Carpentry is a skilled trade that is undertaken by trained professionals known simply as carpenters. A carpenter is a craftsman who performs a wide range of woodworking skills that include the construction of buildings and furniture. The work generally involves significant manual labour and can often involve a lot a work outside. This trade can be relatively easy to enter as a carpenters knowledge is mainly gained through experience with some training and becoming involved in the carpentry trade can lead to a prosperous career.
Within the carpentry industry that are numerous job descriptions and usually what happens is you will be trained mainly in one of these carpentry jobs. Below are a few examples of some of the main job descriptions that come under the title of carpentry.
Mayster A mayster is a person who works in rough carpentry, which is named so due to outdoor work and the large scale nature of the jobs that are being under taken. A person working as a mayster will perform tasks such as; framing, formwork, roofing, and other structural work that doesn’t need to be finely joined or polished in appearance.
A joister This describes someone who puts in floor joists. These floor joists are horizontal boards that are connected to the frame of a structure at the level just below the floor. They give the floor strength for holding weight. Also they give a position to fasten the floor to. Joisters also put on the joists for the decks of a building; to be a joister you need good balance to install the beams and joists on buildings considering the elevation involved.
A finish carpenter This describes someone who performs cabinetry, furniture making, fine woodworking, model building, instrument making, parquetry, joinery, or other carpentry where exact joints and minimal margins of error are important.
A trim carpenter A trim carpenter describes a person who specialises in the mouldings and trims used on aspects such as door and window casings, mantles, baseboard, and other types of ornamental work. Cabinet installers are also referred to as trim carpenters.
A cabinetmaker This is a tradesman who performs detailed work, specializing in the making of cabinets, wardrobes, dressers, storage chests, and other furniture designed for storage.
A ship's carpenter As the name clearly states this occupation is for people who specialise in building ships as well as the maintenance and repair work, which includes carpentry that is specific to nautical needs. Its not just wooden ships that need the skills of a ships carpenter; steel ships also need a carpenter in order to carry out emergency repairs.
A framer In the carpentry sense a framer is a person who builds the skeletal structure/framework of a building. Some of the techniques used in this category include platform framing, balloon framing and timber framing.
A roofer This describes a person who specialises in roof construction; working on rafters, beams and trusses. A roofer is someone who installs roof cladding, including tiles and shingles.
Each of the carpentry tasks that are named above are somewhat different but most, if not all involve the same basic steps, which are working from blueprints or instructions that come from supervisors. Carpenters always work in accordance with local building regulations. Helen is the web master of ARCH Building Solutions specialists in all aspects of Property Maintenance
