Carpentry in Greater London
Carpenter in
Orpington.
Orpington is the most consistent area we work in, because so much of it went up at the same time to the same pattern. Interwar semis built out along the railway, with rear gardens considerably longer than anything London built after them. Those gardens are why this is our busiest area for outdoor work.
What the housing stock is like
More garden structures than anywhere else we cover, thanks to the length of the interwar plots.
- Dominant
1930s semis and detached
Built out along the line through Petts Wood, Crofton and Green Street Green. Bay fronts, picture rails and long rear plots.
- Common
Post-war estate housing
St Mary Cray and the later development. Shorter gardens, more compact rooms.
- Pockets
Larger detached
Chelsfield and the greener edges. Bigger plots again, and bigger external projects.
What we are asked for most in Orpington
- 01
Garden rooms, pergolas and outdoor kitchens
Our number one Orpington job by a clear margin, because the plots are long enough to justify building something permanent.
- 02
Bay window seats with storage
Almost every 1930s house here has a bay, and almost none of them use the space under it.
- 03
Alcove cupboards beside the chimney breast
The standard 1930s layout puts two recesses in the main rooms, and they are the obvious place for built-in storage.
Long gardens, and why footings decide everything
The interwar plots here run far deeper than modern development allows, which means there is genuinely room to put a building at the end of the garden without losing the garden. That is why we do more pergolas, outdoor kitchens and garden rooms in Orpington than in any other area.
The thing that separates one that lasts from one that does not is entirely below ground. A frame stood on slabs will move with seasonal ground movement, rack out of square, and then the doors stop closing. Proper footings cost more at the start and are the difference between a twenty year structure and a five year one.
Working a house type we know well
The upside of Orpington's uniformity is that we know these houses before we arrive. The bay dimensions, the recess widths either side of the chimney breast, the ceiling heights and where the picture rail sits repeat road after road.
That makes pricing more accurate and the work faster. A bay window seat or a pair of alcove cupboards in a Petts Wood semi is a job we have done many times, and we can tell you at the free visit roughly what it involves rather than going away to work it out.
Where we work around Orpington
We cover BR5 to BR6 and the surrounding villages. Every job starts with a free site visit and a written fixed quote, and the carpenter who measures it is the carpenter who builds and installs it.
- Petts Wood
- St Mary Cray
- Green Street Green
- Chelsfield
- Farnborough
- Crofton
- Locksbottom
- Ramsden
Recent work
across the South East
Working in Orpington
Anything structural does. We set proper footings rather than sitting a frame on slabs, because a building that moves with the ground racks and then the doors never close properly again.
Yes, and it is one of our most common Orpington projects. Treated structural timber, proper footings, and built to stay square through a few winters.
In a 1930s Orpington house, usually. The space under a bay is almost always empty, and a seat with storage underneath uses it without taking any floor area from the room.