Getting your woodwork done

Recently I got my woodwork done and thought of sharing my experience with everyone. It has been quite a bumpy drive for me for the last two months.

As everyone else, I also wanted to make my house look the most beautiful house, with most efficient usage of space, the best quality and at the same time the most economical.
Everyone has got their own taste. I was looking for a house which will look contemporary with modern furniture and fittings.

Hence I started looking for a “Interior Designer” who can provide me with design ideas and suggest me some designs based on my house and my requirements.
To elaborate, I was looking for someone who can give ideas not only with respect to the woodwork but an overall design which has many other aspects like painting, lighting, space utilization, paneling, placement of furniture, wall decoration, bathroom fittings etc.
I guess having this expectation from an Interior Designer/Decorator is not asking too much.

Well after looking around and talking to people for 2/3 weeks, I realized that the word “Interior Designer” is highly abused…at least in Bangalore.
When I used to meet so called Interior Designers and ask them about various design ideas, all they had to offer is the wood work they have done. No one even understood what I am expecting. Either they were trying to push whatever work they have already done or the reply is “yes, yes”, whatever you tell, we can do. Well, I was looking forward to them to give me ideas…not them asking me for ideas.
I posted my requirement in some company newsgroups. I finally got a reference of a person, whose work I somewhat liked. Little then I realized at that time that the person is as good as any other person, only thing is just because he drives a car, and can speak English, I ended up paying almost double for the same work.

During this woodwork, I realized that “Trust” is another word you have to be very careful of. Hence I thought I will write some Do’s and Don’ts so that at least others can learn some trick of the trade before getting into it.

Here are some Tips

Whenever you plan to start your woodwork be assured that it is not something, that you can completely leave up to the person and forget about it. You have to be involved to get what you want.
Go for a formal agreement with the person with terms covering quality, guarantee of work for 6 months to 1 year, list of all the work that needs to be done, price, completion date etc.
If you do not follow up, you will never get your woodwork completed in time
Visit your woodwork as many times as possible to prevent any mistakes and do some quality assurance. Believe me, no matter how sophisticated your Interior designer is, they will try to make quick bucks by compromising on quality at any place where they can, without you noticing.
If you are planning to go for Plywood based woodwork here are some tips for you
There are two separate things.
i. Plywood
ii. Plyboard or block-board

How to differentiate between Plywood and plyboard?

Plywood is strips of thin wood slices pressed together using some adhesive. If you look at the thickness or edge of the plywood, you will be able to see this.
Where as block board has blocks of wood kept next to each other and then pressed with wood slices at both sides. If you look at the thickness or edge of the plywood, you will be able to see this as well.

In plywood, normally there are two verities
1. Waterproof
2. Commercial

How to differentiate between Waterproof and Commercial plywoods?
Commercial plywood is of wood color whereas waterproof plywoods looks almost black.

Go for waterproof plywood and plyboards of a good company like Kitply, Greenply, Saron, Nilgiri etc at least for the Kitchen.
Do not settle for Plyboards for making the super structure
For wardrobes, you may take a decision on whether to go for Waterproof or commercial depending on your requirements and budget.

Price differences
The price of commercial plywood is very less as compared to waterproof
The price of waterproof plyboard is less then plywood
Hence ensure that your wood contractor is using the right material.

Remember that if you do not visit your woodwork when they are making the super structure, it will not be possible for you to make out whether they have used plywood, or plyboard or commericial or waterproof once they put the lamination or veneer on top of it.

Lamination Vs Veneer Vs something else

Decide at the beginning if you are planning to go for veneer or lamination or painting.
Lamination – Lamination is a cheaper option then the other two. Ask the woodwork contractor to give you lamination selection books. Here also there are a lot of brands. Go for a good lamination.
Decide and confirm your selected lamination.
While deciding the lamination, think about the kind of theme you are planning for the room. DO NOT leave it upto the contractor. Here also based on the lamination and brand the prices very and your contractor will give you the cheapest option if you didn’t care for it.

Think about the lamination for the inside of your wardrobes, drawers as well. Normally people go for white, but I went for different colors, simply because I liked them better then white, and second it costs the same.

Lamination – You will get lamination in almost any color, and in various textures and finishes. I initially thought of going for glossy laminations, but people advised me against it because it can get scratched and will look bad after sometime. Well, I didn’t go for it…but now I feel I should have gone for that option. At least for those furniture where the chance of it getting scratched is less.

Veneer – This mostly comes in wood textures, and wood colors. But I have seen blue, green, red veneers as well. But the looks are different then the lamination. I will not put my finger on one over the other. I personally would have gone for all lamination had my woodwork contractor not convinced me to go for veneer.

Deco Painting – You can go for deco painting in bathroom furniture. This is the kind of paint that is normally used for painting cars.

Other Aspects of woodwork

1. When you give your house for woodwork, take your contractor around the house and show him in what condition you are handing over the house to him. There are some, who will completely destroy your house and you may end up spending a lot later on, on repairing things that were destroyed by the workers.

2. Think about what will you do with the electrical points that are getting hidden behind the wardrobes

3. Its important what Stainless Steel brand you are going for. Problem with SS is that there are no national or international brands. Hence whatever is the best brand in your locality, ask your woodwork contractor to provide that brand.

4. Select your hinges. I am aware of two types of hinges. Unfortunately don’t know what they are called. Hettich is a company which makes good hinges that I have used.

5. Select what glass you want to use in your woodwork. Mostly there are two brands that are popular in Bangalore. Modi and St Gobain. Both are good. Decide on the design, if you are planning to go for some decorative glasses.

6. If you like paneling in your entrances or wherever you like, go for it, as it is not going to hurt you much in terms of money. But it can give a very nice look to your house.

7. Decide on the decorative lights. Don’t waste your time going to Hometown or @home for decorative lights. The best place is BVK Iyengar road in Bangalore. I am sure every town will have places like this where you get a wide range of choice and at a reasonable price.

8. Have you thought about your kitchen? Have you decided where you will keep your plates, where you will keep big utensils? What kind of handles you want? Where you will keep glasses and where you will keep cutlery? Well if not, then it’s a good time to start thinking about it. Depending on your requirements, you can have various types of SS drawers that are available in the market. Ask your woodwork person to give you a brochure to chose from.

Couple of tips that I think could be helpful to you.
1. I personally believe these Modular kitchen companies charge way more then it is worth. Hence if you have the time and patience, then get it done yourself.
2. Go for all drawers for the bottom section (below the platform). The reason for that is, by experience we have realized that if it becomes very difficult to reach/find an item kept in a bottom shelf.
3. Use perforated cutlery tray for keeping cutleries. In normal drawers, the cutlery gets into the gaps and makes it very difficult to operate the drawers.
4. Kitchen area should be well lit. If you are going for overhead cabinets, then plan to have some lights below those overhead cabinets to highlight the cooking area.

Space utilization and convenience is very important as normally in India, the kitchens are really small. Hence plan carefully.

9. Do not allow the workers to use your bathrooms. They can completely destroy it. In my case all my bathroom fittings got destroyed because they operated it most probably with acid in their hands. Acid is the number one enemy of your bathroom fittings.

I guess I have written a long one, but I felt if I can help someone with my experience, then probably its worth a try.