended linings

No, they're planted on the linings. The architrave goes on afterwards.

 

[PerryGunn]

No, they're planted on the linings. The architrave goes on afterwards.

Apologies - It must be the vertical lines in your picture fooling my eyes as I see a vertical strip at the end of the architrave i.e.

 

[Jonm]

never had plaster skimmed on top of old plaster...
always gone to bare brick or block.....

Reskimming is fairly common. Both my grown up children have stripped wallpaper off rooms and had the room re-skimmed. Main reason being to get a good smooth finish for painting. Plasterer used pva on the walls first. In the past I would have spent hours filling and sanding cracks.

 

[Gordon Tarling]

When we moved to this bungalow about 5 years ago, we had the whole house skimmed, apart from where building work was to be done. No complaints about the job, but some door liners did require strips of wood in order to fit architraves without gaps, for the rest, there was filler.

G.

 

[Jacob]

never had plaster skimmed on top of old plaster...
always gone to bare brick or block.....

Well yes I was wondering about that. If it had to be done then the obvious thing would have been to leave architraves in place and just plaster up to them

 

[Jonm]

I was thinking that I could buy a bandsaw or a tablesaw and then rip down some PSE timber to strips the thickness I need. But before I invest I wanted to see if anyone here could offer some advice to me.

I am assuming from your question you are not familiar with bandsaws and table saws. Also that you are in the middle of a building project and under pressure to get this job done.

If you are thinking about buying a bandsaw look at the posts on how to set one up. Generally the cheaper they are the more fettling required. You are looking to cut strips of varying thickness of 4mm or less with constant thickness, that requires accuracy and precision. Do you have the time and patience at the moment for setting a bandsaw up? They are fickle beasts.

A table saw is easier to set up and a cheap one should do it but with cheap saws care will be needed setting it up, particularly the fence. I have a cheap £85 scheppach 216mm (Bought middle of lockdown, cost more now, also bought a good blade for it). I think it would do the job but cutting 2 metre long thin strips with precision would require support and a guide on the infeed and support on the outfeed. I have a 2.4 metre long bench to set it up on.

One solution is to get a carpentry shop to do it. You could put a post on here giving your approximate location and asking for advice for a local place that will do it or someone might volunteer to do it for you. Or go on google and phone around.

I know that if my house was upside down with building work and the job stopped because I am fiddling about with a machine to cut strips of wood then mountains of grief would descend upon me.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It's a few minutes with a 7 1/4" circular saw with a decent rip blade. Much as I loathe the things.

 

[owen]

I'd call the plasterer back to do a proper job.
If not possible I'd look at cutting the plaster back, perhaps with an angle grinder or disc sander. If you got a neat straight edge to match the architrave it wouldn't matter how rough it was behind the architrave and any visible gaps could be filled with polyfilla etc

If you do that, how do sort where the skirting joins the architrave as the skirting would be sticking out? Nailing strips on is the best way to do. I just rip down pse on my tablesaw no problem.

 

[Jonm]

I was thinking that I could buy a bandsaw or a tablesaw and then rip down some PSE timber to strips the thickness I need. But before I invest I wanted to see if anyone here could offer some advice to me.

Shawesome, I think you need to give us an indication of what you are willing to pay for the saw £100, £150, £500, £1000. Obviously you could always sell it afterwards in which case look at sold listings on eBay. For example I have seen some makes with very high resale value, I will not mention any names because this post could veer off away from answering your question.

 

[GerryT]

"Phil Pascoe, post: 1512425, member: 13676"]
A plasterer is only going to add to plaster that's already there, unless you're completely demolishing walls - it's going to be proud of the linings. A 7 1/4" circular saw. Get a board the thickness you need and rip some strips off.
I've just done a couple of mine for the same reason, it's tedious but not difficult - if you glue the strips in place you can pin them as you go, allowing as small as possible an overlap. A quick pass or two with a plane or a spokeshave and then a sander and it won't show when painted”.

I‘m with Phil on this as I’ve done the same many times.
It’s a neat finish for the most part and when painted is hard or impossible to see.




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