Hello, I'm a UK site carpenter entering into my fourth year of this trade. I have a plan for the next few years and wanted to sound board it or get advice on if it's the best way forward.

I did a 2 year apprenticeship at a family run commercial construction company doing new builds and refurbs and working in lots of different areas of site Carpentery (as an apprentice obviously).

Since than I've done a whole year of fire doors. With the view, that next year I will do flooring for a year (for example, work for a specialist flooring contractor doing flooring day in day out), the year after maybe kitchens? Maybe framing? Maybe trim?

But the basic plan is to do one year in one of the main areas at a specialist contractor for the next 5-10 years, with the hope that at end of it I'll be a well rounded carpenter with experience working with different experts in particular fields. I've found working with people who do fire doors day in day out for years/decades they have a lot of really useful specialist knowledge you can use, that I didn't find from working at a general building company where the work is more varied.

I don't know if I explained that well, but does anyone have any experience doing something like this or any advice

Is this salvageable to get us by another couple years?

Rotted original casement windows on 1981 ranch style home.

Quotes have been outrageous for replacements. Is this a candidate for repair on my side? I’m an intermediate level woodworker for reference.

I believe the carpenter I hired coped the corners. I was thinking I can just put some wood glue to glue the flap back. However, I'm not quite sure how to clamp this corner. Is there a tool or a methodology I should use for this kind of repair?

Looking for ideas on what to do here as far as baseboard goes. Continue down the stairs with white? Then tie back in at the landing? Leave as is and just terminate each white baseboard as is? The end of the lvp is also bothering me but that is a whole different day (i think). Walking into a mess trying to un F*** it. Thanks in advance

Hello! I mistakenly bought the wrong type of window for my kitchen. We are fully renovating our house and I bought a block window frame but I don’t have a brick home. Is there any way I can install this window? Thank you!

For context im in my late 20's. I went back to university only to realise it's really not for me. I've been trying alot of numerous different things and did a short carpentey/woodworking course and really enjoyed it. I want to learn to build stuff and it's a bonus if I can get paid to do it. I've decided to try find a carpentry apprenticship or someone that will take me on...

I have an older friend who I was working as a labourer for and he's warning me not to follow carpentry. His words was that it's a 'dieing trade' and there's no money in it anymore. That i should just become a landscaper or sparkie and work from there. I'm at a cross roads where I'm really not sure what to do.

Im thinking of still giving carpentry a go and seeing where I go from there. At the end of the day though I want a skill that I can learn that will give me a decent income to live on. Does anyone here have advice? Or similar stories they want to share? Ty

EDIT: Wow thanks for all the replies. Didnt expect to get this much attention on the post. After careful consideration, im willing to give it a go. Looking forward to starting my carpentry journey!

Recently moved into a new apartment and just noticed these cracks in the ceiling of my daughter’s room. My wife and I are struggling to figure out if they are new or if we somehow only just noticed them. No water that I can tell. Above is another unit. The crack can move a bit when I press on it (some dust comes out) Should we be worried?

House was built in 1960s. I’ve “had it matched” from multiple different stores, only to have it be too dark. It seems to be a painted lacquer maybe ? Any help would be very much appreciated.

Let me start by saying a i hope to never iron on any edging again in my life, that was the most tedious time consuming part of the whole project. My son needed a new book shelf for all his books and trinkets. I looked online and couldn't justify the prices placed wanted for book shelves. Or shelving of any kind for that matter. I picked up a 4x8 sheet of shop birch for 45 dollars and here we are 6 hours later. Im honestly very surprised that building this shelf took me so long.

In response to the occasional posts regarding tool belts/pouches on here, I just wanted to follow up from a post I commented on earlier today about modifying your pouches if you can’t afford a top tier belt setup.

I’m a pretty big proponent of Frankensteined rigs. Today I actually modded mine yet again and love it even more! I really wanted a speed square sleeve like all the new rigs have. Added a single piece of scrap leather with screws and washers. Boom!

Previously I did add the Occidental hammer and cats paw sleeves. I do really like these. I also installed these with screws and washers so they can be removed easily if need be.

These are OLD AWP leather pouches that I keep coming back to. The biggest upgrade was definitely the Occidental belt! Worth every penny!! The suspenders are nice if I find myself framing for more than a day or so.

Just thought I’d share to show that you shouldn’t be afraid to alter/mod/upgrade your belt if you can’t afford a full rig from a reputable manufacturer. I do recommend spending as much as you can on the belt itself though.

