what is millwork

what is millwork

Blog Article

If you look around your home, you’ll see many different kinds of woodwork all around you. You have wood posts, studs in your drywall, doors, trims, and maybe even some exposed wood ceiling beams. In the image above, there’s a wide variety of wood pieces such as the fireplace surround, wall paneling, faux beams, and built-in shelving. Have you ever wondered what kind of woodwork these are?

In this article, we’ll explore the more decorative wood pieces you may find in your home. Pieces such as trims, baseboards, doors, wainscotting, and the like all fall under the same category –millwork.

What is Millwork?
Millwork is woodwork that is manufactured at a mill. These can be found in almost every corner of many homes. Millwork includes items such as baseboards, crown moldings, wood doors, stair treads, and many more. The primary material used can be any type of wood material such as raw lumber, softwoods, hardwoods, and even fiberboards. Some millwork products also incorporate non-wood materials such as steel, aluminum, or glass. The most common example of this would be doors and windows.

You can also call these products architectural millwork or architectural woodwork. This is because millwork is almost always built into, attached, or otherwise made specifically for the building’s architecture –both interior and exterior. Because it must conform to a specific structure, millwork is always custom-made.

However, not all products custom-made at a sawmill are considered as millwork. Structural elements such as posts and beams are not counted as millwork. Same deal with wood flooring, ceilings, and sidings.

In summary, the following characteristics define if a piece of woodwork is millwork:

Produced in a saw mill.

Custom-made to fit and built what is millwork into an existing space.

Not a structural piece.

Millwork vs. Casework - What’s the difference?
Understandably, some people may use the terms millwork and casework interchangeably. While they may seem similar at first glance, they are definitely not the same.

Even if it’s made in a sawmill, casework is distinct from millwork. Casework refers to pre-made, typically mass produced, box-shaped woodwork or cabinetry. Think of the stock cabinets, bookcases, and chests of drawers at your local WayFair or IKEA. Even semi-stock options where you can mix-and-match pieces from a catalog is considered casework –more specifically, it is modular casework.

Casework pieces come in standard dimensions, limited finish options, and in a set style. Many of its components are prefabricated on an assembly line using a common template. This allows companies to produce multiples of the exact same product, which helps bring down manufacturing costs.