Timber repairs and made to measure joinery by carpenters who match old profiles, save what can be saved and tidy up behind them.
Gas Safe registered, FMB members and family-run in Eastbourne.
Our carpentry and joinery work splits into two halves. The first is repair: rotten window sills and door frames, sticking and dropped doors, failed hinges and locks, damaged skirting and architrave, loose floorboards, rotten decking and roof timbers. The second is new work made to fit: staircases and balustrades, fitted wardrobes and storage, shelving, stud walls, doors hung and cut in, kitchens fitted, garden structures and general timber work.
A great deal of what we are asked for falls between the two. A staircase needing a new string and matching spindles, or a bay window where half the timber is sound and half has gone, is repair and joinery at once. Matching old profiles is a large part of the skill in a county with this much period housing.
Our first question on any older property is whether the existing timber can be saved, because it usually can. Rot is normally confined to the last few inches of a sill or the foot of a stile, and a spliced repair in matching timber will outlast the rest of the frame at a fraction of the cost of replacement.
We work for homeowners, landlords and businesses across East Sussex, on single sticking doors and on the joinery for whole refurbishments.
Timber fails where water sits on it or where it cannot dry out. Window sills, the bottom rails of doors, the ends of joists built into solid walls and the feet of external posts are the usual places, and along this coast they take more weather than most.
The other common cause is movement. Doors that catch, staircases that creak and skirting that opens up at the joints are often a building settling or a floor deflecting rather than the joinery itself being wrong.
Older houses add the problem of profiles that are no longer made. Ovolo mouldings, deep Victorian skirting and turned spindles cannot be bought off a shelf, so patching with modern stock always shows.
And then there is paint. Timber that has been coated while damp, or sealed under something impermeable, holds moisture against itself and rots from behind the film.
We cut out and replace only what has gone, and splice into sound timber where we can rather than replacing a whole unit. It costs less, keeps the original where it still has life in it, and on a period property it looks right afterwards.
Where a profile is not available we match it, either by running it ourselves or by reusing sound sections in the visible places and replacing the hidden parts. Repairs are treated and primed before they go in, not after, because the end grain is where the next failure starts.
For new joinery we measure on site rather than working to a plan, because very few walls in older houses are square or plumb. Then we fit, adjust, and leave the room clear.
If a piece really is beyond saving we will tell you, and tell you what a sensible replacement looks like for that building rather than the most expensive option.
Easing a single sticking door, building a staircase and balustrade, and most things in between. This is the timber work we handle across East Sussex.
Hanging, easing and adjusting, new frames and linings, fire doors fitted as complete certified assemblies, plus locks, closers and hinges. We look at why a door is sticking before planing it, because planing a swollen door leaves a gap once it dries out.
Splicing rot out of sills and frames, new beads, sash cord and weight overhauls, and draughtproofing that keeps original windows working. See window and door repairs.
Repairs to treads, strings and newels, replacement spindles matched to the originals, new handrails, and feature staircases built to the opening rather than bought in a standard size.
Wardrobes, alcove cupboards, shelving, window seats and understairs storage measured and built to the room, which matters in older houses where nothing is square. We can paint and finish it as part of the job.
Refixing and replacing boards, levelling and stiffening floors before flooring goes down, plus joists, noggins, stud walls, lintels and roof timbers alongside our structural works.
Decking, gates, porches, fascias, bargeboards and garden structures in timber chosen and treated for coastal exposure, alongside fencing and landscaping.
People often ring expecting to be told something needs replacing. Frequently it does not, and this is roughly how we work it out.
Ring us on 01323 671001 or send a photo and we will give you an honest view before you commit to anything.
Client
Colin, Nat and the team carried out the work at a competitive price with the minimum of fuss. Courteous, punctual and could not have been more helpful.
Eastbourne, Lewes, Battle and the villages around them are full of houses with joinery worth keeping. Original doors, deep skirting, panelled reveals and turned balustrades are usually better made than anything that would replace them, and once they are gone the room loses a good deal of its character.
So the first thing we do on a period property is work out what can stay. Rot is usually local, and a spliced repair in matching timber, treated and painted, will outlast the rest of the frame. Where something has to be replaced we copy what is there, including the moulding profile and the glazing bar sizes.
On a listed building or in a conservation area, and there are several around here including Old Town, parts of Meads and much of Lewes and Battle, that matters for consent as well as for appearance. Like for like repair generally avoids an application where replacement would need one, and we are happy to talk to your conservation officer about what is proposed.
The coast adds one more consideration, which is exposure. Salt air and driven rain are hard on external timber and on fixings, so we use treated timber suited to the position, prime end grain before it goes in, and use stainless or suitably coated fixings where ordinary ones would stain and fail early.
Usually yes. Rot is normally limited to the sill and the bottom few inches of the frame, and that section can be cut out and spliced with new treated timber to match. It costs a fraction of a replacement window and keeps the original joinery. We will tell you honestly if there is too little sound timber left to make that sensible.
Yes. We match the profile of what is already there rather than fitting the nearest modern stock, either by running new timber to the same section or by reusing sound lengths in the visible places. In a period room the profile is the difference between a repair you notice and one you do not.
Most sticking doors are either swelling with damp, hanging on worn or dropped hinges, or catching because the frame has moved as the building settled. Planing the door is the usual quick answer and often the wrong one, because when the timber dries or the hinges are corrected you are left with a gap. We find out which of the three it is first.
Yes. Alcove cupboards, wardrobes, shelving and window seats are all measured and built to the room rather than assembled from standard carcasses, which matters in older houses where walls are rarely square or plumb. We can paint or finish it as part of the job.
Yes. Fire doors have to be the correct rating, hung in a suitable frame with the right intumescent strips, seals, closers, hinges and gaps, so the whole assembly performs as certified. A rated leaf in a poor frame does not. We fit them to those requirements and it often sits alongside fire assessment work.
Yes, including joists, stud walls, roof timbers and lintels. Where the work is load bearing it needs designing by an engineer and signing off by building control, and we handle that through our structural works.
Yes, and that is usually the only way it works. Standard flights rarely suit an older house, so we measure the opening and the floor to floor height on site and build to it, working to the regulations on pitch, going, headroom and balustrade spacing.
Yes. We protect floors and staircases, keep dust down while cutting, clear up at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and take the waste timber with us when we go.
We are based on Hyde Gardens in Eastbourne, so the town and the villages around it are home ground for us. We are out working here most days and we know the housing well, including the older seafront terraces, the Victorian and Edwardian houses in Upperton and Meads, and the newer estates and blocks of flats nearer the edge of town.
From Eastbourne we cover the whole of East Sussex. Along the coast that takes in Bexhill, Hastings, Seaford, Newhaven, Brighton, where salt air and driving rain are hard on any building. Inland we work regularly in Polegate, Hailsham, Pevensey, Willingdon, Lewes, Uckfield, Heathfield, Crowborough, Battle and the smaller villages between them, where period cottages and country properties often need a gentler approach and older materials matched carefully.
Being local matters for carpentry and joinery. We can get to you quickly to take a look, we know the buildings and the ground conditions, and we are never far away if you need us again. If your village is not on the list there is a good chance we still reach you, so give us a call on 01323 671001 and we will tell you either way.
A feature staircase and balustrade, and a new external staircase, both built and fitted by our own carpenters.
We are Gas Safe registered and members of the Federation of Master Builders, NAPIT and the FSB. Those memberships mean our gas, electrical and building work is measured against recognised standards, and that an outside body has looked at how we work rather than us simply saying we are good at it. For a family business our reputation matters more than anything, and we have built it one customer at a time.
Our Accreditations
