Carpentry and Joinery in Bognor Regis
Nothing in an old roof is square, and the roof does not care
The carpentry that decides a job here usually happens above the ceiling. On a bungalow near Chichester Road we took the hip off, built the gable up and framed a large dormer across the back — and every existing timber we tied into was out of true. Old roofs are like that: purlins sag, rafters were cut by eye, no two run parallel.
You cannot frame off a drawing in that situation. Each new member is measured against what is there, packed and levelled to a datum you set yourself, so the finished floor is flat and the plasterboard line straight even though the structure beneath is not. Get it wrong and every trade after inherits it.
Then the weather turned while the roof was open and the house went under heavy temporary protection against the gales off the water. That is carpentry too, and on a winter coastal job it belongs in the quotation. The conversion is under loft conversions in Bognor Regis; the covering sits with roofing and roof structure.
Talk it through with James on 07470 078236. Free visit, and he has been building on this coast since 2002.
Outside, it is stainless or it is a return visit
Anything fixed to the outside of a house in this air needs stainless steel and marine-grade silicone, and wall ties must be non-corrosive. Galvanised holds three years or so, then bleeds rust down a finish you have just paid for.
Porches, gates, fascia and soffit, cladding battens, door frames, the screws holding a handrail — same rule throughout. The cheapest decision on the job, and the most expensive to undo.
Storage built to the shape of a converted bungalow
A bungalow roof turned into rooms gives you a slope on both sides and a band of dead space behind each. That triangle is where fitted joinery earns its keep: wardrobes scribed to the slope and the purlin, drawer banks in the eaves that pull out instead of making you crawl in, doors cut to follow the ceiling line.
Each is made to the measurements of your roof, in our own joinery workshop a few minutes away at Middleton. Nothing off a shelf fits a space where no two walls agree, and the scribe is the skill.
Doors and windows at Victoria Road
On the extension at 29 Victoria Road the joinery is bifold doors, a new back door and new windows, all going into new structure rather than repaired old openings — the easier version of this trade, with tolerances you set yourself. The account as it stands is on the Victoria Road extension.
New windows and doors have a number to meet
Approved Document L Table 4.2 sets the limits for an existing house: 1.4 W/m²K for a window, or Window Energy Rating Band B; 1.4 for a door, Doorset Band C above 60% glazing. A replacement must also be no worse than the unit coming out — and some very slim sightlines cannot reach that. Quotation stage is a cheaper place to find out than inspection.
One planning point catches people. Cladding is excluded from permitted development on article 2(3) land, which conservation areas are — so timber on a wall inside one of the town's three designated areas needs an application, even though new windows generally do not.
What we are usually asked for
- Internal doors hung, including certified fire door sets
- Fitted wardrobes and eaves storage scribed to loft slopes and purlins
- Staircases, handrails, newels and balustrades
- Skirting, architrave, window boards and studwork
Every joinery item carries its own figure instead of disappearing into a lump sum. The trade in full sits under carpentry and joinery.
All workmanship guaranteed for 24 months from completion. Manufacturer warranties on all materials and installed products passed to you in full — many run to 10 years or more. Structural work is signed off by Building Control and covered by our £2m public liability insurance. We're working towards an insurance-backed guarantee scheme and will offer it as soon as we're eligible.
Send a photograph of the space and each item comes back costed separately — get an itemised quotation. More than 100 projects, with employers' liability and £2m public liability behind them.