A Definitive Guide to Carpentry Finishing (Joinery Finishing)

Doors, Windows and Ventilators are an integral part of the house. A proper installation of the same can guarantee all round ventilation as well as provide safety for your family. The process of installing these are termed as Joinery Finishing (also known as Carpentry Finishing). This article will help you with inputs on how to choose and install Doors, Windows and Ventilators for your brand new home.

Earlier days, frames of doors and windows were fitted along with the masonry work (or block work). With the advancement in execution methods, joinery finishing comes in as a separate work. Nowadays, design phase covers a thorough planning,  making it easy to do the joinery installation after the block work.

Well, read on to see in detail the elements that will help you to choose the perfect home solutions for doors, windows and ventilators. In this exhaustive guide on joinery finishing, you can learn about:

1. What comes under Joinery Finishing?
2. All you need to know about the dimension of individual fixtures
3. Types of materials used in carpentry finishing and benefits of each
4. What all to consider while choosing a material for carpentry finishing

What comes under Joinery Finishing?

As mentioned earlier, joinery finishing takes care of the installation of doors, windows and ventilators in a house.

Doors:

Typically doors are used in 3 areas of a residential unit –

• Main entrance door (front door),
• Inside doors and
• Bathroom doors.

Read more about door design ideas.

Windows:

Windows are of different types –

• Front part of the house,
• Bedroom windows,
• Wider area windows (like that in drawing and dining rooms) and
• Kitchen windows.

Ventilators:

Ventilators are small window openings used mostly in:

• Bathrooms,
• Store rooms and
• Other smaller areas

Fixing these carpentry items require some calculations before hand. First and foremost, find out the number of fixtures needed. Further, work out on the dimensions of each of them.

What you need to know about the count and dimension of individual fixtures in Carpentry Finishing?

During the house design phase, the number of doors and windows for each room are calculated. Most of the doors and windows follow a standard size. Hence it is optimal to maintain the height and width of each of the openings at the prescribed dimension.

Typically, standard definition use either four shutter windows or three shutter windows for wider area. And, two shutter windows goes in for smaller areas.

Front part of the house use French windows (full height windows). This gives a broad look to the entrance of the house. Also, from a practical point of view, before you answer somebody at the door, you can peep in through the window to see who it is!

Rarely, the practical needs and individual preferences can bring in changes in standard dimension. This gives you a unique feel for the house, but at a higher cost of non-standard design!

Just like dimension, the type of materials used for these fixtures vary on the requirement.

What are the types of materials used in Carpentry Finishing?

The most common material used for carpentry finishing is wood. In the recent times, concrete, Aluminium and G.I. (Galvanized Iron or steel) has become popular; because of lower cost, easy installation and mass manufacturing power.

Apart from these, there is another material called uPVC (unplasticized Polyvinyl Chloride). It is a durable and rigid PVC that is a good alternative for wood.  We at Viya suggest that, if you are looking for a polished look, consider uPVC. Indeed, you have to strike off a balance between quality and pricing when it comes to uPVC.

Let us see in detail the benefits and suggested usage of each of these materials in Joinery Finishing:

The ideal for material for Carpentry Finishing – Wood

Due to the pleasing aesthetic sense, most of the Kerala homes prefer wood over other options. And hence the name carpentry is more popular than joinery in Kerala.

Kerala is abundant in natural vegetation and wood is the ideal joinery material for homes. Malayalis often prefer a teak front door. Nowadays, ready made doors with teak finish and designer doors are also making way into Kerala homes.

The inside door frames require hard wood like Anjili, Karivelakam etc. The shutters of windows perform well with wood like Mahogany, Karivelakam, Anjili, jack-tree etc.

Wood gives you the freedom to choose from different qualities depending on your requirement. In fact, each wood has got unique characteristics making it ideal for that particular use. And definitely, it shows up as a wise choice when years pass by.

(You can understand in detail the characteristics of each wood and how to choose one above other  based on your need and preferences by reading the article: here)

Concrete Frames  – Cost effective joinery solutions

A cheaper alternative to wood is concrete. And yes, by compromising on the looks! Concrete frames for windows and doors are quite popular nowadays. Definitely, for shutters you have to look for other options.

Aluminium Shutters – Multiple design options

Aluminium is often preferred when it comes to window shutters. Especially, since it offers a variety of designs to choose from. Please note that aluminium is hardly suited for frames.

Galvanized Iron (G.I.) Frames – Stable and feature rich

G.I. frames are quite popular because of its stability, and wider design options. G.I. is relatively a new entrant, but is widely preferred due to its strong features.

uPVC (unPlasticized Polyvinyl Chloride) Ready Made Joinery

uPVC comes as ready made manufactured unit that can go into the window or door space. A skilled mason can easily fit in the uPVC fixture on to the allotted areas without any hassle.

What should you consider while choosing the material for Joinery Finishing?

While choosing a material for joinery finishing, you have to consider a combination of important factors. First of all, weigh high on its quality characteristics and its suitability for specific purpose. Also consider durability, life and cost of the material, for a long term benefit. Along with that, the nature of the material and it’s aesthetic angle play a big role.

The final choice of the material resides up on collective suggestion from the house owner, engineer and the architect. These inputs are used to get the design executed as per the material choices available. The person (or the company) doing carpentry finishing for your home will do that for you.

After fixing the fixtures, a good amount of polishing and painting gives it a perfect finish. And, adding security features like locks, convenience features like handles, knobs etc gives it a final look.

Well, it is these fine finishing touches that gives your home the perfect look and feel. So take utmost care in each of these for a wonderful stay in your brand new home!

If you need any clarifications in choosing or installing Doors, Windows and Ventilators for your house, do reach out to us at : +91 8138 800 800

And if you found this article on carpentry finishing useful, please share it with your friends who are planning to build a house.

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