TerraFirma

14/11/2025

Friday Post! Some more timber work to show off from our St Clement job on the full cut timber roof.

Here, Velux openings have been trimmed out with double, and triple trimmers and the ladders for supporting the fascia/soffit on all gables are being built.
Triple(!) valley timbers are in and trimmed out on the gable end too. The scratch coat is on for render, and our OCD loves when all of the angles line up pretty well and tight on the valley detail from below - a pretty detail but soon never to be seen again!
Much more soon 😎 💪

03/10/2025

Friday post…. New Project!!

Last week we started a new project at a house with a huge amount of history and we’re excited to share progress with you.

We are working on the roof of the property, removing the old slates, installing insulation to upgrade to modern standards, replacing Velux windows and then installing new Spanish slates and associated leadwork.

We feel proud to be working on this project, and we can feel the responsibility of its history too. If only walls could talk!

La Fontaine was once the home of Louisa Gould, who was a shopkeeper at her home in Millais, St Ouen. Louisa sheltered an escaped Russian forced labourer during the occupation between 1942 and 1944, until she was arrested by the German forces along with other members of her family and several others involved.

Sadly Louisa was tried, convicted and imprisoned - Louisa eventually lost her life in Ravensbruck concentration camp on February 13th, 1945 only two months before it was liberated.
Harold, her brother, was imprisoned in Belsen concentration camp and is believed to be one of only two British survivors.

For those who want to read more about these incredible people and their story, please take a look at the link here: https://www.jerseybunkertours.com/louisa-gould

Have a great weekend, and we’ll post more pictures of this project soon…. 😊

25/09/2025

13/09/2025

Check out this lovely Sandstone Patio that we recently completed for our client in St Martin.

We excavated the existing turf, laid type 1 sub base to specification, changed a manhole cover and finally added steps for access from the patio doors.
We enjoyed this one, and the finished result looks great 🤩

We just need the sun to come back now please 🙏

With thanks to the following suppliers:

Normans Jersey for the Marshalls sandstone and resin grout
Quantum Building Supplies for the Sand, cement, manhole and Aco drains
SGB Hire Channel Islands for the Micro digger hire
AAL recycling for the sub base.

31/08/2025

Some progress pics from St Clement, showing DPC, breather membrane, block work and the steel frame for rafters and ridge, thanks to Bardec Ltd for all of the help with structural steel 👍😊

13/08/2025

New Project alert!!

Ok, so we’ve a bit to post to really get up to speed with this one, but here is a fantastic residential project to introduce to you.

TerraFirma took over from Nicholsons builders on this bungalow project - it’s a complete rebuild, increasing the height of the roof, and addition of habitable rooms upstairs….

This is how it looked when we took over, so stay tuned for more updates 😎

06/08/2025

Door repair… Part 2!

Warning - picture heavy post - but everyone likes pictures!

These show the process of repair to the bottom of the door - a full stripdown was required, glass panels out and then lots of measuring.
The base of the door was cut off, and prepared for some new timber.
Once the new timber had been prepared and thicknessed to size, new mortice and tenon joints were made to the bottom rail and stiles, before it was all glued back together.
Once dry, the door was trimmed, sanded and readied for the glass to go back in with putty and new timber glazing beads made.
Once reglazed, it was hung and decorated, and a new stormguard profile fitted to the bottom of the door, to ensure that any water stays out this time. These are
Simple, but great bits of kit and look great too!

A lot of work went into this one, but a great finished result and an old door saved and repaired for hopefully many more years service... 😎

01/08/2025

We like to tackle a good variety of work and this job involved some sympathetic joinery - and we got to use some machines in the workshop too 😬

This softwood door and frame had seen much better days. Water had rotted away the bottom of both door and doorposts - and was encroaching inside too in heavy rain.
With no threshold or drainage in front of the door for rainwater, it didn’t stand much chance really!

This was an interesting project - the door was very old and a bespoke size so was not available off the shelf and had to be repaired.
We made a new hardwood cill, and scarfed in new post bases where needed, again all bespoke woodwork and laminated/glued.
Nice tight scarf joints and exterior glue was the order of the day!

We installed a threshold drain and cast a new concrete base for the new woodwork to sit on.

Have a look at these pics that tell the story - part 2 coming soon! 😎

13/07/2025

We are lucky to be able to work with some great companies and trades in the construction industry here in Jersey.

Check out this amazing transformation on a private house, recently completed.

All roofing works were completed by the amazingly skilled & professional team at Elite Roofing Limited who stripped the tired roof, upgraded the insulation and installed new Spanish slates.

Once they had done their bit, we added the finishing touches by replacing the old, tired (and in some places rotten!) fascia’s & soffits with new Swish black UPVC items - and then added Black gutters and downpipes where needed to finish.
We love how this looks now - slick, modern and it’s transformed the look completely. 😎

Thanks to Elite Roofing Ltd for entrusting us with the works.

Materials for this one were supplied by Quantum Building Supplies and Totem Plastics