Est. 2000 · Licence 7A-33198
Trim, doors, stairs, decks and built-ins, measured twice and fitted tight. Squarecut Carpentry will cut on site, cope the corners, and leave the room ready for paint.
Serving Milton
Welcome
Carpenter in Milton
Looking after Milton and the surrounding area since 2000.
Est. 2000Who we are
Squarecut Carpentry started with a truck, a mitre saw and a habit of measuring twice. The work has not changed much since: trim coped instead of caulked, doors that swing and latch the way they should, stairs and guards built to the code rather than to a guess, and a broom out before the saw goes back in the truck. We tell you what a job will cost before it starts, and we call if something behind the wall changes it.
What we offer
Work we take on for homes and businesses in Milton and nearby.
Baseboard, door and window casing and shoe moulding in MDF, primed pine or poplar, with inside corners coped rather than mitred so they do not open up the first winter. Nail holes filled and joints caulked, ready for the painter.
Prehung doors set plumb with even reveals, or new slabs like Masonite's Lincoln Park hung on your existing jambs with the hinges and strikes mortised in, not surface-screwed. Closet doors, bifolds and hardware included, and doors that rub or will not latch fixed instead of shimmed.
Oak or maple treads and risers over old carpeted stairs, and new handrails, pickets and newel posts built to the Ontario Building Code — 900 mm guards, openings under 100 mm, handrail between 865 and 965 mm. Loose newel posts get anchored through the framing, not shimmed tight.
Pressure-treated frames on footings below the frost line, the ledger flashed and bolted, and Trex, TimberTech or cedar decking on top. We pull the building permit most municipalities want once a deck is attached to the house or more than 600 mm off the ground, and meet the inspector at framing.
Bookcases, mudroom benches, fireplace surrounds and closet built-ins made on site from cabinet-grade plywood and scribed to your walls. Site-built and painted in place; for a full custom kitchen we will point you to a cabinet shop.
Board and batten, shiplap, picture-frame wainscoting and crown moulding in Metrie or Alexandria profiles, laid out so the panels land evenly instead of leaving a sliver at one end. Coffered ceilings and beam wraps for rooms tall enough to carry them.
Non-bearing walls opened up or added, closets reframed, pocket doors, subfloor patches and blocking for grab bars, TV mounts and heavy shelves. Anything that turns out to be structural gets an engineer or a framing crew before we cut.
Rotted fascia, window trim, porch posts and stair stringers cut out and rebuilt in PVC or treated lumber so the same spot does not fail again. Deck boards, railings and gates repaired rather than replaced when the frame underneath is still sound.
For your peace of mind
Ask any contractor to show you these before work starts. Ours are set out in full below.
Ready when you are
Speak to someone who does the work themselves. Typical response: Same day where we can.
Good questions
MDF for painted trim in dry rooms: it is straight, cheaper, takes paint well and does not show grain or move at the joints. Primed finger-jointed pine or poplar for anything that gets knocked or wet — mudrooms, bathrooms, baseboard behind the dog bowl — because MDF swells when it gets wet and dents easily. If the trim is being stained it has to be solid wood, and we match the species to what is already in the house.
In most Ontario municipalities, yes if the deck is attached to the house or the walking surface is more than 600 mm (about 24 inches) above grade, and guards are required at that height too. Small ground-level platforms are usually exempt, though the rules on footings and setbacks still apply. We check with your building department, draw what they need and pull the permit as part of the job; a deck built without one is a common thing to surface when a house is sold.
We install and prep: nail holes filled, joints caulked, edges sanded, so it is ready for paint. On small trim runs we often prime and paint as well because it is simpler for one crew to do both. On bigger jobs a painter will do it faster and cheaper than we can, and we schedule around them or recommend one.
Usually not. A door that rubs or will not latch is normally a hinge that has pulled loose, a jamb that moved when the house settled, or paint built up on the edges. Most of that is fixed in under an hour with longer hinge screws, a plane and a strike plate moved a few millimetres. We replace a door when the slab is warped, delaminated or damaged, or when you want a different look, not just because it sticks.
No. Kitchen cabinets and vanities are shop work with proper spray finishing, and a good cabinet maker will do them better than anyone can on site. What we build on site is bookcases, window seats, mudroom benches, closet built-ins and fireplace surrounds, scribed to your walls and painted in place. We also install cabinets someone else built, levelled and shimmed properly, and do the fillers, crown and trim that make them look finished.
Linear feet first, then the profile and how many corners, doors and windows there are — a bay window with full casing takes far longer than the same length of straight wall. After that it is prep: pulling the old trim, patching the drywall it took with it, and how out of square the walls and floors are. We quote a fixed price after seeing the rooms and tell you where MDF instead of wood, or a simpler profile, moves the number.
Where we work
Not sure whether you are inside it? Give us a call — we will tell you straight.
Book a visit
Choose a day, leave your number, and we will be in touch to confirm.
Rather talk it through?
(905) 555-0102Pick a time that works. Takes about 30 seconds.
Get in touch
Leave a few details and we will come back to you. Typical response: Same day where we can.
Name and number is plenty — anything else helps us come prepared.
