Kitchen worktops in Higham Hill

Yes. Interwar semis with a rear kitchen of about 2.6m by 2.4m and a separate dining room, commonly knocked through to give an L-shaped kitchen-diner with 3.5m of run in total. Larder recesses and a rear lobby off the kitchen are typical and usually absorbed into the layout. A drive that shelves towards the house needs the van chocked and the trolley controlled, since a loaded A-frame gathers speed quickly on a slope. A replacement is a two-way job, with old tops going out and new stone coming in, so the van needs to stay put across the whole day. Old tops out and new stone in, both through the same gap.

interwar council-built semi, 1930s terrace and post-war maisonette. These kitchens have been retiled at least twice, and stripping the tiles takes the bottom band of plaster with them because the old laminate ran underneath rather than up to them. The typical 1930s kitchen sits at the back with a low window over the sink run, so the template records the exact sill height above the units to settle whether an upstand fits or the stone has to die into a window board. Two to three hours, once the units are in.

Wider roads than central Walthamstow, with side gates on most semis and a fair number of driveways, so slabs can go straight down the side to the back door. Parking restrictions are lighter here than around the town centre. Rear access usually lets us fit longer pieces whole, so the join count ends up decided by the slab rather than by the building. The templater measures that route on the same visit, so the drawing leaves site already knowing the maximum piece. The template records it along with everything else.

Worktop installation, worktop replacement and worktop templating, in that order. Side access to the rear is the norm, so long single pieces are achievable and the design does not have to be broken up for the hallway.

Two runs meeting at an internal corner is the most common shape we fit, and the corner is where the decisions are. The existing layout is being kept, so the question is whether the old carcasses will take stone in that shape without more support. Carcasses have to be sound first. Alcove pieces get cut oversize on both scribe edges, with the true wall angles carried on the template drawing rather than assumed. One measurement never describes it, which is why a tape reading taken before the visit rarely matches the template. Plotted, not estimated. Material runs from £110 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines rather than rolled into one figure.

Where a landlord or housing provider is involved there is a specification to meet and a process to follow, and both are settled before a date is offered. The template happens when the units are in, fixed and level, whoever is fitting them. Fitted, fixed and level, then we come. Tell us the building when you book and the lift, the stair turn and any freeholder notice get built into the day rather than found on it.