Best Practices for Trim Removal
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Remove Trim Without Damaging It (or the Wall)
There’s an art to removing trim, whether you need to take off a few pieces of baseboard to install a built-in bookcase or remove all the trim in a room for a remodeling project. You have to do it properly to avoid damaging the walls, and the trim if you plan to reuse it. We’ll show you how to do the job and keep the collateral damage as low as possible.
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Slice the Paint Away From the Wall
This tip applies mainly to painted trim. It is common for moldings to be stuck to the wall, or for adjacent pieces of trim to be stuck together, either from caulk or years of built-up paint. If you don’t slice through the caulk or paint, the trim will be harder to remove. More importantly, the wall or trim may get damaged. Use a sharp blade in a utility knife to cut along the joint to separate the trim. Be prepared to change blades frequently, because dried paint is hard to cut and tough on blades.
