Fixing Architrave

TIME SCALE 3 Hours

SKILL LEVEL

Throughout the decades, architraves have evolved into an art form all its own, especially in more affluent mansions and structures. By picking only the right architraves and moulded skirtings, you can transform a dull and plain room as a centerpiece all its own; that is, the room itself becomes the showcase instead of whatever else is in it. For instance, large, sculpted architraves can make plain and dull doorways look magnificent without outright investing on a more ornate door. That's how effective architraves and skirting boards are in enhancing a given room's overall look. Architraves, along with skirtings, are essentially engineered to conceal any uneven and unsightly edges between doors and walls. Aside from renovation-savvy homeowners and those working in the construction industry, many people are not even aware of these fixtures' existence most of the time. But behind these unnoticeable subtleties lay the genius of their creation. Like a shoelace's aglets, architraves (also known as epistyles) give the understated finishing touch that improves and enhances a door's (doorframe and all) overall aesthetic value. As for skirting boards, they serve as the joint between the wall and the floor, as well as the wall and the ceiling with coving. However, they do not only cover wall-to-flooring and wall-to-ceiling imperfections; they also protect these parts of the home from everyday wear and tear as well as prevent furniture from being pushed right against them. It certainly doesn't hurt that skirtings can also serve as rather fetching decorative mouldings that give a room that extra panache. Nowadays, the newer models of architrave are fitted by shearing the top corners at an incline so that they could connect tightly to each other in order to by and large form a right angle. As such, if your doorframe is warped or leaning over, this right-angle approach may not be suitable for your needs. Finding the appropriate angle for certain doorframes, undoubtedly, is a case-to-case basis. It's recommended that you ask a professional or research on the different angles used in carpentry to solve this particular issue. Mouldings, also known as simple architraves, come in two forms: Bull-nosed and Chamfered. These architraves must be cut so that they could be affixed to the door's perimeter with small, 30 millimetre pins. Keep in mind that you must provide an overlap allowance on the frame to allow effective, trouble-free pin hammering. The pins can be embedded with a small, 8 ounce pin hammer available in your local hardware store or on-site here in NuStock. Moreover, the architrave should be set with the moulded edge in front of the door but must also be restrained from the internal edge of the frame by about 6 millimetres or a quarter of an inch. This way, even if the frame is slightly uneven, the architrave can be modified accordingly, because the 6 millimetre allowance will not be easily noticed. In any case, measure the doorframe carefully to the above specifications unless advised otherwise by a professional architrave fitter. Once the architrave is all set, pin its joints down into position, but do not overdo it by hammering the pins all the way. Instead, measure first then cut the top part and drop it into place. From there, gauge if the mitres are aligned; if not, feel free to move the side pieces to get a better joint. Once you're happy with the arrangement, pin all three segments into position using a nail punch to really sink the panel pinheads below the shell of the wood and fill the resulting holes with some decorators caulk. Take note that any inconsistency in the mitres and the back of the architrave (if it is slightly sitting off the wall) can be packed, sealed, and fixed with decorators caulk. Of course, getting the job done without any hitches or discrepancy will save you money on caulk, so approach architrave installation with due prudence. Nothing beats work that needs the least amount of caulk. Once everything is said and done, the architrave's joints can be sanded down for priming and painting. In regards to skirting boards, they should only be added after the architraves are installed, with their joints treated the same way as their doorway counterpart. Keep note that the filling will be quite rough and uneven until the sanding down process, and most fillers, despite their brands' claims to the contrary, do shrivel quite a bit. As such, it's recommended that you overfill the joint and just sand the finish instead of sanding first then putting in the filling in order to maintain a uniformly clean and sanded look. For older homes, taking off old architraves and installing new ones is a cost-effective and easy way of giving your home an interior facelift of sorts. All you really need to remove existing architraves is a sharp chisel to chuck away at the joint formed between the front of the frame and the moulded edge of the architrave. By levering the fixture out carefully, you can detach the old and install the new architrave in no time at all.