You don't have much money, so you better have lots of time to do it yourself.

Get the stripper out. Either way to do it right you should remove the boards. At that point you can price the new wood versus your time to strip the old.

I think your in for a nightmare if you try to pull your trim off. I would think you are going to tear up some plaster and lath board in the process. Stripping is no fun. Stripper can get expensive too. Gonna be a tough project on limited budget. How big is your baseboard and trim. How many rooms are you planning on doing.

[This message has been edited by whit.millwork (edited December 10, 2003).]

What are your plans for these base boards and trim and such?If you plan on painting them or such I can help you with that so you won't need to strip it.
So I need to know what you want to do is paint,stain,or what;also what is on it right now?
This will help you in your budget and save lots of time.

I don't mean to butt-in luluhb, but I'm in the same boat and would like to ask a question of my own, if I may. I too, would like to replace my trim in my 1918 home with plaster walls. I've removed some of the paint with a heatgun (check for lead first) down to the original stain. After sizing up the situation I think it might be easier if I just replace the wood. I have removed one piece of wood with minimal damage to the plaster. I'm a bit worried that nailing the new wood back on will crumble the plaster. Is there any advice of how to go about doing this and what I should expect? would predrilling nail holes help? Also, are there any other options? oh, my intensions are to have a stained wood look. Current trim is 3/4 x 7 or so, and I would replace with approx. same.

Thanks for any advice.

consider shooting it on with a nail gun. You can get a compressor-finish nailer kit for a couple hundred dollars. We can match your current trim or run something similar for fairly cheap depending on wood species, design etc... at www.curvedtrim.com

Gac,

Whit.millwork is steering you right on using a nailer. Use a finish nailer with 15/16 gauge nails. They're flat cut on the tips so it's less likely to split the wood.

Here's a suggestion on removing old trim. Use a wide board under your prybar to spread the load out over multiple studs. If you can get the mopboards etc out far enough, consider using a pair of sidecutters and clip the existing nails. You won't have to pull the board as far and you can remove the pieces once the board is off the wall.

Be prepared though, you could have a lot of plaster fall regardless of what you do. If the keys are gone that hold the plaster to the lath, it's iffy at best.

Good luck