Carpenters and Joiners in Purley (CR8)
Joinery is a bigger part of a Purley house than of most. On the Arts and Crafts and Tudor Revival stock the panelling, the staircase, the deep architrave and the built-in cupboards are a large share of why the house is worth what it is — which makes matching them the whole job.
Matching a profile that is not in a catalogue
Period joinery was run to profiles that no merchant stocks now.
Skirting is deeper, architrave is heavier, and the section of a moulding is particular to the house rather than to the era. Butt a modern stock profile up against an original and the join is the first thing anyone sees. The way round it is to take a clean section off the house, have the profile run to match, and let the new work read as part of the original. It costs more than fitting what is on the shelf and it is the difference between repair and replacement — which on a house of this kind is also the difference in what the house is worth.
Repair before replacement
An original door, window or staircase is nearly always worth repairing rather than swapping: easing the stiles, letting new timber into a joint that has dropped, resetting hinges so it sits properly in the frame again. That is skilled work and it is slower than hanging a new door, but the replacement never looks like the thing it replaced. Away from the estate, on the Edwardian streets and the interwar semis, the work is more often fitted — wardrobes into a chimney-breast alcove, understairs storage, a run of shelving — where the alcoves either side of a breast are rarely the same width and each piece is scribed to the wall it actually meets.
Our own trade
Carpentry is our own team's work rather than something brought in, which is why we will argue for repairing a piece rather than replacing it. Where a job reaches into electrics, roofing or decorating, those specialists are brought in and managed by us.
More in Purley
Everything we do in Purley is on the Purley 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 and architrave in an older house?
Yes. We take a clean section off the house and have the profile run to match, rather than butting a modern stock profile against the original, which always shows.
Q.02Is an original door worth repairing?
Nearly always. Easing the stiles, letting timber into a dropped joint and resetting the hinges usually gets far more out of it than a replacement, which never quite reads the same.
Q.03Do you build fitted wardrobes and alcove storage?
Yes, and each piece is scribed to the wall it meets. In these houses the alcoves either side of a chimney breast are rarely the same width, so nothing is built to a single measurement.
Q.04Do you do the carpentry yourselves?
Yes, carpentry and joinery is our own team. Electrics, roofing and decorating are brought in and managed by us.
Thinking about carpentry & joinery in Purley?
Tell us what you are planning. We come out, look at the job properly and give you a price for it.