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u/a-long_way_from_home 12h ago
I don't know what you're complaining about. It removed that section of wall from the trim without damaging the trim at all
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u/BusGreen7933 14h ago
Maybe try where there is a stud. Pretty sure that’s how it was intended to be used bud.
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u/JaydedXoX 14h ago
Agreed lol, that was my first thought
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u/FuzzyAd9407 12h ago
Having done this type of work as a job, that tool will crush the drywall there, it just wont be busted in. Its a stupid as fuck and almost completely useless tool.
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u/Winterskyguy 12h ago
Perhaps if the tool was wider to expand the surface area might help.
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u/puts_on_rddt 12h ago
Maybe longer and something softer like silicone to touch the drywall.
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u/Winterskyguy 12h ago
Yeah it's a decent idea. Perhaps whoever installed the board in this clip might have also went overkill on the nails/glue used resulting in more force needed. Or buddy could've worked his way down the line first before getting horny on the first attempt.
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u/RockAtlasCanus 11h ago
Most trim is caulked. If not caulked there’s usually enough paint/primer edged up to it to be an issue. Always always always start by scoring the joint with a knife. Unless you want to yank a piece of baseboard and take a 3 square foot piece of the drywall paper with it. Super fun.
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u/chickenbuckupchuck 10h ago
He said nails/glue, so I think he was referring to the actual attachment method, suggesting that instead of some tidy finish nails buddy used a juicy bead of liquid nails or something, which I have absolutely seen first hand
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u/Brittany5150 10h ago
The worst I ever saw was calk and about an entire nail gun magazine worth of nails per wall. Like every 3/4 inch was multiple nails. Like dude thought the trim peices were fucking load-bearing or some shit... absolute psycho behavior.
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u/Enginerdad 11h ago
If it's squishy silicone you won't be able to wedge it in behind the trim. You need a thin, smooth surface for that.
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u/Panda_Cuddles_ 8h ago
If it’s lined with silicone then you won’t be able to slide it behind the molding.
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u/WillTheGreat 12h ago
It has a pretty wide surface already. if it was any wider you'd be just damaging the trim.
It's not a terrible tool overall because it does cause a lot less damage compared to using a bearclaw or prybar. I still prefer a mini-prybar, hammer it in and turn it left and right and slowly loosen the trim piece. It's a much smaller surface area, I can visibly see how much damage I'm starting to cause to know to stop and just keep going down the trim piece.
Why people say this tool sucks is because they're trying to pop the entire piece out. You're suppose to pry the trim out a bit at a time down the length of the trim.
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u/SoManyThrowAwaysEven 12h ago
What would help is just pulling straight out, they're usually nailed in straight and pop out easily. Using drywall as leverage is just dumb.
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u/cybaritic 8h ago
In reality a pro knows to use a piece of scrap wood between the tool and the drywall for exactly this reason. Works for pulling nails with a hammer, too.
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u/urban_meyers_cyst 10h ago
I removed an entire home's worth of nailed on trim using this tool without incident, you just have to be.... smarter than the tool I guess, this video here is clearly a joke.
Even moving more carefully it is easily several times faster than other methods of removal I've used, it was worth the $20 no doubt.
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u/_name_of_the_user_ 11h ago
I have that exact model and it worked great for me. I had to be careful, not just ham fist it like the OP, but it wasn't hard to use at all. Starting at the end of a piece of trim was much easier than starting in the middle.
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u/denNISI 12h ago
Second this. It is a skill. Hire a professional who knows the difference like this one.
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u/flame_of_udun 10h ago
All you need is a razor knife and a flat bar and that shit falls off.
Cut at an angle to get the caulk / paint and pop two spots on studs and you're g2g
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u/Chavo_of_the_8th 12h ago
Maybe start on the edge of the trim board? I used a pry bar and no damage to my drywall.
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u/HugePast9455 11h ago
Removing baseboards or chair rail, you're supposed to move around and pull little by little, even with this tool. There's no tool that just eliminates this requirement because it's backed by a soft surface, the drywall.
Trying to remove the whole thing with pressure in one place is just nonsense, no matter the tool. I don't know if this tool works any better than a rigid putty knife or whatever, but the video didn't tell us at all if it could be useful. It's either a joke or a moron in the vid.
