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Detailed
Article
Refinishing Hardwood
Floors -
Part 1:
Trim Removal and Preparations
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| In
This Article:
A closet bi-fold door is
removed.
Baseboards and door casings are removed.
Heat registers are removed. |
Related
Articles:
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| Skill Level:
2-3 (Basic To Intermediate) |
Time Taken:
A Couple Of Hours |
By
Bruce W. Maki,
Editor
Before refinishing the floors in my house, I needed to remove
some obstacles like the closet bi-fold doors. I find it's best to
remove obstacles and replace them later, rather than trying to work
around them.
To gain access to the edges of the floor, I decided to remove the
baseboards and door trim. Since I will also be re-painting the room,
it makes sense to remove the trim. I'll be able to paint the walls
without masking the trim or tedious cutting-in. I can paint the trim
a contrasting color... or I can replace it with a different millwork
profile, which is the direction I'm leaning.
| Photo of the main floor bedroom before
floor refinishing.
Note the plain "modern" baseboard. I'd like
to replace it with something more interesting.
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The closet doors needed to be removed
before I could sand the floors.
Removing these bi-fold doors involved rotating the
bottom hinge pin (which is threaded) to lower the
door. Then the door could be lifted out of the bottom
hinge socket. |
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| While the door is kinda in my way, I'm
going to leave it on the hinges for now... to keep the
dust in the room. |
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Tearing Apart:
| Using a cordless drill, I removed the
bi-fold door hardware. |
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Trash Talk:
I just threw this hardware away. I have a personal
vendetta going against bi-fold doors. There's no way
bi-fold doors are going to return to this closet... I'd
rather have no doors than bi-fold doors.
Bi-fold doors rarely operate smoothly. Bi-fold doors
frequently jam up. It's very easy for a child to push
the wrong way on a bi-fold door and bend the track.
Bi-fold doors are simply a bad idea. No... if they
worked at all, they'd be a bad idea, but they hardly
ever work, so bi-fold doors are essentially a fraud. |
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I removed the bi-fold hardware from the
hollow-core doors so I could use them for workshop shelves. |
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Trim Removal:
| I began removing the baseboard at the
closet door, where the pieces were small.
I placed a small pry bar against the edge of the trim
and tapped it with a hammer. |
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Some of these small outside corner pieces
were glued to the other piece of trim, which meant that
the glue joint broke as I pried it. |
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Important:
Since the paint appeared to be bonding the trim to
the wallboard, I ran a sharp knife along the top edge of
the trim to break this bond.
I almost always do this when removing trim on older
houses. |
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Many trim nails remained in the wall after
the baseboard was pried away.
To remove these nails I sometimes used a pair of
carpenters pincer-pliers, which are similar to
end-nipper cutters.
Instead of prying against the drywall, I placed the
end of the pry bar underneath the pliers. This prevents
breaking or denting the wallboard. |
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| I removed this heat register by taking out
the screws that held the outer part to the backing
plate. |
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The backing plate was held in place with a
couple of drywall screws, which I removed with a
drill-driver.
Note that there a LOTS of different heat duct
registers out there, and they won't all remove like this
one. |
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| I removed the register backing.
With the register gone, I could continue removing the
baseboard.
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Most of the time, I use two or three pry
bars to remove longer sections of trim. I start at the
easiest end, with a mini-prybar if necessary, and slowly
work the wood away from the wall.
I progress along the board, trying to pry adjacent to
the nails if possible. |
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| I always remove the nails from trim. |
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Sometimes the nails are easier to remove
by pulling them through the board. |
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| I label the backs of each piece so there's
no confusion later. |
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After the trim was cleaned up, I bundled the pieces together and
wrapped the ends with shrink wrap, which helps keep things organized
in my chaotic workshop.
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I removed the door casing trim.
I only needed to remove the side pieces to sand the
floor, but I removed the top casing too.
This step could be omitted if the floor was carefully
sanded around the casing. |
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| We started sanding the floor with 36 grit
sandpaper. |
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More Info:
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Tools
Used:
- Basic
Carpentry Tools
- Cordless
Drill-Driver
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Materials
Used:
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| Related
Articles:
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| Web
Links:
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