Joinery made in the village, for the village
Our joinery workshop is at Middleton, a few minutes from every house in the parish. Wardrobes, doors, window boards, staircases and the odd awkward piece are made there to measurements taken on site, and fitted by the same people who made them. In Middleton the distance from bench to house is about as short as it gets.
Weatherboarding is part of what Middleton looks like
Many of the houses built here between the wars are timber-framed and clad in weatherboarding, under plain clay tiles. The Village Design Statement, written in 2000 and adopted by Arun as planning guidance for the Sea Lane estate area, says that weatherboarding should be kept. That makes repairing it a large part of the carpentry we do in the village. Boards fail where water sits: at the bottom edge, at window sills and where a downpipe has leaked. We cut out the decayed lengths, replace them with boards of the same profile, check the frame behind for rot while it is open, and refix with stainless nails. Where a whole elevation has gone, we re-clad on a breathable membrane and battens so the frame can dry.
Windows and doors: timber, not white plastic
The same Design Statement prefers timber or metal windows, says replacements should match, and calls white uPVC inappropriate. The parish is not a conservation area, so replacing a window is not usually a planning matter. But the Middleton on Sea Association asks residents on its roads to follow the Design Statement anyway, and a set of new timber casements made to the original pattern looks right on a 1920s house in a way that nothing else does. We make them in the workshop, double-glazed, draught-sealed and primed, and fit them with stainless fixings.
Replacement windows and doors still have to meet Approved Document L: a U-value of 1.4 W/m²K for a window, or Window Energy Rating band B, and no worse than the unit being replaced. Slim timber sections can meet that, but not every profile can, and we check before we quote.
Beach huts, gates and the Greensward
The Design Statement asks for Middleton's historic timber beach huts on the Greensward to be kept in their original form, and the Association has run a company for the huts since 1978. Repairing a hut is a small piece of proper joinery: new floor bearers off the shingle, replacement boards to match, a door that shuts against the wind. The same care goes into the gates and fences on the estate's roads, where the Design Statement wants hedges and flint walls kept and frontages softened rather than hard.
Salt air and the Elmer front
Elmer's rock breakwaters, built in the early 1990s, sit offshore of houses that take the full force of south-westerly weather. Anything outside on that frontage is specified for it: stainless fixings and hinges, marine-grade sealants, end grain sealed before the timber goes up, and a primer with two top coats rather than a single stain. Galvanised screws on this coast rust through a new paint finish within a few winters.
Inside: doors, stairs and storage
The interior work in Middleton follows its houses. In the interwar estate houses it is often matching original doors and architraves, or opening a boxed-in staircase back up. In the post-war bungalows it is a new staircase for a loft conversion, fitted storage under it and wardrobes in the new rooms, plus doorways widened for easier access. Our price guide gives the bands, all including VAT:
- Hanging an internal door in an existing lining, from £156 per door
- A door with a new lining and ironmongery, £360 to £660
- An alcove unit, £960 to £5,760
- A straight softwood staircase, £3,000 to £6,600; oak or with a winder, £6,000 to £12,000
- Fitted wardrobes, £1,680 to £2,880 per linear metre
Listed flint and thatch
A handful of Middleton buildings are listed: Flint Cottage on Sea Lane, Rose Cottage and High Kettle Cottage, both flint and thatch, and Manor Farmhouse and Ancton House at Ancton. Joinery in those is repaired to match, and replaced only with listed building consent.
The trade in full is carpentry and joinery; nearby are carpentry in Felpham and carpentry in Bognor Regis. Cladding that is part of a bigger re-roof sits under roofing, and the village is on builders in Middleton-on-Sea.
Send a photograph of the boarding, window or door, or show us at the showroom, and James will tell you whether it can be repaired and what a match would cost. Ring 07470 078236. Each item on its own line, two years' guarantee on the workmanship.