Carpentry & Joinery
Fitted wardrobes in an alcove that is not square, bookshelves built around a chimney breast, doors that finally close, new skirting and architrave after a refurbishment, decking in the back garden. EDDI Construction Ltd takes on carpentry and joinery of every size across North West London — fully insured, clear on price and straightforward to deal with.
Call +44 7492 350404The reason fitted storage is worth paying for in a house around here is that almost nothing in North West London housing stock is square. A Victorian alcove beside a chimney breast is rarely the same width at the top as at the bottom, the wall behind it usually bows, and the floor has settled in one direction over a century. Freestanding furniture in that space leaves gaps you cannot use and cannot hide. Built in place, the carcass is scribed to the wall and the floor so it sits tight against both, and the room gains storage in the space that was doing nothing. We build wardrobes, alcove cupboards, window seats and shelving to the room rather than to a catalogue size, and we set out the job with you first so the proportions suit the room instead of just filling it.
Second-fix carpentry is what a refurbishment is finally judged on, because it is at eye level and at hand height and people touch it every day. Hanging a door properly means easing it to an opening that is almost certainly not plumb, setting the hinges so it swings without dropping, and adjusting the latch so it closes with a click rather than a shove. Skirting and architrave need mitres that stay closed once the timber has moved, scribed internal corners rather than mitred ones where the walls are out, and a consistent line around a room where the floor is not level. It is unglamorous work and it is the difference between a room that looks finished and one that looks nearly finished. We also replace tired skirting after plastering, fit internal and external doors, rehang doors that bind or drop, and make good the handles, latches and locks that go with them.
Not all of it is fine work. We build stud partitions to divide a room or create an en-suite, form and board openings, fit loft hatches and loft flooring, replace joists and floorboards where rot or an old plumbing run has taken them out, and do the first-fix carpentry that sits behind a loft conversion or an extension. On older properties this is usually where the surprises live — joist ends damp where they enter a wall, a floor built to a level that no longer matches the one next door, notches cut through joists by whoever last ran a pipe. We tell you what we have found when we find it rather than boarding over it, because the cost of dealing with it now is always lower than the cost of dealing with it later.
Outdoor timber has a harder life than anything indoors, and most of the decking we are asked to replace failed for reasons that were avoidable: no ventilation underneath, no gap for drainage between boards, posts set straight into the ground, and untreated cut ends. We build decking on a properly supported and ventilated frame, leave the drainage gaps, treat cut ends as we go, and set posts so they are not sitting in standing water. The same applies to fencing, gates, pergolas and garden storage — the work is mostly in the preparation and the detailing rather than in the visible timber. We can also repair and re-level existing decking where the frame is sound and only the boards have gone.
Carpentry rarely arrives on its own. A fitted wardrobe usually wants the wall making good and the room redecorating; a stud wall needs plastering; new skirting follows a floor. Because our carpenters work alongside our own plasterers, decorators, tilers and plumbers, the whole sequence is handled by one team on one programme rather than by three trades who each need booking and chasing. That is as true of a single afternoon's work as it is of a refurbishment — a sticking door, a shelf, a flat-pack that defeated everyone, a loft hatch. No job is too small, and small jobs are how most of our long-standing customers first found us.
Yes — built in place and scribed to the wall and floor rather than assembled from standard sizes. It matters here because alcoves in older North West London houses are rarely square, and a built-in carcass fills the space that freestanding furniture leaves as an unusable gap.
That is one of the most common jobs we do. We set the job out with you first so the shelf spacing and the proportions suit the room, then build to the actual dimensions of the alcoves — which are usually two slightly different sizes.
Almost always, and it is a small job. Doors bind because the opening is not plumb, the hinges have dropped, or the frame has moved. Easing the door, resetting the hinges and adjusting the latch normally sorts it without a new door.
Yes, it is the natural next step and we do it as part of the same programme. Where walls are out of true we scribe internal corners rather than mitring them, so the joints stay closed once the timber has moved.
Yes. We build and board stud partitions, form the opening and the door, and hand straight over to our own plasterers and decorators so the new room is finished rather than left as a framework.
Usually because of what is underneath rather than the boards themselves — no ventilation under the frame, no drainage gap between boards, posts set directly into the ground, and cut ends left untreated. We build to avoid all four, and where the frame is still sound we can re-board and re-level rather than start again.
Yes — a shelf, a sticking door, a loft hatch, a flat-pack that has defeated everyone. No job is too small, and small jobs are how most of our regular customers first found us.
North West London, including Wembley, Harrow, Brent, Edgware, Kingsbury, Willesden, Cricklewood, Hendon, Stanmore and Colindale.