Many Seattle houses from 1905 to the 1930s still have their plaster walls and fir trim. The baseboard is often more than one piece: a shoe molding at the floor, a flat board and sometimes a separate cap on top. It may be held with long old nails driven through to the framing, and it has decades of paint gluing it to the wall.
Put a pry bar behind that and pull, and you will likely crack the plaster, split the board or both. Slow, spread-out force gets it off clean, and a typical room takes an hour or two.
Check these before you pry
Lead paint. If the house was built before 1978, treat the paint as lead until a test says otherwise. Scoring and prying break the paint film, and a lab test of a chip settles the question. If it is lead and you still want to do this, EPA says to seal off the work area, keep children, anyone pregnant and pets away, and finish with a HEPA vacuum and a wet wipe-down. Hired work on pre-1978 homes falls under the state's lead-safe renovation rules, which the Washington Department of Commerce runs.
Wiring and heat. Older houses sometimes have outlets set right into the baseboard, and some still have knob-and-tube wiring in the walls. Shut off the circuit, check with a tester and stop if a wire runs behind the board. Electric baseboard heaters need to be disconnected by someone qualified before the trim behind them comes off.
The plaster itself. Press gently along the wall above the base. If it flexes or sounds hollow, the keys are already broken and it may come down with very little help. Go slower there, or leave that run for a pro.
What is on the floor. Keep tools off old vinyl tile, sheet vinyl or black adhesive in a house from before about 1980, which can contain asbestos. Old floor removal and subfloor prep explains what comes next.
Tools
- A sharp utility knife with fresh blades.
- A stiff 2-inch putty knife and a 6-inch taping knife.
- Two thin flat pry bars.
- Wood shims and a block of scrap, about a foot long, to spread the force.
- An oscillating multi-tool with a bimetal blade, for nails that will not let go.
- End nippers or locking pliers.
- A strong magnet, painter's tape and a pencil.
- Safety gear: eye protection, gloves, and a P100 respirator and HEPA vacuum where old paint is involved.
Step by step
- Protect the room. Tape plastic over the doorway and floor if the paint might contain lead. Do not dry-sand or use a heat gun on old paint.
- Number everything first. Put a strip of tape on each piece with its wall and position, such as "north wall 2," and sketch the room. Photograph the corners so you can see how they went together.
- Cut the paint seams. Score along the top edge where the base meets the plaster, down each corner, and between the pieces of a multi-part base. Make two or three light passes. A sprayed mist of water helps hold down dust if the paint might contain lead.
- Take off the shoe molding. Slide the stiff knife in behind it, follow with a shim and ease it off, starting at an open end. It is often nailed into the floor, so it lifts up and out. If a short piece snaps, it can be replaced at modest cost.
- Find the nails. Run the magnet along the board and mark each nail with tape on the wall above. The tape shows you where it is safe to pry. In many of these houses the plaster stops behind the base at a wood strip called a ground, which also takes the nails.
- Start at an open end, such as a door casing or outside corner. At an inside corner, one board is often coped over the other, so take the coped piece first.
- Set up the pry. Slide the taping knife behind the top edge at a nail. Lay the wood block flat against the wall, low on the board, then put the flat bar between the block and the trim. All of the force should go into the block, never into bare plaster.
- Move it a little at a time. Lift the board about 1/8 inch at the first nail, hold it there with a shim and move to the next nail. Work back and forth along the whole run until the board stands off about 1/4 to 1/2 inch everywhere.
- Cut any nail that fights you. Slip the multi-tool blade behind the board and cut through the shank. It puts no force on the wall.
- Lift it clear with a helper. A long board of old fir can split along the grain if you let one end drop. Carry it on edge.
- Pull the nails out through the back. Grip the shank with end nippers and roll it out. Pounding a nail back through the face chips the paint.
- Clean up and store it. HEPA-vacuum the wall line, wipe it with a damp cloth and stack the trim flat indoors. A damp garage or crawl space can bow old wood during a Seattle winter.
If the plaster cracks anyway
Cracks below the top of the base get covered again, so they matter only if the wall will no longer hold together. Above that line, a hairline crack can be filled the next time you paint. Loose plaster should be fixed before it spreads, usually with plaster washers and screws into the lath, followed by a setting-type patching compound. Do not dry-sand a patch next to paint that might contain lead.
Putting it back
Reset the base after the floor is in, working from your numbered sketch. Slide a thin spacer under it so a floating floor can still move, and nail only into studs or grounds, never into the plank. Predrill old fir so it does not split. Our guide to undercutting door jambs and casings covers the doorways, and stairs, transitions and trim shows how the edges come together.
What it costs
These are typical Seattle-area ranges for planning. They vary with the house and the installer, and your written quote is the real number.
| Item | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Knives, flat bars, nippers, shims | About $40 to $100 | Most of it reusable |
| Oscillating multi-tool | About $40 to $150 | Also handles undercuts |
| P100 half-mask | About $30 to $60 | For old paint |
| Lab test of a paint chip for lead | About $10 to $50 per sample | Ask about turnaround |
| Baseboard reset by an installer | About $2 to $4 per linear foot | Or quarter round at a similar price |
| Plaster repair by a plasterer | Commonly $200 to $800 for a patch | More for a whole wall |
| Matching old fir base | Varies widely | Often a custom millwork order |
The Seattle flooring cost guide puts these next to product and prep costs.
When to call a professional
Hand this one over when:
- The paint tests positive for lead, or it is flaking and young children or someone pregnant lives in the house. Ask for a firm certified under the state's program.
- The plaster is already bulging, hollow or cracked in long runs.
- Wiring sits behind the trim, or you find knob-and-tube you were not expecting. Call an electrician.
- The trim is one-of-a-kind or hard to match, and you are not confident of getting it off whole.
- Old vinyl or black adhesive shows along the wall.
- You have a whole floor to do. Preparing for installation day shows what to handle yourself and what to leave to the crew.
An installer looks at the baseboard at the in-home measure and lists the reset on the written quote. Call (425) 842-3483 or text (844) 543-5757 to book one; coverage by neighborhood is on the Seattle areas page.
