What is carpentry and what is joinery?

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DBC Joinery offers both carpentry and joinery services. While the two trades do overlap, there is a distinction between them and this can help explain the type of work undertaken by DBC.

 

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Carpentry usually refers to the cutting and fitting of pre-formed building materials and pre-milled timber sections using glue, nails and screws.

 

 

One of the most common carpentry jobs is the cutting and fitting of ready-milled timber lengths, eg, skirting boards, picture rails, tongue and groove flooring, wall panelling and exterior decking. Pre-milled lengths of 8"x2", 4"x2" and 3"x2" timber can be used to build partition walls  that alter the floorplan of a home, or form or repair ceiling and floor structures. Other ready-made products that DBC works with regularly include doors and windows, plasterboard and other sheet goods, as well as cabinetry, such as kitchen and bathroom units.

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Joinery traditionally refers to the joining of timber without the use of nails or screws. These reliable joints, eg, the dovetail or the mortice and tenon, have been used by woodworkers for thousands of years and are already present in your home.

 

 

All of the joinery built by DBC is made from sustainably sourced rough-sawn timber that is milled to size in the workshop to suit your project. So the best way to understand joinery work is not by the materials used, as with carpentry, but where the items end up in your home and how they are used.

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Bespoke cabinetry - kitchen and bathroom units, cupboards, bookcases, wardrobes, bedroom furniture and beds - can be either free-standing or built in to best suit your space. This is particularly desirable in unusual spaces, eg, next to chimney breasts or under stairs or sloping ceilings.

 

 

Choosing made-to-measure items allows DBC customers much greater input into the size, timber species, design and finish compared with shopping in a furniture store. Much the same can be said about DBC's custom-made doors and windows which, if desired, can be built to match your existing fittings.

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DBC's carpentry and joinery work most often overlaps during repair and renovation work; particularly on older and heritage buildings. This work is a speciality; much of it involves matching pre-existing building techniques, timber mouldings and cabinetry components.

 

 

DBC is often called upon to redo previous repair work, in particular, where modern or inappropriate materials have been used for repairs or to marry new structures to existing buildings. This is often the case where modern non-porous products, such as plasterboard and external cement rendering, has been applied to traditional 'breathable' buildings, such as timber-framed or lime-rendered buildings. Inappropriate repairs such as these can lead, over time, to structural failure.