When the structure of a home is complete and the roof and drywall have gone up it is time for the finishing work to be done. Not all companies are equipped or skilled to do this type of work. In most cases this takes specialized carpenter, or carpenters, who will hang the doors, install floors, hang siding and cabinets and make sure all the trim and moldings are in. In other words these carpenters take care of all the minute details and make sure that the house is complete.

To be a finish carpenter takes more than just carpentry skills, no matter how well a carpenter can hammer a nail or cut a piece of lumber. Because framing a stick-built home, in most cases, requires a crew with nail guns building the walls and floor joists from raw lumber and raising and installing the roof trusses. Then they put the sheathing on the outside to close in the exterior and make the home ready for the window installers and roofers.

Framing is a Different Skill

Good framers will help out the finish carpenters by making everything plumb and level so that the finishers don't have to adjust areas to fit the interior designs such as moldings. The they go to work to add the basic form that the finishers will use to turn an empty, warehouse-looking bunch of rooms into a mansion.

In many cases a finish carpenter is a framing carpenter who got better and either took finishing courses or learned on the job by watching and helping an experienced hand over time. Finishing is mostly about the eyes it entails simple skills: reading a level, working a measuring stick and cutting the crucial corners that either make or break the look of a crown molding. But these are skills that require hours of practice. For example, Fine chisel work and perfect cutting on the string line are skills that a rough carpenter does not need. As long as the laser line is close to the pencil mark then the stud will fit fine for drywall. The drywallers will adjust to the centers being 1/8" or even 1/4" off center.

Measure Twice

However a finish carpenter has to be exact in his or her measurements. Window moldings and baseboards usually follow the straight, manufactured edge of the window and flooring, and straying from this line will be noticeable to the naked eye. In addition, tolerances on doors may be only a fraction of an inch depending on how well the framing crews have operated, and this could be the difference between a free-swinging or sticking door.

Crown moldings are finishing touches that extra special care because of their varied thickness and camber. Putting in a corner requires more than just cutting each end of the molding on a 45 degree angle, because the top of the decorative crown edging is usually tapering inward. This is just another example of the skills required by a finish carpenter.

New Homes Settle and Dry

Another key consideration of new home construction facing finish carpenters is the settling and drying of the home. This can cause doors and windows to freeze shut and, if the framing job is bad, floors to warp. In normal situations a finish carpenter has the eye and knowledge for forecast and adjusts the tolerances to compensate for these occurrences. In addition trim may be "stepped back," as I molding around a window, so that any movement in the wood will not show as it wood if the pieces were exactly flush.

Cabinet Skills

Depending on the skill a finish carpenter may build in cabinets like a china cabinet or a buffet. This takes tremendous skills and specialized tools because there are many details to work out such as dovetailing and routing. Glass panels may have to be installed and hardware not associated with pre-built cabinetry. Today, many finish carpenters use pneumatic nail gun to fasten moldings and trim. This is not unexpected and frees time up for the carpenter up when fastening long strips. Like hand nailing each nail hole is plugged with a wood filler and sanded before painting or staining.

In addition, a finish carpenter may install a pre-built stair and stair rail system or build one from scratch. For more information on getting a finish carpenter for your job contact