Advice on Matching Molding

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historicalwork
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Re: Advice on Matching Molding

Post by historicalwork »

yeah - certainly in this area stuff that is "vintage" or "reclaimed" now has a nice price tag. I always wonder what parts of the country have places like second chance but with tons of stuff at reasonable prices. I'd probably make a drive just to visit an area like that (and probably come back with stuff I don't need).

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Vala
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Re: Advice on Matching Molding

Post by Vala »

There are places that sell salvage for reasonable prices but you have to poke around and its usually in smaller communities. Any company (esp if its in the big city) that specializes in "salvage" is going to charge big $$$$.

historicalwork
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Re: Advice on Matching Molding

Post by historicalwork »

I thought I'd share where I am in my venture to find matching molding. I'm sure of lot of what I've learned isn't news to most. But just in case.... i started out thinking I would go down to the big box store or maybe a more reputable lumber yard and just buy lengths of molding. I could have done that - if I didn't care about it matching. A couple places in our house already have a different molding profile for the baseboard base cap. But I think it looks different enough and my current need would have a slightly different profiles in the same room.

Based on a couple recommendations including on this thread, I realized that millwork shops are the place to look. May have their own collections of knifes for different molding profiles - some common profiles and some custom they've done over the years. But it's still a bit of a crap shoot if you want to get things generally exact in terms of match. Again, it all depends on how exact you want it. It's also not great when you just need a small amount - I guess that goes for anything. Even with the knife matching the profile, they will charge a setup fee and fact that into the per foot cost. It makes sense. So, if you are getting 8 feet, for example, you almost might as well get extra because it won't be much more given the setup is what drives up the cost. Most have some price break when going over 100 feet.

I found setup fees to be around $100 to $125 plus the cost per sq ft. Where one place needed create a knife, it was a around $125 charge then the cost per sq ft. I looked at 60 feet of base cap and 16 feet of the door header. Looking at two places I spoke to, the base cap would range from $3.25 to $4.25 / sql ft. So, $200 to about $260 for 60 feet of base cap. Both places have to create the profile. For the header on the door, since it's a little more complex and I needed only a small quantity (16' - really only needed 4 feet for one door), the price ranged from $8/ sq ft to $14/ sq ft or $140 to about $240 for 16 feet. The lower estimate was because one place had a profile that matched really close and there was no need to machine a new one.

I should add - these prices were for poplar. My original bas cap was oak and the baseboard chestnut. I plan to paint so I would go with poplar (at least as I'm thinking now). Oak ran about 1.75 more per foot. I also need to think about the base boards themselves. No matter where I get the wood, I probably need it cut to the same size - it's slightly off from anything I can find in the store. So, while not as expensive as the profiles, that's an added cost. Given where I'm at, I might be looking at spending around $500 to finish the molding for this one room - with some left over for future needs. Still deciding what to do but thought I would share. Others may have some related info on this.

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Willa
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Re: Advice on Matching Molding

Post by Willa »

On one hand - $ 500.00 to get what you need so you can finish that room is not unreasonable, looking at the big picture of a house in need of repairs.

BUT - when it gets broken down into considering paying $ 260.00 for 16 linear feet, your blood can start to boil.

The mill that didn't actually want my business quoted me something ridiculous like $ 500.00(CAN) to make the knives for my door trim. When I made inquiries - which were clear, specific, via email, and included a sample of what I needed matched mailed to them AND clear photos with measurements - then someone would answer a few of my questions then mysteriously be on holiday or no longer working there when I followed up.

Your repair will be in a bedroom, so it is not a main public room, so a less than perfect match is acceptable IMO. You may have to undo what is there on the former closet wall, to replace it with what you can find, so that will all match in that location. You can save what gets taken off and use it somewhere else or to help a desperate old house fixer in the future. If your repairs are under a time constraint, then this is probably the easiest solution.

If there isn't great urgency then I suggest you post locally on CL, etc. and you might get lucky. Suss out dumpsters near old houses under renovation or even bug the contractor dudes there. The hassle factor is also a consideration. If you have to drive an hour and a half to get to a house that is being demo'd, remove the trim yourself but also take a load of rubbish to the dump for the homeowner is that a bargain or a waste of your time ?

* ALSO* It's worth making a point of stopping by your closest reclaimed store once a week or so just in case. Make a quick walk through, talk to the staff if they are helpful types, but make it a habit to check. The carpenter I used was a big ReStore fan, which was conveniently near the lumberyard. We would make a brief 5 minute walk through. I scored my $ 15.00 wood framed basement window that way, which was an unusual size.

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Re: Advice on Matching Molding

Post by phil »

I would suggest buying a tablesaw and router.

mount the router to the underside of the tablesaw side table so you can adjust the height. If you want to spend money there are special jigs you can buy to mount the router.

buy only the router bits you need, If you look you can get made in china router bit sets quite cheaply, if you run a lot of one style you can go buy better quality ones.

cut your stock to the outer dimensions you want. Next run it across the router to get your chosen profile. You may need to do more than one pass to get the profile you are matching.

You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on stuff you didn't need. the time and money you spent on setting up will pay for itself many times over. You can chose your wood species and if you wish to you can use reclaimed old growth wood for this.

have a look at this little video to get the basics. If you like you can use the fence and take several passes so you aren't removing huge amounts all at once. You can also just use a guide bearing on the bit as shown on the video.

there are so many styles of molding that it really isn't worth trying to shop for used ones.

If you don't want to do woodworking , find someone who does. try a local post on Craigslist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4dup4o_ldo

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