Carpenters of various types are employed in the construction of structures such as homes, offices, factories, and other dwellings. The trim carpenter is one such professional, who is in charge of the final stages of construction, which include things like installing trim, making furniture, finishing walls, constructing railings, and building various components that make the space more appealing, usable, or otherwise livable. A trim carpenter may or may not work on a project site; many of the items he or she will make will necessitate large, bulky tools that cannot be transported, so he or she will spend much of his or her time in a workshop.
Installing trim is, unsurprisingly, one of the trim carpenter’s specialties. Baseboards, molding, door trim, and other home finishing accents fall into this category. The trim carpenter will need a keen eye for detail, the ability to take precise measurements, make measurements by eye, and operate various tools to create clean cuts and attractive fittings. The trim carpenter will use chop saws, mitre saws, nail guns, hammers, and sanding units such as palm sanders on-site in this case.
Cabinets and window casings may be installed by the trim carpenter in some cases. The carpenter may or may not have built the cabinets, but he or she is responsible for their proper installation and, if necessary, space adaptation. Window casings are structures that ensure a window fits snugly and properly into a space, which is critical not only for aesthetics but also for efficiency. If the window casings are not built properly, heat can escape, resulting in higher heating costs in the winter. Cool air can escape through the casings, resulting in higher cooling costs in the summer.
A trim carpenter may occasionally work in a woodworking shop to create attractive home accents. Mantelpieces, railings, and even furniture can be built for a space without the carpenter ever setting foot in it. He or she may be required to work with blueprints or plans, requiring strong math skills as well as the ability to read complex building plans or schematics. Trim carpenters are likely to work with sophisticated machinery like computer numeric control (CNC) machines that run on software.