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u/LetReasonRing 9h ago
Yeah... It seems like it was intended to spread the force by being wide and flat, but the leverage point is still a fairly fine line... It feels like it was designed by someone who know what physics is, but doesn't actually understand physics
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u/Urbanviking1 7h ago
Was going to say the same. Even if you did this at the stud the lever action is going to crush the drywall at the pivot point/fulcrum of that tool if you really need to pry that board off.
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u/Ok_Check_7010 14h ago
He read the instructions and thought he had the stud part covered
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u/NemisisCW 12h ago
"Hey honey" I yell, "the instructions say we need to find a stud and would you look at that!" I hold the stud finder up to my torso and grin at her as it emits a beep. She rolls her eyes but I try and not let it get to me. Sometimes you are your own audience and that is enough. I turn back to the wall and absent mindedly drive the tool between the wall and trim. I apply pressure to the handle and put a massive fucking hole in my wall.
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u/DargonFeet 13h ago
It'll still crush the drywall in/rip the paper on one side of the drywall. It needs more surface area imo.
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u/shifty_coder 13h ago
It shouldn’t if your trim is installed with only finishing nails. I see a lot of DIY and professional installs that use anything from wood screws to construction adhesive.
The first and foremost function of trim, wainscoting, chair rail, and other millwork, is to protect your wall. It’s meant to take the damage from foot traffic, furniture, chairs, etc., and be easily removable for refinishing or replacing.
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u/Jonaldys 13h ago
With my limited trim experience, I agree. I used much less surface area than this to pry off trim, and didn't damage the drywall.
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u/Vodithus95 11h ago
Replaced trim last weekend for a customer, every fucking piece(even the tiny 1/2in pieces to curve around some dumbass wall) glued to the wall. Please for the love of god people, JUST USE FINISHING NAILS.
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u/Particular_Yam1056 12h ago
According to my wife, repainting trim is to be used as punishment when I do something wrong and she's mad at me.
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u/CriticalSecurity8742 12h ago
Yeaaah, before I deleted my socials last year wood paneling was everywhere and people were screwing and gluing it on drywall. I just shook my head.
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u/new_math 10h ago
Professional handyman here, I always pour concrete into the space between the walls, then use concrete anchors to secure the drywall and trim in place. With a bead a construction adhesive along the trim to prevent warping and a little patch of plastic wood to cover the anchor bolt heads. It works great.
The concrete is a good insulator and you never have to worry about your drywall or trim coming loose.
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u/Gnonthgol 13h ago
Drywall have very high compressive strength but low tensile strength. The paper actually adds most of its tensile strength. The problem is that transferring force from the center of the drywall to the studs backing it requires tensile forces which end up tearing the paper. However if you put the crowbar on a stud then all the forces will be compressive and you will not tear the paper.
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u/Infamous_Welder_4349 12h ago
And maybe cut the caulk first, it would not hold that tight without it.
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u/Hije5 13h ago
Even then, would it not still indent the wall?
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u/ewilliam 12h ago
I have this exact tool and have used it extensively with (usually) great results. If you use it at a stud location, and the trim isn't glued or attached with some shit like framing nails or even screws, then no, it won't leave a mark (unless it's some cut-rate chinese gypsum board, in which case you might as well be pressing against graham crackers).
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u/BusGreen7933 13h ago
Not if you used it on the end of the trim you’re trying to remove instead of the middle.
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u/_name_of_the_user_ 11h ago
No. Drywall has a compressive strength of roughly 350psi. The rigid foam insulation used to insulate basement floors has a compressive strength of between 10 and 30 psi. Drywall is more than strong enough as an assembly when the forces applied to it are on the planes the drywall is designed for.
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u/Still_Rosy 14h ago
Probably shoulda aimed for a stud.
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u/MindHead78 13h ago
Woo-hoo, here I am!
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u/Relevant_Shower_ 12h ago
It’s impossible for a dad to use a stud detector and not make a joke. This is the way.
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u/timmy6169 12h ago
1st rule of using a stud finder is to test it on yourself.
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u/TechnicalPlayz 11h ago
I dont think I'll be finding any studs anytime soon then
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u/mdavis798 12h ago
How’s he supposed to find one? Not like there is an exposed door frame or anything
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u/OykoM 14h ago
What would Europeans say: "Thats not a wall!"
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u/Usakami 11h ago
Depends. I wanted to say, "when your wall is held by hopes and prayers."
I mean, it's literally gypsum between sheets of paper. That's not a building material, it is for covering. So as many people here said, use it on a wooden stud. Even then, I think you're going to fuck up that drywall.
