Add an extension or a garden room
Apart from expanding your living space, the main benefits of adding an oak framed extension or garden room to your existing property lie in its versatility and speed of construction. Oak frame works perfectly with brick, stone or glass, allowing you to create a traditional or a contemporary look. New technologies make it possible to design a leak-proof glazed solution for an oak extension or garden room. The oak frame is pre-constructed off site and assembled comparatively quickly on site, and your extension could be up and waterproof in a matter of days rather than weeks. Moreover, if you live in an area of conservation or outstanding natural beauty, you might find that oak frames might be more popular with the local planning department.
Create the feel of luxury with individual oak features
Oak does not need to be structural and can easily be added to the inside or outside of your property long after it has been built. Interior features such as posts and beams can create stunning doorways or add interest to hallways. Unsightly features such as steel joists can easily be disguised with oak cladding. Outside, a bland house can be transformed into a Tudor-style residence in a matter of days with exterior oak cladding. To create the ultimate wow factor, consider replacing an existing roof with a stunning vaulted ceiling featuring exposed oak roof trusses.
A welcoming touch
If you think first impressions count, consider adding an oak framed porch to the front of your house. Porches are very versatile and can create an additional useful space for boots or fire logs, or reduce the chill in the winter months.
A solid investment
Darren Hook, Director of English Heritage Buildings, began constructing oak frames at just 12 years old when his father first set up the family business in 1979. English Heritage Buildings offers a wide selection of green oak products including home extensions, garages and garden rooms. Here, Darren shares all you need to know about investing in an oak framed building. BudgetingBefore investing in an oak framed extension, you must fully understand your budget and how you will finance your entire project. Ensure all costs are calculated before you even start to avoid any delays. In order to do this, we suggest making as many major decisions as possible before embarking on the project as this will give you a good projection as to how much each part will cost.
PlanningBear in mind that planning permission might not be granted for all the aspects of your initial design. You need to be ready to compromise in order to move forward with your project, so it’s important to be aware of your priorities from the beginning. At English Heritage Buildings, we recognise the importance of a specialist opinion when investing in an extension. That’s why we have expert planning partners whose services are available to all of our clients.
DesignThe materials you chose to build your extension can influence the interior proportions and design. The most popular reason for choosing oak as a building material is always going to be for its stunning aesthetic qualities and longevity. Additionally, oak frames allow for a significantly increased speed of assembly that brickwork construction is never going to be able to compete with. The material also presents an advantage over brickwork construction as a structural frame because it doesn’t require load-bearing walls. This allows for larger open spaces within the extension.
A lesser-known aspect of oak frames is that using the material has a number of ecological benefits. Not only does it harden with age, offering a unique strengthening component, it also has insulation properties. This will inevitably save on energy bills as well as reducing the property’s emissions.
HOME INSPIRATION
Having fallen in love with the warmth and character of oak frame buildings, but finding a distinct shortage available locally, the owners of this stunning manor-style house in Surrey turned to the expert team at Welsh Oak Frame to create their dream home.
The perfect family house, this five-bedroom, detached, manor-style home replaced an existing 1960s building, which the couple lived in for three years before demolishing it to make way for this three-storey property. As stunning on the outside as it is inside, the home captures the beauty of the oak and features an air of heritage and distinction from the moment you step into the double-height entrance hallway with central staircase and galleried landing. Each of the five double bedrooms has an en-suite bathroom and three of the bedrooms feature vaulted ceilings. Blending the boundaries between traditional and contemporary design, this green oak-frame home features cutting-edge technology from the gas-fired boiler, which provides underfloor heating with multi-fuel stove interconnections, to the three-zone ventilation system, LED lighting, CCTV and home automation system that controls the heating, lighting, ventilation, audio and TV facilities in all the main rooms.
Rebecca Pritchard, Welsh Oak Frame’s Marketing Manager, says: “Both internally and externally, the beautiful oak frame is exposed, which gives this new-build home real gravitas and instant character. Our manor-style, oak-frame homes provide plenty of space and are perfect for contemporary living.”
Less is more
Stuart MacArthur, Owner of Living Oak, offers his thoughts on the beauty and benefits of oak-frame buildings.
“An oak frame will stir one’s emotions and give you a feeling that no other style of house will offer. I believe that buildings shape the way people interact with each other and for many people, particularly those in urban surroundings, going back to nature is a rare feat.
“I discovered that by infusing a home with a natural oak structure created a sense of calm and wellbeing. At Living Oak, we believe in a less is more approach, with regards to the oak frame, to create exceptional living spaces that stir client’s emotions as they walk in. Often, oak-frame companies and indeed, new clients, will want to have lots of oak frame within a project, however we feel that often there is too much emphasis on the oak itself.
“Careful consideration of the other elements that surround the frame and the interior design enables us to create stunning spaces. There has definitely been a shift in requirements for a more modern and fresh looking aesthetic with less bare wood visible. Combining an oak frame with other natural materials and subtle colours creates natural looking spaces which don’t date but age beautifully over time.”
