Homeowners seek skilled carpenter

Olympia WA

Description

Seeking one or more skilled carpenters for various small projects. Most of the projects require a higher degree of precision, e.g. hanging doors well, framing a shower for Kerdi board requires a super flat front face, etc. While not necessary, it can help us build personal confidence in your work if you can point us toward examples of your work, a contractor license number, customers reviews or any other useful info. I appreciate the notion that the better the carpenter, the poorer the availability, and that summer is a high-demand, low-availability time for carpenters. Many of these projects seem like a good fit for weekend work or in-between-jobs work. Some of the work can wait a while and become winter work for you, presuming the initial work goes well. One could say these projects are the tip of the iceberg, and there are more beneath the surface. You are welcome to contact me via email, text or phone, though I mostly return phone calls and don't answer them initially (too little time, too much spam). Let us know if you have standard rates or prefer to give us a bid for one or more of these projects. We can do a walk through at your convenience. Here are some of the projects we need help with: 1. Framing a shower. For many, many months I was blocked on removing some plumbing. I finally built up the courage to do major plumbing, and did not destroy our home (yet). It's ready for Kerdi board, except the existing framing is not to the required 12" spacing. I thought to just put in a bunch of blocking, but two things gave me pause. First, the Kerdi shower niche requires more than just blocking, it needs to be thoughtfully framed. Second, the framing should be as flat as possible on the face. I worry that if I just block the heck out of the existing framing, I'll end up with a front face that is lumpy, and that will transfer to the Kerdi board and the tile. I think the best choice may be to remove the existing framing and re-frame it to 12". My neighbor has a 6" jointer I can use to flatten edges that need to be super flat. 2. Hanging interior doors. I bought three interior doors from VJ's builder barn about 18 months ago, and they are still laying against a bedroom wall. The existing door frames have two hinges, but the new doors will be hung with three hinges. So a new hinge will need to be notched into the frame, and the doors will hopefully swing clean, wonderful and well fitting, and not like the hodge-podge of poorly-fitting crap doors we have now. 3. Replace french doors with a window. The previous homeowner completed a bunch of their dreamy remodeling plans, and every one of those plans, in my estimation, was crap and should be undone. The french doors leading to sketchy stairs without a railing right above a basement window well must go. Over two years ago I priced out and nearly bought a set of wood windows for this opening from Cherry Creek. But I couldn't easily find a carpenter to frame the wall and install it or to confirm that the close-fitting measurements I had taken seemed like they would actually work for the opening it needed to fit. I didn't want to screw up a two thousand dollar purchase because my measurement was an inch too wide. So I just never did anything. 4. Trim out basement windows. We have several Jalousie (glass slat) windows in the basement. I replaced one with an insulated glass unit I bought locally for $80. I also stripped the window sill. It still needs some trim work though. And there are at least two more that need to be replaced. I would love to find a finish carpenter who knows how to properly install glass. No amount of internet research has convinced me that I know the proper way to install an insulated glass unit in a wood framed window. That didn't stop me from installing one of them -- almost nothing could be worse than the existing Jalousie windows -- but I'd like to find someone with actual experience installing glass units in wood frames and trimming them out cleanly. Should I really be asking a glass company to do this type of work? 5. Reframe porch overhangs. We have two, and they both seem like they're sagging. We want them to not appear so. The real reason I want this job done is because I want beadboard soffits installed, but I don't want to do that project yet if the porch overhangs need major work. Is this a project best left for when we redo the roofing in the future? 6. Replace exterior basement door and frame. My current plan is to get rough-cut 2x8 yellow cedar from Mill Outlet for the door frame, but I've no solid plan for the door. I'm often surprised by the price of new wood doors, and have often thought, and researched the question, can I just make my own? The answer, of course, is yes, I can make my own door, if I commit the time and have enough skill. Well, crap. Maybe I should buy a door. That also seems like a daunting task; in the past I've spent a non-trivial amount of time looking through retail stores, paper catalogs and the web for wood doors. Is it stupid of me to think a skilled carpenter could build me a simple, sturdy door from supplied cedar and an insulated glass unit, and that could be more affordable than ordering one from a door company? 7. Replace exterior front door and sidelight. Haven't selected a wood door for this project yet, but we're thinking it will be mostly frosted glass and the sidelight will be a single, frosted insulated glass unit. Thanks for reading. Let me know which of these projects you are interest in starting with, and let's talk.