If it’s super duper old I can only make a guess as to HOW it was installed. If it was nailed and caulked, this method should work. There are most likely tons of layers of paint over the caulk so you’ll have to really work to cut throughout that before you try to pull the base off. If they didn’t install it with nails and glued it, then I don’t know. If they SUPER DUPER glued it on, you’re looking at a real mess! You’ll have to decide how badly you want those baseboards removed and what’s going back up after you remove them. Will the damage to the wall be covered with a taller base? Then it might not matter. BUT, if the plaster comes up in chunks and you have damage above the base I wouldn’t want to get into that personally.

8″ DEEP? Holy crap! That’s deeper than my wall! I don’t want to assume that you meant 8″ tall but am going to…it should work. You just have to go slow and see what happens. IF your base moulding truly is 8″ deep, I have NO idea what’s going on there and wouldn’t touch it.

Thoughts?

Oh they can be removed. Cut through the caulk and use the same method as described in this tutorial. Board under crowbar so you don’t punch through your drywall. Then repair the drywall behind the marble (where they put those big dobs of glue.) 🙂