How do I remove architrave without wrecking the plaster?

Architrave has been painted into the wall for decades, and pulling it off takes a strip of plaster with it unless the paint film is cut first.

What you'll need

• A sharp utility or trimming knife
• A wide bolster or a flat pry bar
• A scrap of 6mm plywood
• Pincers or end nippers
• A hammer

Step by step

1. Score the paint line.Run a sharp knife firmly along the joint between architrave and wall, several passes rather than one heavy cut. This is what stops the paint film tearing plaster off with the timber.
2. Score the other joints too.Where the architrave meets the frame, and at the mitres. Anywhere paint bridges two components.
3. Start at a mitre or a free end.The head piece is usually the easiest, or a leg at floor level. Get a small gap opened before applying any real force.
4. Lever from the frame side.Put the bolster between the architrave and the door frame, not between the architrave and the wall. The frame will take the load; the plaster will not.
5. Protect whatever you lever against.A scrap of plywood spreads the load and stops the bolster embedding itself in the frame.
6. Work along the length.Ease it out 10mm at a time in several places rather than pulling one point right off. Levering one end fully splits the architrave.
7. Deal with the pins.Most lost-head pins stay in the frame. Pull them through the back of the architrave with pincers rather than punching them back through the face, which splits the moulding.
8. Label the pieces if they are going back.Pencil on the back: which door, which side, which way up. Mitres are cut to the specific frame and are rarely interchangeable.
9. Check for hidden fixings on older work.Victorian and Edwardian architrave is sometimes screwed and pelleted, or nailed into grounds. Look for filled dots in the moulding before forcing anything.
10. Tidy the plaster edge afterwards.Some loss is normal. Rake back the loose edge, fill and sand before refitting, rather than trying to hide it behind the moulding.

Tips

• Take the door off first if you want to work comfortably at the hinge side. It costs five minutes and removes a lot of awkwardness.
• A multi-tool with a flush-cut blade will sever trapped pins where the architrave will not release. Cut rather than force.
• Old architrave is usually a profile no longer made. It is worth taking care with the removal even if you think you will replace it.

Common mistakes

• Levering against the wall — Plaster has almost no tensile strength at an edge. A bar bearing on it crushes and lifts a strip several centimetres wide, turning a ten-minute job into a plastering repair.
• Punching pins back through the face — Lost-head pins are wedge-shaped and split the moulding as they are driven back through. Pulling them out through the rear leaves only a tiny hole in the back face.

If it doesn't work

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