thanks maryinthefalls. you're right, we won't know unless we strip a section. We haven't tested everywhere, but the baseboards tested positive for lead and so did the door we tested.

The contractor did suggest that if we go for new moldings we should save the old stuff just in case someone wants it one day. He basically told us we don't have the budget to strip everything (stripping would be done offsite by a different company). We could probably scrape together $5000 more to make it happen--I don't know if that would get it done. We could also trim our kitchen budget and gain a few thousand by doing butcher block counters and getting cheaper appliances. We aren't too keen on encapsulating because there is already so much paint and we know it will eventually peel again, but we should probably consider that more seriously.

The co-op doesn't have any aesthetic restrictions on what we do inside the apartment--they care if you want to move walls or alter plumbing. :)

Mine had gloppy paint but I was resigned to strip enough to repaint. Using a heat gun, I realized that the trim had been shellacked originally and that made the stripping relatively easy. And even though it is Doug Fir, not the most appreciated wood, it is beautiful when restained. So of course, I vote for stripping your trim. Original features are really worth something.
Diane

Great place, love the pics. Your molding are similar to mine from 1937, mine were meant to be painted. I'd check on and see if they could work stained. Of course, he wants to remove and replace, probably with some narrow stuff that will not do justice to the age of the building. I'd encapsulate and get it done when you can. I can't find any proof searching but it seems to me that white moldings didn't come into favor until the 30's. If the doors strip beautifully, there's a good chance your molding was stained. Mix and match came later.

Oops, I didn't think it posted and there it was 2x! Sorry.

This post was edited by jaysmom49 on Thu, Jul 25, 13 at 19:56

If thedoor jambs are coming out, the door casings are too; but there's baseboard and window casing and cased openings to worry about. replicating can have some cost, unless you want to settle for off-the-shelf profiles. Having everything stripped commercially may not be cost-prohibitive against exact duplication of original profiles, but more $$ than in-stock moldings.
Casey

Cool place - amazing floors! Even with the 2 yr old, you could try soy gel and stripping it yourselves. Might be surprising at how fast it goes. I would definitely not replace that trim!

We moved into our house with lead paint trim more than 20 years ago when my son was four and so we chose to encapsulate it with latex paint. Really I wasn't too worried about the hazard but with toddlers you just have to watch the paint chips and any dust that you might generate. Once he was grown and out of the house I started stripping...like PowerMuffin I used a heat gun. In some rooms I have removed the trim and did the work in the garage with doors open and some I left in place. I found doors and casings easy to remove but baseboards were a bugger in my house and gouging the plaster was easy to do so easier to leave them alone. I'm determined that whoever gets the house next won't have any lead paint to worry about but realistically there will probably be some other carcinogen discovered by that time that is even worse.

I lived in two 1830s apartments. In the first I stripped or burned off all the paint except on the jib doors and the entry door which I sent out for stripping, I did not strip one piece of millwork that was a profile so common here that it is still produced and available at Home Depot ( a 3/4" ogee moulding). I replaced that.

I got lead poisoning which eventually cleared. (I wore a respirator but I was very careless about wearing gloves when burning off the paint and ended up with peripheral numbness and elevated blood levels).

Anyway, when I sold that apartment and moved into another, I looked at the casing, which was a unique profile and found someone to make a knife for me and reproduce it, I replaced most of the other millwork which was buildups of still-available profiles.

I stripped the entry door and paneling, and the shutters did not need to be stripped in this apartment.

It was much more cost effective to reproduce than it was to strip and repair, including some custom radius work.

In my apartment the millwork was always painted. In a building of your era in NYC, I would expect that it was mostly meant to be painted, particularly with the Classical Revival/Colonial Revival interior feel that I am getting. I could be wrong.

I believe the other issue you may have in NYC is disposal of the hazardous waste if you use any kind of chemical stripper, which then becomes lead-laden hazardous waste.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts on this. We definitely have a lot of options to consider.

I still feel like the first and best choice--if we can price it right--is to remove everything and take it to a paint stripping business. Maybe we could diy the removal of all the trim and save some $$ on the labor cost.

We're definitely going to try the soy gel stripper if just to see what's underneath the baseboard paint job--and who knows? maybe if it comes off easy we'll do some of the job ourselves. My husband has already looked up where to safely/legally dispose the paint in nyc.

We're meeting with 2 more contractors in the apartment tomorrow so perhaps they'll have more ideas for us...

This post was edited by kate_nyc on Sat, Jul 27, 13 at 0:42

I vote against remove and replace! You'll have a very hard time finding molding today that will do justice to what you have. And if you have custom knives made to reproduce your moldings exactly, then your savings are likely gone. Your contractor just wants to take the easiest route for him. In my experience, heat guns work best. Seems to me you could put a couple of low wage apprentices with heat guns to work, and they'd have you stripped in no time.

Becareful if your doors are being sent to be stripped by dipping them in a bath. That process ends up making the wood very rough and porous.

The knife I had made directly from piece of the original work was $125-150, and the per foot cost of running the moulding in paint grade poplar was comparable to stock mouldings of similar detail, and Less than a number of the custom order mouldings of similar dimension.

A little update--we met with 2 contractors today and neither thought the idea of stripping the moldings was very practical. We were quoted $7/foot for dip and strip of the baseboards (not including reinstallation) and contractors said it would probably cost more to strip it on site. And if they did do it on site, I would feel horrible about workers using a heat gun on the paint--so toxic and I know they never wear the right protection.

The contractor who seemed to understand our wants the most said that he has a millworker who would replicate our moldings exactly (like what palimpsest described)--that was what he thought made the most sense for the baseboards and picture rails. The rest (doors, windows and their trim) he thought should be stripped and restored.

We're not completely sold on giving up our baseboards and picture rails yet, but "exact reproduction" of the original is a lot easier to stomach than "replacement."

oops - wrong thread

This post was edited by elphaba on Thu, Aug 1, 13 at 16:10

Beautiful home! With the detail you already have, I'd paint the walls a light tan (lighter than the inlay accent in the floors) and paint all the trim a warm white. The detail on the upper walls (looks like there's space between trim and ceiling) I'd pant an even lighter shade than the wall color and carry it up and onto the ceilings.

Your fireplace and trim details are lovely. I'd rather paint them for now (with lead issues) and do a great job of encapsulating them, then replace them. Even removing them and stripping could cause some damage...why not enjoy what's there? And splurge on the kitchen :)