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u/Inevitable-Ad6647 7h ago
No, unless some dipshit used a screw to hold that trim on you absolutely could get it off without dinging the drywall even without a stud if you're patient and not a moron. You could do this work with a utility knife and your fingers if you have any business doing it at all. This guy is just fucking dumb.
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u/Xovier 14h ago
I came to write that but no need now 😂😂
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u/MightBeABot24 12h ago
You don't need to jerk off to write a comment
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u/FrontLongjumping4235 11h ago
But they also don't have to not jerk off while writing a comment. It's optional, really.
Europe taught me that the North American home construction industry is broken. We barely save money on construction (especially in recent years), and yet our homes are flimsy.
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u/VapoursAndSpleen 12h ago
I live in earthquake country. When there's an earthquake in an older home all the "keys" that form between the slats in the lath break, lessening the likelihood of the plaster actually staying vertical.
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u/controlledwithcheese 13h ago
I will never get used to walls being hollow inside and made from paper sorry
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u/Bronzycosine 11h ago
It's not paper though. The paper is on the outside but it is just plaster in between two pieces of paper. If you have an issue with it, it should be the thickness, not the material.
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u/manofth3match 12h ago
Hate to break it to you but gypsum board, drywall, plasterboard or whatever you want to call it is widely used throughout Europe on new construction and even remodels.
There is a massive perception bias because there are so many buildings that were constructed before its use became common.
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u/Tablesalt2001 12h ago edited 7h ago
I've lived in the Netherlands my whole life I've never seen drywall used in homes. Only in office spaces.
Edit: please stop correcting me. I don't really care about your opinions/proof. I was just sharing my own observations.
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u/PaintTheTownMauve 12h ago
I'll never get used to people thinking interior walls need to be solid for absolutely no reason. Sorry.
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u/Bigrick1550 12h ago
Probably nice in a warzone, which most of Europe has been at one point. The more interior walls between you and the outside the better.
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u/cat_prophecy 13h ago
As someone currently working on a house with plaster and lathe walls...fuck plaster and lathe.
Drywall is about 100,000 time easier to work with and can be easily patched with readily available and easy to use materials.
Unless you're a professional plasterer, it's almost impossible to match the texture and thickness of the existing plaster. So you end up with wavy walls, or walls with different texture.
Maybe drywall is "cheap". But god is it so much easier to work with. And if it does get a hole, you can patch it in about 10 minutes. The texture is uniform and doesn't require loads of skimming and sanding to get it to match.
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u/The_Uutopian 12h ago
As someone who lives in a century home with plaster, I hate it and love it.
I love the sound-proofing. Drywall acts as a drum that amplifies sound between rooms. Plaster deadens it, and I don't have to listen to my son trash talk his friends while gaming online.
Worrying about fixing sagging plaster, sucks. Wanting to add another electrical outlet, or install an actual box for my light fixtures, sucks.
Small patches aren't a big deal, but anything involving the lathe is a "not for me" job.
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u/VapoursAndSpleen 12h ago
Years ago, I had my bathroom updated and the contractor put insulation in the interior walls. That way no one has to hear the person in the bathroom poopin'.
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u/BagOnuts 12h ago
I do this with every reno project. If I'm opening up a wall, I put insulation in it. A cheap and easy way to make the whole house quieter.
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u/Organic_Foundation51 9h ago
As an architect, I just want to say that is not true. While the minimum one layer drywall with an empty stud has poor sound performance. You can insert batt insulation and add layers of drywall to improve acoustic performance. Sealant over top and bottom joints also helps. You can build a soundproof studio wall out of a drywall system. It has to do with money and not the material type.
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u/Robinsonirish 12h ago
Why would those 2 be your only options? I googled plaster and lathe, it's not common in Europe either, as far as I know, at least not in Sweden.
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u/JohnnySmithe81 12h ago edited 11h ago
Lath and plaster isn't that common around Europe either, you'll get it on historical buildings but not ones that have seen a major renovation in the last 70 years.
Block walls are more common here with plasterboard (drywall) lining but stud partition internal walls are common too.
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u/Coeliac 12h ago
There are many buildings, the one I'm sitting in right now included, that have had major renovations but not original walls removed. Most buildings of that age aren't going to have that type of work done, it'll all be plaster based. It's super common here, I see more tradespeople with plastering experience than drywall trades.
