Casing is the trim around every door and window, which makes it the most repeated piece of woodwork in a house. A living room might have one run of crown and one baseboard, but it has six or eight cased openings, and every one of them is at eye level. Get the casing right and the whole house reads as considered. Get it wrong and it reads wrong on every wall.
The short answer: casing style follows the era of the house. 1920s St. Petersburg bungalows used wide flat casing with a head cap, mid century ranches used narrow clamshell casing, and newer homes use colonial profiles or flat modern stock. J Fox LLC matches original profiles where they exist and sources or mills them where they do not.
What casing styles are in St. Petersburg homes?
Casing style follows the era of the house: Craftsman flat casing from the 1910s to the 1930s, narrow ranch and clamshell casing from the 1950s to the 1970s, and colonial or plain flat stock from the 1980s onward. St. Petersburg has 12,714 homes built before 1940 and more than a third of its housing built before 1960.
Craftsman flat casing, 1910s to 1930s. Wide flat boards, often with a thicker head piece that overhangs the sides, sometimes with a back band. Honest and plain, and almost always painted now even if it was stained once. This is the trim in Historic Kenwood and Old Northeast.
Ranch and clamshell casing, 1950s to 1970s. Narrow, rounded, and built for speed. It is the casing in most block ranches in St. Petersburg, Largo and Pinellas Park, and it is the one owners most often want to replace because it reads as thin.
Colonial and modern flat stock, 1980s onward. A stepped colonial profile in most 1980s and 1990s construction, and a plain flat board with square edges in newer and renovated homes.
How do you match an original casing profile?
Three ways, in order of preference: source the original profile if it is still milled, build it up from stock pieces, or mill it with a custom knife ground from a sample. The third costs more up front and is still cheaper than replacing every opening in the house to make them agree.
Source it. Many historical profiles are still milled. If the original is still sold, we buy it.
Build it up. A wide flat casing with a back band and a head cap can usually be assembled from stock pieces to match an original within a sixteenth of an inch.
Mill it. If the profile is unusual, a custom knife is ground from a sample of the original and the casing is run to match.
The method is the same one we use for crown and base, and how we match new trim to a home's original molding walks through it with a bungalow example.
What goes with the casing at a window?
Two pieces people forget: the stool, the interior sill you can set a plant on, and the apron, the trim under it. In a bungalow the stool is thick and overhangs the casing and the apron is a flat board, while in a ranch the stool is often missing, with casing picture framed around all four sides.
Replacing ranch casing with a Craftsman style without adding a stool and apron is the most common mistake we see in renovated houses, and it is the reason some replaced trim looks almost right.
Should you replace the casing or keep it?
Keep original Craftsman casing whenever it is sound, because it is the house's own trim and cannot be bought back. Replace thin clamshell casing when the rest of the house is being brought up. Repair split pieces and match it where openings were added.
Replacing clamshell is the single change that makes a 1960s ranch read as a finished house, and because casing is repeated, it is usually done as a package: all the doors and windows in a room, or in the house, at once. Interior door replacement often happens in the same job, which our carpentry and renovations page covers. Paint build up at the joints of original casing can be stripped if it bothers you.
What does new casing cost?
Casing is priced by the opening and by the profile. A simple flat or colonial casing on a standard door is the low end, and a built up Craftsman casing with a head cap, stool and apron on a window is the high end. Whole house packages are quoted as one job.
We measure every opening and give a free written estimate. On J Fox's published pricing, a single room of trim is often completed in one to three days, and a whole home trim package runs one to several weeks. The trim and finish carpentry page covers casing, base and crown together, and crown moulding styles for Florida bungalows covers the ceiling line that has to agree with the casing.
Where does J Fox LLC install casing?
J Fox LLC is based in St. Petersburg and installs and matches casing across Greater Tampa Bay, within about 50 miles. The Craftsman casing this article opens with is concentrated in Historic Kenwood and Old Northeast, and we measure every opening for a free written estimate.
Frequently asked questions
What casing did 1920s St. Petersburg bungalows use?
Wide flat boards, often with a thicker head piece that overhangs the sides and sometimes a back band, with a thick window stool and a flat apron. It was often stained originally and is usually painted now. This is the trim in Historic Kenwood and Old Northeast.
Can you match casing that is no longer sold?
Yes. Where the original is still sold we buy it. Otherwise we build it up from stock pieces where the profile allows, to within a sixteenth of an inch, or have a custom knife ground from a sample of the original so the new casing matches. A custom knife costs more up front.
Should I replace clamshell casing in a ranch house?
If the rest of the house is being updated, yes. Clamshell casing reads as thin, and replacing it is the single change that makes a 1960s ranch read as a finished house. It is usually done as a package, all the doors and windows in a room or in the house at once.
Do you replace interior doors with the casing?
Often. Door replacement and casing are commonly one job, and interior door replacement often happens in the same job as a casing package. Our carpentry and renovations page covers the door side, and the trim and finish carpentry page covers casing, base and crown together.