Woodworking Jobs Anybody Can Do

No matter how much you love your home, you probably have a “fix-it” list. Small repairs can add up if you call in a professional, but you can save hundreds of dollars per year by doing it yourself. Many home woodworking jobs require little skill; here are four jobs that any homeowner can do.

Door Hanging

DIY door hanging can save you 50% of the cost of hiring a professional. To make the process as easy as possible (especially if it’s your first time doing it), buy pre-hung internal doors; they come attached to the door jamb by the hinges and the hole for the doorknob is already cut. When you order your door, you’ll need to know the width and height of the opening, and which way the door’s hinges swing.

If you need to work with a regular door and fit it to an existing frame, the most important thing is to get either measurements from the old door or directly from the frame. When buying your door it is highly unlikely that you’ll find one of the correct size, so choose one slightly bigger and carefully plane it to the correct dimensions.

Skirting Repair

Damaged oak skirting looks terrible but is reasonably straight forward to repair. The main consideration is whether you want to cut out and replace just the affected areas or if you would rather replace whole boards. Before you begin, look at the damaged areas and take some measurements so you’ll know how many skirting boards you’ll need to buy (it’s always better to buy too much than to come up short!). You’ll need a measuring tape, a saw, a mitre box (for cutting the joins in your skirting), a hammer, nails, siding board and a utility knife, all of which can be bought from any home improvement store.

Repairing Rotted Window Frames

Wooden windows can last for years as long as they’re painted, but without proper maintenance they’ll eventually rot. The two most vulnerable areas are the sill and the sash; if your window has rot in either of these places, you’ll need to fix it before it fails completely. Remove the glass from the frame before you start- you’ll need to remove the trim before you can take out the glass. Once the window and the frame are separated, you can repair the sill if needed. In many cases, the sill is the most damaged part because it’s always exposed to the elements. If the sash is minimally rotted, you can patch it without removing, but if rot is substantial, you’ll need to get a piece custom-made to fit.

Maintaining and Restoring Your Deck

It usually only takes a couple of years for even a new deck to look dull and dreary; the place you once gathered with friends becomes the place you like to avoid. Even if it looks severely damaged, most deck issues can be fixed with the right products and a little work. It’s better to fix your deck now than to wait- wood left untreated will absorb moisture, leading to rot and structural failure. Decks take a real beating from foot traffic, the sun, ice, rain and snow, and because of that, you may need to treat it once a year or more.

This post was written by James Harper on behalf of UK Oak Doors who supply great wood products like oak skirting and internal doors. Please visit their site for more info.