Charpentier

The last week turned out to be a bit of an adventure.
After a few phone call, someone going to Liverpool passport office for me and a ferry ride, I ended up going with a friend to work in France for the week!

Leaving England behind

 The job was to fit a flight of stairs, handrail out a balcony and to second fix as much of the house as possible. We got loads done over some really long days.
Unfortunately the stairs were a nightmare to fit. Whoever had measured them to fit had given absolutely no tolerance to get them in. They had winders round a complete 180 degrees so things became a little difficult. It would have been much easier if they'd had gone in before the house was boarded or plastered. We got them in in the end but we did have to cut the wall in a few places to make them fit.

These stairs were the most awkward I've ever fitted

Not much space to get them in

 The balcony handrail also took some thinking about, this went in easy once we decided on our method and looked really smart when they were finished

Balcony to be hand railed off

 The only difficult with them was clamping the handrail to the newel posts as the glue went off. Tom and me managed to quickly knock together a wooden clamp that could be wedged up so the glue could go off over night, leaving a perfectly tight joint in the morning.

Clamping the handrail together with a quickly built clamp

The adjustable end of the clamp

Balcony handrail finished

 Tom and me worked really fast doing the second fit together, I think we were both impressed with the amount of work we got done in the time. We had a good system going and each stuck to a certain job to increase speed and keep the quality high.

Tom routing hinges out of the doors

Oak doors, pine linings and MDF architraves and skirting fitted.

All in all it was an interesting experience. I enjoyed working with Tom Weston again - who is an excellent carpenter (I think we both learnt a lot from each other) and made good friends with the plasterer, Rick, who came out with us. We worked hard and did a serious amount of hours, but I was missing my family by the end of the week so I was glad to come back to a rainy UK yesterday.
I learnt lots and got some good stories to tell, not much more you could ask for really!

Building A Stud Wall Step By Step

Here's a step by step guide of how I installed a stud wall for a customer yesterday. This is going to make a large walk-in wardrobe with long length shelves and rails

Setting out. Always tricky in a old house. In the end I went square off the wall with the window as it looked right.



The outside frame up. It's essential to get this level. Cut the uprights long enough to wedge the head and sole plate in place.
I screwed these in but I also used a grab adhesive to stick them to the walls, floor and ceiling



Next add the studs that will form the door opening.
Make the opening a couple of mm bigger than the frame you're going to fit

Add the other studs. so that no spacing is wider than 400mm (16").
Also cut out the sole plate where the door is.



Add noggins at to carry the plasterboard joint (1.2m).
Also add the head to the door and an upright to carry the plasterboard

Here I've added extra noggins as I know I've got to fit a large shelve and hanging rail later

Extra noggins give you a solid fixing later in a job



Plasterboard one side of the stud wall



Plasterboard the other side, making sure no screws are left sticking out
(you can add insulating between for sound proofing if you want to)



Add your door lining- take your time with this and make sure it's plumb and not in twist - it will make hanging the door much easier later. This was a hardwood door linning so I countersunk all the screws to accept hardwood pellets to hide the screw heads.

That's as far as I can go for now.

Now I've just got to wait for Sean the plasterer to come and then I can finish off all the trim work (architrave, skirting), hang the door and then add all the shelves and rails that the customer wants.