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Watford, Hertfordshire

Fitted wardrobes in Watford

Watford has more new-build than anywhere else we cover, and a new-build wardrobe is a different job. The walls are not brick, the ceilings are lower, and fixing into them properly is the whole game.

Area
Watford, Hertfordshire
Postcodes
WD17, WD18, WD19, WD24, WD25
From us
About 13 miles from Hayes, thirty to forty minutes up the M25 or the A412.
Book a free design visit More on fitted wardrobes

About Watford

Why the joinery here is not the joinery two towns over.

Plan of a new-build bedroom in Watford Looking down on a new-build bedroom. The room is a plain rectangle with no chimney breast and no alcoves, so the wardrobes make their own wall. The partitions are metal stud with plasterboard, and the vertical studs are set at regular centres, which is where the fixings have to land. Window Metal studs at centres The run makes its own wall
Plan, looking down No chimney breast, no alcoves, so the run makes its own wall. The partitions are metal stud, so a frame goes in first and the fixings land on the studs.

Watford has changed shape faster than the other towns on our list. Around the town centre and Watford Junction there has been a decade of apartment building, and a new-build bedroom has very little in common with a Victorian one.

Ceilings are often 2.4m or a shade under, there are no chimney breasts and no alcoves, and, the part that actually matters, the internal walls are usually metal-stud partitions with plasterboard rather than masonry. A wardrobe fixed carelessly into that will pull away from the wall inside two years, so units get fixed into the studs themselves, located properly, or a batten frame goes in first to spread the load.

New-build rooms are also frequently a touch out of square in a way that older brick rooms are not, because plasterboard tolerances are looser than brickwork. Away from the centre, Nascot Wood and the streets around Cassiobury Park are Victorian and Edwardian with the usual alcoves and deep skirting, and Garston, Oxhey and much of WD19 and WD25 is interwar and post-war semi stock.

One new build detail catches people out here. The apartments, and many of the newer houses, carry mechanical ventilation ducting in the ceiling void near the walls, and the blocks carry sprinkler heads as well. A full height run has to be planned around both, and neither is visible until somebody opens the ceiling, so we look for the access panels before quoting.

  • Whether the wall is metal stud or masonry, and where the noggins are
  • Ceiling void for ventilation ducting, and sprinkler heads in the blocks
  • How far the room is out of square, which in new build is usually more than expected
  • Lift and stair dimensions in the apartments, before anything rigid is made

Also covering Bushey · Croxley Green · Rickmansworth · Abbots Langley · Garston · Oxhey

Insurance

Fully covered by public liability insurance.

New-build, old house, two different jobs

New-build. Flat walls, no alcoves, low ceilings, plasterboard on metal stud. Easy to design, needs care to fix. Sliding doors often suit because the rooms are compact.

Victorian around Cassiobury and Nascot Wood. Alcoves, deep skirting, taller ceilings, solid walls. Harder to design around, easier to fix into.

Most quotes get this wrong by treating the wall as an afterthought. It is the first thing Arshdeep checks.

Fixing into plasterboard, honestly

There is no plasterboard fixing that will hold a full wardrobe carcass loaded with clothes indefinitely. Anyone who tells you otherwise has not been back to look at their own work two years later.

Studs, or a batten frame across several studs. That is it.

Prices are the same in Watford as everywhere else we work. For the ranges, taken from jobs actually done, see what fitted wardrobes cost.

Common questions

Asked often enough to answer here.

Which parts of Watford do you cover?

WD17, WD18, WD19, WD24 and WD25, plus Bushey, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth and Abbots Langley. It is about thirteen miles from our Hayes base.

We are in a new-build flat. Can you fix wardrobes to the walls?

Yes, but it has to be done properly. Metal-stud partitions will not hold a loaded wardrobe on plasterboard fixings alone. We locate the studs and fix into them, or put a batten frame up first to spread the load across several. It costs a little extra time and it is the difference between a wardrobe that lasts and one that pulls off the wall.

Our new-build bedroom has no alcoves at all. Is that better or worse?

Usually better. A flat, uninterrupted wall is the easiest thing there is to run wardrobes across, and you get the full width rather than two awkward recesses. The trade is that there is no free depth, so the wardrobe comes into the room.

Is our lease or management company going to be a problem?

Internal, non-structural joinery is normally fine, but some leases require notice for any fixing work. It is worth a look at yours before we start; we can work to whatever hours the building requires.

Do you cover Bushey and Croxley Green?

Yes, both, and Rickmansworth. They are on the way in from the M25 so they are no further for us than Watford itself.

How much do fitted wardrobes cost in Watford?

£2,000 to £5,000 for most jobs, the same as everywhere we work. There is no Hertfordshire premium and no VAT to add.

What we build in Watford

Everything below is fitted in Watford homes, by the same man who measures it.

The next step

Arshdeep can be in Watford to measure this week. None of it costs you anything.

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