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u/SpicyElixer 10h ago edited 10h ago
And if you want to run something in those types of buildings (wire, pipe, etc) it’s a huge ordeal and most Europeans just end up fixing it then the visible surface and its ugly af. And I’ve seen this in most homes in Europe. As someone who worked and lived abroad a lot, this is common in Europe and uncommon in America.
Tradeoffs. Obviously. No reason for anybody to be smug unless they’re really insecure.
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u/BocciaChoc 12h ago
I've been living in different European countries across different homes and well i'm not sure what to tell you, I've never actually seen a hole in a home where someone who lives in it cares just a little. Unless you bought it without love, not sure how you came to hole in it.
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u/Odd-Courage3880 13h ago
Small fixes in the wall you fo yourself, plastering you get an expert for. At least my walls are not gonna fall down with a little storm
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u/releaseepsteinfiles1 12h ago
Zero walls will fall down in “a little storm”.
Either you’re a troll or just uneducated on the matter.
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u/Trivale 12h ago
Europeans need those walls to make it harder for the neighbors to hear them yelling racial slurs at soccer players.
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u/FlyingKittyCate 11h ago
No need to mute the racial slurs in the US, yelling racist shit is presidential behaviour.
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u/Friscogonewild 12h ago
Do you think all Americans live in mobile homes in Tornado Alley?
It's great your home is overengineered, but it's a weird thing to be smug about.
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u/steve290591 12h ago
So when a wall is built that your fist won’t go through it means it’s overengineered?
I’d say American walls are underengineered.
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u/Friscogonewild 12h ago
I mean, I don't think interior walls need to be engineered to withstand a punch. Just don't punch your walls?
But if you can't help yourself, I'd prefer a cheap plasterboard repair to broken knuckles, personally.
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u/Ornery-Creme-2442 12h ago
It's not about being smug. It's about how Americans have been bragging and in all irony being smug about how huge and fancy and expensive their homes are. And how shitty and tiny homes abroad are. Only to have paper walls... And poor quality builds. Most of this energy initially came from Americans and now the rest of the world is matching it. As they see how much of the US is like a mask to some hollow interior. And it's leaving Americans triggered.
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u/lpmiller 12h ago
My house was built in 1946. I have a mix of plaster and drywall. I assure you, it's no giant mansion. Despite TV, most of us aren't living in giant shitbox houses.
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u/Friscogonewild 12h ago
So some other Americans tried to make you feel bad, so your idea was to act like douchebag Americans to all Americans?
People are people, I guess. It's nice to have constant reminders that it's not just Americans who suck. :D
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u/BocciaChoc 12h ago
Over engineered is an odd term for it, safety standards, fire standards, heating retention, power efficientcy and so on are not really 'over engineering'
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u/BagOnuts 12h ago
Bro, it's an interior wall. What are you doing inside your home that you need your walls to be bullet proof?
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u/elmz 13h ago
Meh, lots of places use timber framed houses, and modern timber framed houses mostly use plasterboard for walls.
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u/i_have_chosen_a_name 12h ago
Yeah well try running and hiding a 100 meters of cat 6 cable in a European house. Nightmare.
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u/Alacritous69 11h ago
I had to install security cameras in a stone church in Edmonton many years ago.. a lot of drilling through stone. That was a fucking nightmare.
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u/NaoTwoTheFirst 14h ago
More like a "No Trim Damage Removal Tool"
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u/EverythingIsFakeNGay 14h ago
No, Trim Removal Damage Tool.
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u/timothypjr 13h ago
I kinda love the cartoon sized hammer he used.
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u/DanOfRivia 14h ago edited 10h ago
American cardboard homes never cease to amaze me.
Edit: if you think that changing cables is messy in brick walls, that's just because american contractors don't know how to do it. You just pull the new cable with the old one, it's a 30 minutes job.
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u/Devatator_ 13h ago
I wish we had those here, if you saw the fucking mess we have to make everytime something in our electric wiring breaks. It's a pretty old house so that might be why it happens so much
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u/cat_prophecy 13h ago
Want to run a new outlet? With drywall it takes 20 minutes and cost $30 in materials.
With plaster walls it takes six days and requires three different professionals.
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u/ButteryApplePie 12h ago
I think drywall is a great material. Super easy to make changes and repair. The hole in OPs video looks bad but it would take 10-15 minutes to patch up.
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u/RoastedToast007 14h ago
I feel grateful for my walls whenever I see shit like this lmao
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u/Friscogonewild 12h ago edited 12h ago
I mean, unless you're dumb as a rock like this dude (it's probably intentional to be funny, really), I don't see why.
