Websites for carpenters.

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.