Carpentry Services in London

Carpentry & Joinery in London Houses

No wall in a London terrace is straight. Alcoves either side of a chimney breast can be 20 mm wider at the top than at the bottom, and a ceiling can drop 30 mm across a room. Shop-bought furniture is made for square rooms, which is why it leaves gaps. Fitted joinery is built to the room. The back edges are scribed, meaning cut to follow the wall, so the unit sits tight against it.

Most carpentry in a London renovation is one of two kinds. First fix is the hidden work: joists, stud walls, door linings, floor and roof timbers. Second fix is what you see: doors, skirting, architraves, stairs, wardrobes and shelving.

The old City livery companies split the trade the same way. The Carpenters’ Company got its royal charter in 1477 and covered the heavy framing. The Joiners and Ceilers, chartered in 1571, did the finer work with glued joints, panelling and furniture. The names still mean roughly that on site.

Fitted wardrobes and alcove units

Alcove units are the standard job in a Victorian front room: cupboards below, shelves above, either side of the chimney breast. Fitted wardrobes in bedrooms go full height to the ceiling, with a scribed filler at the top so there’s no dust shelf.

Most of it is made from MDF, which is stable and takes paint well. Moisture-resistant MDF is used in bathrooms and near external walls. Solid oak, walnut or ash is more expensive and moves with the seasons, so it’s normally used for worktops, shelves and doors that will be oiled rather than painted.

New plaster has to be dry before joinery goes against it. Fitting a wardrobe to a wet wall traps moisture, and MDF swells at the back edge.

Shelves sag over long spans. An 18 mm MDF shelf full of books starts to bow over about 800 mm, so longer runs need a thicker shelf, a hardwood front lip, or a support in the middle.

Under-stairs cupboards and the low space under loft eaves are where fitted storage earns its keep. In a loft conversion the eaves are too low to stand in but deep enough for drawers.

Doors

Old houses have doors that have been planed so many times they no longer fit, and linings that have dropped with the floor. Hanging a door properly means getting the lining square first, then fitting the hinges and lock. A 3 mm gap round the edge is normal.

Fire doors are a separate category. In a house with a loft conversion, or a flat off a shared stair, they’re part of the escape route. They come with a certificate from the manufacturer, and that certificate only holds if the door is fitted to its instructions. Trimming more than the allowed amount off the edges, or fitting the wrong hinges, means it is no longer a certified fire door.

Stairs and balustrades

Stairs are covered by Part K of the Building Regulations. The requirement for barriers is short:

“(a) Any stairs, ramps, floors and balconies and any roof to which people have access, and (b) any light well, basement area or similar sunken area connected to a building, shall be provided with barriers where it is necessary to protect people in or about the building from falling.”

Building Regulations 2010, Schedule 1, Part K2

In practice, Approved Document K sets the numbers for a house. Handrails and balustrades are at least 900 mm high on the stair and landing, and there should be no gap a 100 mm sphere can pass through. That 100 mm rule catches a lot of Victorian balustrades with wide spindle spacing and some modern ones with horizontal rails. On a private stair the steepest pitch allowed is 42 degrees.

Repairing an original stair is often better than replacing it. Loose treads can be glued and wedged from below, worn nosings cut out and new timber let in, and broken spindles copied on a lathe.

Wall panelling and linings

Timber panelling, slatted walls and boarded ceilings are back in fashion. Part B of the Building Regulations has a requirement about what lines walls and ceilings:

“To inhibit the spread of fire within the building, the internal linings shall— (a) adequately resist the spread of flame over their surfaces; and (b) have, if ignited, either a rate of heat release or a rate of fire growth, which is reasonable in the circumstances.”

Building Regulations 2010, Schedule 1, Part B2(1)

Approved Document B is stricter for corridors and stairs than for rooms. Bare timber panelling on a staircase may need a fire-retardant treatment or a different board to meet it. That’s worth checking before the panelling is ordered, not after.

Period mouldings

Victorian houses used deep skirting downstairs, often 9 inches or more, with smaller profiles upstairs. Patterns like torus and ogee aren’t available in DIY shops in the original sizes. A joinery shop can grind a cutter to match a sample, and new lengths are run from that. It’s the usual way to replace a damaged run without the joint showing.

Sash windows are the other period job. Most problems are cords snapping, paint sealing the sashes shut, or rotten bottom rails. The weights hang in boxes either side of the frame, and the boxes are opened to re-cord them. Draught strips can be fitted into the beads without changing how the window looks. In London, the windows of Georgian houses are set back into the brickwork because of the Building Acts. The 1709 Act required frames to be recessed from the face of the wall, and the 1774 Act hid the sash boxes behind the brick, both to reduce the timber exposed to fire.

Floors and structural timber

Lifting floorboards, repairing joists and laying new wood flooring are carpentry too. So is the structure inside a loft or extension: new joists, roof timbers, trimming around stairwells. That work is set out by the structural engineer, and the sizes are on the drawings.

Kitchens

Kitchen joinery ranges from fitting factory-made units to building them in the workshop. Painted kitchens are usually made in moisture-resistant MDF or birch plywood. Worktop joints in timber are biscuited and bolted from underneath. Stone worktops are templated after the units are fixed.

Force Builders carries out carpentry and joinery in houses and flats across Kensington, Chelsea, Fulham, Notting Hill, Putney, Richmond and other parts of London.

Carpentry FAQ

Why is bespoke carpentry so much more expensive than shop-bought furniture?

It’s made to the room, so it takes measuring, workshop time and scribing on site. The materials are usually better too, solid timber or painted MDF instead of foil-wrapped chipboard.

How long does it take to build a set of fitted wardrobes?

A pair of alcove wardrobes is usually 3 to 5 days on site, after a few weeks in the workshop. Spray-painted doors add time for the finish to cure.

Do I need to paint the wood myself?

No. Joinery can be supplied primed for a decorator, oiled or waxed, or fully spray-finished in a workshop. Spray finishes are harder wearing than brushed paint on doors that get handled a lot.

Can you match the existing skirting boards in my Victorian house?

Usually, yes. A cutter is ground to match a sample of the old profile, and new lengths are run on a moulding machine.