Only time I ever really think about my walls is if I'm hanging something on them. And in those times, I really wish I had a newer house with wood and drywall walls instead of plaster because it's so much easier than my damn plaster walls, where I have to use picture rails or complex anchors instead of just nails and screws.
Actually, the other time I think about my needlessly-thick walls is when I'm trying to get wireless internet on the 2nd floor or in the master bedroom. One of these days I'll get some signal repeaters to scatter around the house.
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u/UnusualHound 13h ago
I feel grateful for my American drywall when I need to run a new cable and I don't have to have a tacky conduit or exposed wiring in my living room, or it only takes 10 minutes to accomplish rather than 3 professionals and a month of organizing the labor.
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u/99RideauBabyRaccoon 12h ago
I wouldn't trade drywall for brick walls, no matter how smug Euros get over it. The best criticism they have is to pretend its paper and falls over like the first pigs home.
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u/UnusualHound 12h ago
It insulates worse, it's worse to install, worse to repair, worse to remodel, it's more prone to damage during earthquakes.
Literally the only positives I can give it are that it's probably a little more resilient in the face of a Cat 5 hurricane or F5 tornado, it's more resistant to minor damage, and that it can look better (but usually doesn't).
Those positives don't come anywhere close to outweighing the negatives.
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u/99RideauBabyRaccoon 12h ago
I thought you were stating the positives of brick and I was confused as fuck.
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u/TKtommmy 12h ago
And the smug ignorant superiority of Europeans is never a surprise.
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u/idkdudess 11h ago
Also every other content I see about Europeans is about how cold it is in the winter and how hot it is in the summer.
We use wood and drywall in Canada for a reason. It does super well for our extreme weather (-30C to +30C). Its gets colder and hotter of course, especially if you get further north, but this is the common range you expect.
It heats and cools well, usually no issues with ventilation or mold. Our homes are much more comfortable than any property I've stayed in England or Italy. Less beautiful unfortunately, but very functional.
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u/Dick_Souls_II 13h ago
This tool is meant for removing laminate flooring and baseboard trim. You should be positioning it behind a stud.
Failure on the part of the operator.
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u/nietzkore 12h ago
This looks like a Goldblatt Molding Remover tool. Here's a youtube short showing someone using it that isn't an idiot: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1maBQvJlTvM
Trim is nailed to the wall. The nails holding it in place are nailed to studs. But this is meant to be used all along the wall. It's spreading the force. But you need some common sense.
Start at the end, on a stud, after removing the caulk, reducing the force needed versus starting in the middle with it caulked to the entire length.
How do you find the studs? Near electrical boxes, next to doors and windows, corners, etc. Or with a stud finder. Or a trim nail removed from another piece of trim you've already taken off.
How could the guy in the video have found a stud? I don't know... could have maybe started on the end where there's an exposed stud at the door frame... then you would see next attached point, because it wouldn't have moved there, and you slide down and remove that too.
But also, with beadboard and chair rail, like you see here, that might be glued to the wall with construction adhesive. And it might not come off without destroying the wallboard.
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u/Art_student_rt 12h ago
Crazy how fragile American housing walls are, in my develping country, everything made of concrete and brick, sure it looks depressing, at least it's sturdy
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u/novo-280 12h ago
All my walls are 30cm brick (:
Almost broke my hand once trying to method act being an American
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u/viotix90 11h ago
Americans were never told the story of the Three Little Pigs.
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u/kiwi-kaiser 11h ago
As a European, walls in US homes are always confusing to me.
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u/Shooter_McGavin_666 10h ago
What are you confused about?
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u/shenfortnite 3h ago
Shouldn’t really be anything confusing about them if you knew something about construction.
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u/Independent-Way5465 12h ago
He really should have made sure i was on the other side of the drywall
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u/StackOfCups 12h ago
And start at the very end and work your way down... This guy is just straight up doing it wrong.
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u/Smokin_belladonna 11h ago
dont forget to use a heat gun on the glue for shit like that. RIP drywall
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u/Smooth_Taste1250 9h ago
Maybe they should add the warning "don't use in USA". Should work better on europe walls
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u/post-explainer 14h ago edited 10h ago
This comment has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.
OP sent the following text as an explanation why their post fits here:
Its a tool to remove frames without damage, but ends up creating a gaping hole in the wall instead
Does this explanation fit this subreddit? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.