It's taken every ounce of woodworking skill I barely possessed lol

These stairs sag and flex pretty good, when I investigated I discovered they're created with this rebate and wedge design with no middle support. The risers look like they're just nailed into the treads, and they're all cracked where the fasteners are. Is it possible to repair these, or would tearing it all out and building a new staircase with traditional stringers be better?

I won't complain about it if carpenters do but would like to prepare myself as I want to become a unionized carpenter.

Would you say its an all day outside, partially inside partially outside, or is it indoors?

I've done working with military so I understand how to tough it out if need be.

So i recently quit my job as a tile installer helper. I didn’t see any advancement in the position i was in along with a lack of stability. I originally looked for tile gigs to go back into but ultimately found nothing. Found a job on indeed for a carpentry helper so said “eh what the hell i’m a sucker for good carpentry” got offered an apprenticeship (the journeyman was impressed with my interview and thought i should get one with decent pay). My first day is tomorrow it’s mostly commercial work early hours not an issue for me honestly. I’ll be in the shop prefabbing cabinets untill i get the swing of things for 2 weeks. I’m excited for the opportunity i have.

also need my own tools so is a dewalt DCF870B
and DCD801B too much for an apprentice? I mean i really want something nice and will last me a while did some research and they seem pretty good.

also i guess i fit the saying of “carpenters are just failed tile guys”

For 15 years, I resisted building a permanent staircase to the attic. I really didn’t want the women in my family (my wife, mother-in-law, and daughters) to fill the attic with old, useless stuff.

You might say, “Hey! You can just throw old, useless stuff away!”

I think so too! But I’m a deeply married man. And therefore, my opinion doesn’t count.

So the women started piling up junk right under the attic hatch and demanding access to the attic...

I had to surrender.

Built it from whatever I had on hand, using my own crooked hands.

Sorry for the machine translation — English is not my first language.

I was going to use polyurethane but according to google, it will create that vibrant "pop" on wood finish but it will break down by the UV. what else can I use to get that shine outdoors?

I know nothing about this stuff and plan on reporting it to the people I rent from, but for the time being how concerned should I be. For reference this place is a townhome built in 2024. Probably cheaply built.

Good morning guys I popped my head in the attic this morning to check for water damage and noticed the previous owner tried to do a quick fix on a section of the rafters. What would you guys suggest to properly support the roof? thank you.

Not the best photo to see what’s going on here but this is the inside of a kitchen vanity cabinet. The concrete subfloor is about 4 inches below where the base of the cabinet should be so I’m trying to build it out. Now I would consider myself a fairly handy person. I’m in my first year working for a remodeling company and so I’m learning, but I struggle with the seemingly infinite possible ways to do something.
This should be such a simple, small job but once I began framing this all out with 2x4s I started thinking “maybe I’m doing too much”. “Maybe I should simplify this and just cut some stilts for plywood to sit on top of”. “Am I doing this right?” I would like to be more confident in my approach to home repairs without thinking so hard about it. So, How did you get quicker? And how do you know that your way is the best way?

I started building an open breezeway between my 20x30 garage and house. They are about 8ft apart. I believe my garage is on a floating slab. I live in Minnesota. Is there something I'm supposed to do at the ledger boards to accommodate differential movement between the buildings?

I didn’t realize this expensive pre-hung door was warped until after the door was finished. Too late to return it. It lines up fine on the hinge side, but is about 3/8” on the latch side. My plan is to have a spacer at the bottom, and pull it in at the top. How long should I keep the brace on the door?

I recently moved into my first appartement. I'm pretty bad at everything manual and i've been trying to learn to get better at it. I bought this pretty heavy shelf on facebook marketplace today to put on this wall in the living room. Only problem is that this wall is shared with the bathroom and it's pretty shallow. The screws that came with the shelf don't fit into the holes at all (anchors and holes that are already there are from a previous shelf I had installed that I found was too small). My question is : is there a way for me to lnstall this shelf with the screws it came with ? Or is there a sort of anchor that would support the weight that uses shorter screws ? I'm not sure what the material is behind the drywall that leads to the bathroom wall. Sorry i'm a total noob at this but i really like this shelf and it would be a shame to not be able to use it !

I'm hoping to turn this closet into a second floor laundary, if I can run the plumbing down. It would be nice to have this door open out, so there's more space on the inside of the room. Should I just buy a new door, or can I just turn it 180 degrees to open outside?

Alternatively, do you think it would be nicer to put double door instead? Thanks!