Carpenters in Crawley, West Sussex
Wood flooring in Crawley: floors that look right and stay quiet
A new laminate or wood floor, boards that creak under the carpet, or a loft you cannot store anything in. Give the room sizes and a local carpenter will call you back.
- Laminate, engineered wood and solid wood floors laid
- Creaking, loose and damaged floorboards put right
- Doors trimmed and edges finished to suit the new floor
- Lofts boarded for storage above the insulation
Floors that complain every time you cross them
There is one spot on the landing that creaks whatever you do. You have learned to step over it when the baby is asleep.
Or the carpet is worn through and you want a wood floor, but you have heard the stories. Boards that lift in the middle of the room. Gaps that open in winter. Doors that will not shut once the floor is down.
Nearly all of those problems come from how the floor was laid, not from the floor itself. Laid with care on a sound base, a wood or laminate floor gives years of quiet service.
Three steps to a price
Say what needs doing
Put your name, number and area in the form, then describe the job in your own words. Rough sizes help, such as how many doors or how wide the alcove is.
Take a call from a local carpenter
A carpenter who works in your part of Crawley rings you at the time you picked. They ask a few questions and, for most jobs, arrange to come and measure up.
Decide in your own time
You get a price for the work. Ask for it in writing, compare it if you like, and only go ahead if you are happy. There is no charge for asking.
Laminate, engineered or solid wood
Laminate is a printed surface on a dense board. It is hard wearing, good value and clicks together. It suits busy rooms and tight budgets.
Engineered wood has a layer of real timber on top of a stable plywood base. It looks and feels like solid wood but moves far less, so it copes with underfloor heating and kitchens.
Solid wood is one piece of timber right through. It can be sanded many times over its life. It moves more with the seasons, so it needs the most care in fitting.
MyJobQuote's laminate flooring guide gives a supply and fit price of about £22 to £75 a square metre for London and the south east. That is a published guide figure, not a quote.
What a careful fitter does
- Checks the base is flat, dry and firm, and fixes it if not
- Leaves wood flooring in the room for some days first so it settles to the air in the house
- Lays the right underlay for the floor and the base
- Leaves a small gap round every edge so the floor can swell without lifting
- Trims the bottom of each door and door frame so the floor slides neatly beneath
- Finishes the edges with new skirting or a matching bead
Skipping any one of these is what leads to lifting, gapping and squeaks. If you want the edges finished with fresh skirting boards, ask for both in one quote.
Typical prices for floorboards and lofts
Tap a job for the usual UK price range and the published guide behind it.
These are typical UK guide prices from the published guides named, not a quote. What you pay depends on your home: the sizes, the timber and fittings you choose, and what the carpenter finds once work begins.
Every guide price in one table
| Job | UK guide price |
|---|---|
| Floorboard repairMost floorboard repair jobs, from one creaky board under a carpet to swapping rotten boards and joists. The guide's average for replacement boards is about £500. | £200 to £800typical about £500 |
| Loft boardingBoarding a loft of 15 square metres, worked out from the guide's price of £50 to £90 for each square metre. | £750 to £1,350typical about £1,050 |
These are typical UK guide prices from the published guides named, not a quote. What you pay depends on your home: the sizes, the timber and fittings you choose, and what the carpenter finds once work begins.
The published guides behind these figures
Creaking floors in Crawley houses
A creak is two bits of timber rubbing, or a board moving on a loose nail. In older Crawley houses with real floorboards, the cure is usually to lift the carpet, screw the loose boards down to the joists and replace any that have split.
Houses from the late 1960s onward often have chipboard sheets upstairs. These creak where the sheets meet or where the old fixings have lost their grip. Screwing them down along the joists sorts most of it. Sheets that have got wet and gone soft, often near a bath or a radiator valve, need cutting out and replacing.
The carpenter has to know where pipes and cables run before a single screw goes in. That is the main reason this is a job for a tradesman. A screw through a heating pipe is an expensive creak cure.
Boarding a loft for storage
A boarded loft takes the Christmas tree, the suitcases and the baby clothes out of your bedrooms. Done badly, though, it can make the house colder.
Loft insulation today is laid much deeper than the timbers it sits between. Boards screwed straight onto those timbers squash it flat and it stops working. The answer is to raise the boards on legs or on extra timbers, so the insulation keeps its full depth beneath.
Most houses built since the 1960s have a roof made of factory-built trusses. Their timbers are slim and each one is doing a job, so none should be cut or removed. A carpenter will board around them and can fit a larger loft hatch and a ladder at the same visit. Boarding for storage does not make the loft a room. A loft bedroom is a much bigger job with its own regulations.
Carpentry services in Crawley
- Door hanging and repairsInternal and front doors hung, eased, repaired and re-framed.
- Fitted wardrobes and storageWardrobes, alcove shelves and cupboards built to fit the room.
- Kitchen fittingUnits, worktops, doors and trims fitted level and true.
- Staircases and banistersNew balustrades, handrails, spindles, treads and whole flights.
- Decking and garden carpentryTimber and composite decks, steps, fence panels and gates.
- Skirting and architraveSkirting, architrave, window boards and second fix work.
- Carpentry repairs and small jobsFrames, floorboards, loose rails, boxing in and other small jobs.
Where in and around Crawley
Carpentry help for every part of Crawley and these places close by.
- Town centre, Northgate, West Green and Southgate
- Three Bridges
- Pound Hill and Worth
- Maidenbower
- Furnace Green and Tilgate
- Broadfield and Bewbush
- Gossops Green and Ifield
- Langley Green and Forge Wood
- Horley
- Copthorne and Crawley Down
- Pease Pottage and Handcross
- Charlwood and Rusper
- Horsham
- East Grinstead
Good to know first
- No charge and no strings. Sending the form is free. Nobody can make you accept a price, and you can say no at any point.
- Four boxes to fill in. Name, phone number, area and the job. You are not asked for an email or the number of your house.
- Every price shows its source. The figures on this site are typical UK guide prices taken from published cost guides, each one named and linked. They give you a feel for the job. They do not replace a quote for your own home.
- Your details stay with the job. They are used to get your carpentry sorted and for nothing else. They are never sold on.
Common questions
Can a wood floor go over my existing floor?
Often it can. Laminate and engineered boards can float over sound floorboards, chipboard or concrete with the right underlay. The old floor must be flat and dry. Carpet and its underlay always come up first.
Will my doors still open after a new floor is laid?
A new floor raises the floor level, so most doors need a little taken off the bottom. A carpenter does this as part of the job. If the doors are due for replacing anyway, do both together.
Is real wood flooring suitable for a kitchen?
Engineered wood copes well if spills are wiped up promptly. Solid wood is less forgiving of water. In a bathroom or utility room, most fitters will steer you towards a floor made for wet rooms.
Sort the floor before the furniture goes back
A floor is easiest and cheapest to deal with while the room is empty. Loose boards are simple to fix before a new carpet goes down and awkward once it is fitted. A soft patch near a bath usually means a slow leak, and that only spreads.
Give the room sizes and your part of Crawley. There is no charge for asking.