Carpenter and Joiner in Westerham (TN16)
Westerham's centre is period cottages and brick frontages, and the working rule on a building like that is to match rather than replace. Out towards the edges there are substantial detached and semi-detached family homes with the space to extend and modernise, and the rooms to build storage into.
Matching a profile that is no longer sold
Older houses were built with mouldings that no merchant stocks now, and the difference between a matched section and a near-enough one is obvious the moment the two meet in a corner.
A short offcut taken from somewhere hidden, from behind a radiator, inside a cupboard or off the back of a door lining, is enough to have a profile run to match. From there a lost length of skirting, a missing architrave or a broken section of picture rail can be replaced in the same section as everything around it. Where only part of a run has failed, splicing in a matched piece keeps the original either side of the repair. It costs more than buying a stock length and it is the only version that disappears once it has been painted.
Repair first on older timber
On a period Westerham property the first question about any piece of timber is whether it needs replacing at all. A door with a dropped joint, a stair with a worn nosing, a sill with decay at the ends, a frame that has softened where water has been sitting: each of those can usually be cut back to sound timber and repaired with new let in and matched. Decay concentrates at joints and end grain rather than spreading evenly, so the sound material is normally the great majority of the piece. Repair also avoids the trap of putting a modern component into an old opening, which almost never sits right and rarely looks it. Where replacement genuinely is the answer, the new piece is made to the opening rather than the opening altered to suit the piece.
What the larger houses will take
The larger detached and semi-detached homes towards the edges of the town have the rooms for built-in work to do something useful: fitted wardrobes running the length of a bedroom wall, an understairs cupboard built out rather than left as a void, shelving and a desk built into an alcove, a store for coats and boots by the back door. All of it is measured in the room and made to those measurements. Our own carpenters do the joinery from first measure to final fix. Painting the finished timber, and any electrical work that has to happen behind it, is done by trusted specialists we bring in and manage, so there is one firm to hold to the result.
More in Westerham
Everything we do in Westerham is on the Westerham area sheet, and the full detail of how we approach this trade is on the carpentry & joinery page.
Common questions
Q.01Can you match the skirting in an older Westerham house?
Usually. A short offcut from a hidden run is enough to have the profile made, and it can then be spliced into what is there rather than replacing the whole length.
Q.02Is it worth repairing an old door rather than buying a new one?
Nearly always in a period property. A modern door dropped into an old opening rarely sits right, and repairs to joints, panels and edges are straightforward work for a joiner.
Q.03Do you work in the conservation-minded part of the town?
Yes, and the approach there is match and repair rather than replace. Where a building is listed the interior is usually covered too, so that is worth checking at the survey.
Q.04Can you build storage that suits an older room?
Yes. The unit is built square and scribed to the walls and floor, and the mouldings on it are taken from the room's own profiles so it does not read as something added later.
Thinking about carpentry & joinery in Westerham?
Tell us what you are planning. We come out, look at the job properly and give you a price for it.