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looked at on and around Killerton House and
Gardens itself in preparation for the house
opening to visitors for summer.
Sometimes carpentry, joinery and other trades
such as fencing can overlap all depending on
requirements and specification. As you'll see
from the pictures below the last two months
saw a couple of small projects regarding outdoor
items. Firstly the visitors' toilet block outside
Killerton House was in need of some work to
make it safe for not only visitors this summer
but many more to come. The Oak/Chestnut bridge
had begun to rot in certain areas and required
a complete overhaul. Due to the amount of work
required in the woodwork shop to prepare the
materials it was up to the carpentry and joinery
team on this occasion to restore the bridge
(i.e. me). Any "green" (timber that
has not been officially seasoned) Oak or Chestnut
used on site is home grown on the estate's Ashclyst
Forest. It is maintained and forested by the
National Trust wardens based at Killerton House
and Gardens.
Once it had arrived at the workshop the timber
was sawn and planed into the required sizes.
The area was temporarily closed whilst the bearers
were cut out and replaced then the treads were
screwed down and finally pelleted to improve
aesthetics and durability. Any Heritage work
(outdoors) normally utilises solid brass fixings
as they are less prone to corrosion. Four inch
brass, slotted screws were therefore used to
fix the treads.
Other fairly routine joinery tasks over the
last couple of months included the re-stringing
of a sliding slash window at Killerton House
and the making of a National Trust "style"
exterior door. Doors and windows on the estate
generally follow one of approx. four patterns
to conform to estate tradition, listed building
laws and regulations. Four window casements
(just the opening part) were also made for the
same house that the door was required and hung
in place of rotten existing items.
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