Tamar Carpentry

Here's a job where the existing solution wasn't up to the task. New home owners found the old stairs pretty tricky to use. I'm not surprised - they didn't meet Australian building standards in several ways. They were too steep, the treads are too narrow, the treads were not grooved, and their footings were not level so the whole thing was crooked. It was only a matter of time before someone took a nasty tumble.

Although, legally, they don't require a handrail (being under 1m from finished ground level), for safety's sake its a good idea to always use one.

So I rebuilt the stairs so they met Australian Building Code and added a handrail for convenience and safety.

My name is Jason and I'm a carpenter and jack of all trades servicing the greater Launceston area. Get in touch to discuss your project today!

I don't just hammer bits of wood together - sometimes a customer likes to challenge me with something out of the box.

I had already done a heap of work for this customer when she asked me if I could do something about her old brick path. Large trees in the yard had lifted the bricks with their roots and her kids were tripping on them. So we needed to do something that could withstand the trees growing around them.

I removed all the bricks and used some to form the path edges. Then I compacted crushed granite down until it was good and firm. It's hard as concrete, but the tree roots wont crack or lift it like it would with concrete.

My name is Jason and I'm a carpenter and jack of all trades servicing the greater Launceston area. Get in touch to discuss your project today!

Bring your deck back from the dead with EkoDeck! I've done several deck refurbishments in the past year where I've replaced tired old timber decks with EkoDeck.

It’s a synthetic decking material that doesn’t need any treatments, staining or painting and guaranteed for 20 years.

Although its more expensive than wood, it is faster to install, so the price evens out in the end.

My name is Jason and I'm a carpenter and jack of all trades servicing the greater Launceston area. Get in touch to discuss your project today!

After a large fence build, I had a bunch of shipping pallets left over. Well, waste not, want not: I turned them into a cool outdoor furniture setting.

The long fence pallet became a couch, the smaller pallets became a chair and a table and the offcuts became a eski bin to keep the beer cold! Some marine varnish finished it off nicely.

You have to use the right type of pallets (heat treated not chemical) and do lots of sanding to get rid of any sharp splinters, but it is a fun way to get a cool outdoor setting.

My name is Jason and I'm a carpenter and jack of all trades servicing the greater Launceston area. Get in touch to discuss your project today!

I'm very happy with this recent project - a "floating" deck with attached gazebo. My customer wanted a nice spot in the sun above the retaining wall in the backyard so she could enjoy her new home.

Because the deck was on the high ground, I set the posts back from deck's sides so it would appear the deck was floating - an effect enhanced by painting all the framing black.

The deck material is Ekodeck Alpine Ash, with Ironwood picture framing. This is a synthetic material which is a bit more expensive than timber decking - but maintenance free, never needs staining or painting and is much faster for me to install, so you save money there.

The gazebo was a prefabricated Saxony BBQ kit from Bunnings - super easy to assemble and it really comes up a treat after a couple of coats of varnish.

The floating stairs were a little technically complicated to design, but well worth the effort! The prexisting retaining wall stairs were pretty steep, so I added in handrails made of Tasmanian Oak with stainless steel balustrading to allow the homeowner to access the deck comfortably.

Now its over to the gardeners to finish off her oasis in the suburbs!

With Spring finally here, its time to start thinking about enjoying the great outdoors over summer - or your great "outback!" The backside of this house wasn't getting much use, so my customer wanted to install a low lying deck.

I sealed the framing with bitumen, both for protection and so the pine framework wasn't visible, make the deck appear to float. The boards were beautiful laminate merbau.

Featuring an outdoor bath, service window to the kitchen and privacy screen, this deck will be the center of attention when summer comes around.

This week's Work In Progress: Deck Resurrection.

The deck structure of this house was about a century old - and most of the supports were badly rotten.

I rebuilt the structure with treated pine sealed with bitumen. Now I'm replacing the boards with synthetic EkoDeck.

Although it's a bit more expensive than timber, EkoDeck is maintenance free. Plus it's hidden fittings are fast to install and gives you a unblemished finish. It's guaranteed with a twenty year plus warranty but I reckon this will be good for another century 😀

Tamar Carpentry has arrived! I'm an independent carpenter who specialises in building decks and outdoor structures - although I do plenty of interior work as well.

I've just started my business servicing the Tamar Valley and Launceston, so feel free to get in touch to discuss your project - or just check out some of my previous work on my page or website:

https://tamarcarpentry.com.au/

We're in lockdown again so I might as well use this time to post some work. A customer of mine had a multiple horrible old pine retaining walls. They were structually sound but looks atrocious. So I built a gorgeous timber screen to hide them. This is tropical hardwood merbau which resists the damp and rot and looks beautiful. I love how this turned out.

There are many houses on the Central Coast on steep, rainforest backed hills.

This houses old retaining walls (top) are doing the job well, but are just damn ugly!

We looked at replacing the walls, but it would be major engineering job - and not really necessary as the problem is just aesthetic.

Instead I'm using merbau hardwood screening to cover the old walls to give the yard a fresh new facelift. Just a simple fix makes the entire back yard a much more pleasent place to enjoy.