Fourways & northern suburbs
Carpentry & timber restoration
Tired hardwood doors, windows and frames brought back rather than ripped out, usually a fraction of the cost of replacing them.
This is the other half of the work, and the half people are most surprised by.
Hardwood doors, windows and frames that have gone grey and dried out get sanded back, repaired and re-oiled. The timber underneath is almost always better than anything you’d buy to replace it, and the repair costs a fraction of the replacement.
Alongside that: door hanging, frame replacement, sliding and barn doors including the steel track, built-in shelving, and the hardwood tops for the steel furniture.
Because I weld as well, the jobs that are both trades, a barn door on a level steel track, a timber top rebated into a steel frame, don’t need two contractors.
What this covers
- Hardwood door and window restoration
- Sanding, repair, staining and oiling
- Door hanging and frame replacement
- Sliding and barn doors, including the steel track
- Built-in shelving and cupboards
- Timber tops for steel furniture
- General carpentry repairs
What I don't do
Worth saying up front so nobody wastes a phone call.
- Full window and door manufacture from scratch in large volumes
- Floor sanding and sealing
Jobs like this I've finished
All work Carpentry & timber restoration
Hardwood french door restoration
A pair of tired hardwood french doors taken back, repaired and re-oiled in place, cheaper than replacing them, and the timber was far better than anything you'd buy new.
See the job
Carpentry & timber restoration
Sliding barn door on a steel track
A timber barn door hung on a steel top track with cast hangers, both trades on one job, which is usually two contractors and two call-outs.
See the jobBefore you ask
Common questions
Is it worth restoring old doors, or should I replace them?
In most Johannesburg houses, restore. The hardwood in a door from the seventies or eighties is usually better timber than you can buy new at any sensible price, and restoration typically costs a fraction of replacement. The exception is real rot in the joints or the bottom rail, if the structure's gone, restoring it is throwing good money at it, and I'll tell you that when I look at it.
What does restoring a door actually involve?
Sanding back past the damage, checking and making good the joints, then oiling or staining by hand with drying time between coats until the colour is even. Rushing the coats is what causes the patchy finish you see on a lot of jobs. Brass furniture usually cleans up and goes back on rather than getting replaced.
Can you do the work in place?
Frames and fixed windows, yes, they're restored where they are, with the glass masked and the floor covered. Doors normally come off, which is better anyway: you can lay them flat and the finish goes on evenly instead of running.
You do steelwork too, why carpentry?
Because a lot of jobs are both, and two trades usually means two contractors, two call-outs and each blaming the other. A sliding barn door is a timber door on a steel track that has to be dead level. A console table is a welded frame and a hardwood top that have to meet cleanly. Those jobs go better with one pair of hands.
How long does a pair of doors take?
Allow a few days. Most of it is waiting, oil and stain need time to draw in between coats, and that's not a stage worth hurrying. I'd rather tell you a realistic week than promise two days and hand back a patchy finish.
Fourways & northern suburbs
Tell me what you need
Send a photo and a rough size on WhatsApp and I'll come back to you with a straight answer, including if it's not a job worth paying me for.