Services

What I build

Interior and exterior finish carpentry for the classic homes of Holston Hills. If what you have in mind isn’t listed, call me and ask.

Mantles

The hearth is the soul of a home. An old home has an old soul. Shouldn’t the woodwork around it be timeless? I build mantles to suit the space in such a way that most folks would assume it has always been there.

It should be noted, there is often rot lurking in the walls adjacent to an old fireplace. Before any surface level finishes occur, I’ll ensure that the structural elements surrounding your masonry are sound and true.

Paneling

Wainscot, board and batten, raised panel, and feature walls laid up piece by piece. Paneling is what makes a plain wall look like it has always been there, and the difference between good and bad work is in how the seams and the returns are handled.

I lay out the panels to the room rather than to a standard spacing, so the lines land where the eye expects them.

A herringbone wood feature wall beside a stair rail — Herringbone feature wall

Doors

Barn doors, carriage doors, and entry doors, built and hung. A door is the piece of carpentry a family touches most, so it gets the most attention: square, plumb, with an even reveal all the way round and hardware set to carry the weight.

I can match an existing door in an older house, or build something new that sits comfortably beside it.

Wood barn doors with black strap hinges on an outbuilding — Carriage doors

Beams

Exposed beams, box beams, and tongue-and-groove ceilings. Beam work carries a room, and it is unforgiving: every joint is at eye level and every line is read against the ceiling.

Box beams can be built around existing structure to get the look of timber without the load, and they can be finished to match trim elsewhere in the house.

An exposed beam ceiling over tongue-and-groove boards — Exposed Red Oak beams

Millwork

Casing, base, crown, and built-ins, including scribing where a finished piece has to meet stone, plaster, or an old wall that is not straight. Scribing is meticulous work and it is what separates finish carpentry from trim work.

In a house from the 1920s almost nothing is plumb, level, or square. The millwork has to accommodate that without looking like it is compromising.

A wood panel scribed to follow the face of a fieldstone wall — Red Oak scribed to fieldstone chimney

Stairs

Treads, risers, skirtboards, newels, and balustrades, whether that means replacing worn treads on an original stair or building a new run. Stairs get used every day, so they are built to stay quiet underfoot.

Stair work in an old house usually means matching profiles that are no longer sold. Those get milled to match.

Windows

Casing, stools, aprons, and jamb extensions, plus the details around a window that most people never notice until they are wrong. Corner windows and banks of windows need their own layout so the casing reads as one piece of work.

I also build soffits and surrounds to conceal shades and hardware.

A corner kitchen window cased in wood, with a head casing that turns the corner — Corner kitchen window

Timberframing

Porches, pavilions, pergolas, and framed structures, cut and raised. Timber framing is the oldest part of the trade and the part that shows plainly whether the joinery is any good.

Exterior work in East Tennessee has to be detailed for weather. Everything is built to shed water and stay tight through the seasons.

Curved wood knee braces under a copper-roofed canopy over a glazed side door, beside a brick wall — Mortise and tenon knee braces

Not sure what you need? Call me.

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