Cost of replacing door frames

[Anappleaday1]

Does anyone have an idea of how much it would cost to replace an internal door frame (or 5). We live in a 1930s house and there is about 10 layers of gloss on the skirting/door frames. I have started stripping the paint but the wood isn't in great condition, it would require a lot of filling and sanding. Not to mention the hours it would take to remove all of the paint. I'm wondering whether it would be better to just replace the frames?

The photo doesn't show the poor quality paint job - it's cracked and has many drip Mark's!

I have the same issue. Interested in the responses.

Lovely doors but not really something I’d consider doing tbh. We have had one door frame stripped back and re-done but that was because the whole frame had dropped on one side. It’s probably a days’ labour plus materials, so could be quite expensive depending on how much you replace (our architrave was custom templated which is £££)

Thanks @Flamingolingo I think it will be pricey, especially as there's 5 of them! I'd rather restore them but given the amount of time it has taken to strip a small section (on another door) and the wood is quite chipped underneath I wonder whether it would just make more sense to replace them. We are having to replace the skirting and possibly banister, if it's not much more I think we will go ahead but no idea what it would cost!

Thing is the old wood is often better than new wood which is now grown quickly. Might be worth seeing whether hiring an industrial sander might help. Our door frames are not great either, but a decent decorator has been able to improve them a little

Good idea, I hadn't thought about that. As we can't get any quotes now anyway I'm going to persevere with stripping away as much paint as I can, so hopefully I'll find some need less work than the current one!

Do you mean the frame or the architrave around it? That just pries off and easy to replace

The architrave around it @Loofah01

I cant see the surface well but i have come across many like this before. A good solid heat gun (Suspect lead paint so be careful) will get this up nice, maybe a fill and a paint, depends on who the timber is underneath, you say its chipped but maybe that was in your removal, it happens when people strip wallpaper too. I'd say a good decorator will be able to sand back, Undercoat, and two topcoats of a waterbased system in maybe 2-3 days, provided he has the right kit.

So maybe if you do think about getting a carpenter in, maybe also a quote or two from a local dec, just too see if thats a cheaper way to go, might be the same man hours but less in materials. you wouldn't need to take it back to bare wood, just sand enough off to get a smooth surface, preferably with a mirka or other dustless sander.

Thanks @SNDDecorating that's really helpful advice. I think some of the chipping is from my removal. I am trying to get it back to the last layer of paint, which is smooth so I think it would cover well. The problem is, sometimes it comes off to the wood - I'm worried that if I recoat it with parts of the wood exposed it will just peel off again? Can this be avoided with sanding?

We had to match a new door frame to our existing 1930s frames when we had our extension and modern timber is no-where near as good quality as the original stuff and we had terrible trouble matching the architrave and our deep skirting a boards. Your doors & frames look lovely.

@Anappleaday1 Its always hard to give advice when I'm not there looking at it. It will be fine with the exposed wood, you can spot prime (so just give the exposed bits a coat) with your normal undercoat, then the same Undercoat and two topcoats.

I would suggest before you spend the age it would take to burn it all off. Give it a good rub down with some sand paper, 120 grit is a good middle-ground for old gloss, i like to use flexible pads too (Mirka Goldflex). Just enough to knock off the runs and whatever other dinks its had, and then put a coat of undercoat on. Its always surprising what a coat of paint will hide when it looks a nice uniform colour. If that doesnt work, a company called CT-1 makes a product called Peel-Tec, which is a paint stripper thats really good, but isnt harsh on skin, i've sprayed it straight onto my hands with no ill effects, saves having to properly PPE up for anything nastier

If you would like some recommendations i would suggest Johnstones Trade Aqua system. It isnt the best of the bunch, but its easy to use, leaves a durable finish and you can get it from most trade painters merchants. Please, whatever you do, please dont use Dulux one coat gloss, I would rather come and do these for you for free than you use that stuff ahah

@SNDDecorating thank you so much for your very helpful response! I'm looking forward to getting to the re painting stage, it will probably be a while!

Have you tried something like peelaway? It basically dissolves paint - it's pricier than sanding or heat gun, but takes a lot less time for you.

Architrave is easy, and much less work than stripping the old.

A carpenter should be able to do them all in a day.

S/he will want to nail them up. This will sometimes split the wood and is difficult to remove. My own preference is small screws. I find it easier to prime and undercoat architrave before fixing, you can carry it into the garden, and will have to apply the final coat after fixing to hide the filler over the nails and screws.

If you have an older house, don't get a modern architrave, which is narrow and simple. You can still get wide, moulded architrave, typically around 75mm wide.

When the architrave is removed, you may see gaps or cracks in the plaster round the door linings ("frames"). If you like, you can inject expanding foam. I like to use the pink fire foam. Clean out dust, and moisten the gap before injecting. The foam will stick the lining to the wall and prevent future rattles and cracks, especially if you have a teenage daughter.

If the foam is hidden by the architrave you do not need to smooth, fill and paint it.

Or you can use decorators caulk which is not as good.

Removing and replacing the old frames will be messy, time consuming and expensive. You could also end up with having to re-plaster certain areas which will add to the expense and time. Once you have replaced them you then need to prepare and paint the new frames so you're almost back to where you started. Finally after another 3 months you will then be back doing remedial work because the new wood has shrunk and twisted.

Personally I would run with SND's advice.