Typical build schedule
Preparation
Although your project will be completed to a schedule that suits your specific requirements the following steps indicate the general procedures for building an oak frame building.
Where your building is to be sited is most probably going to be your first concern. This is often an underestimated concern but one that we profoundly affect the overall design of your build and how it sits in the landscape.
There are different options when it comes to finding a plot for a timber frame. Other than the obvious clear building plot you may consider an old barn with planning permission, which can then have a full English oak frame erected within it or as a roof. Alternatively existing buildings on a plot with the appropriate planning permission can be taken down to make way for a new oak framed house.
Workshop
Your project will benefit from involving English oak buildings from the very beginning. This will ensure that the frame design is a fully integrated part of the whole scheme. Each project managed by English oak buildings is bespoke, so we take time to discuss your requirements in detail. As well as preparing designs and budgets, we can also recommend architects and contractors should you require them.
A good relationship with your planning officer is hugely advantageous. We will work with the project architects and structural engineers to ensure that design decisions are made to gain planning approval. Although this can be a lengthy process, planners tend to look favorably upon timber frame buildings.
Once commissioned, our team of specialist carpenters can fabricate the frame in our workshop- one of the largest of its kind in the country. A typical house frame will take up to two months to build in the workshop using traditional carpentry methods.
Raising
Critically during this fabrication time the site can be prepared. Foundations can be dug and poured, services installed and any landscaping completed. As soon as the site is ready the frame can be delivered. Our attention to detail enables us to raise accurate structures, with the help of a crane, in as little as a day.
This off site fabrication is one of the key benefits of oak timber framing. It allows different stages of a conventional build to be completed at the same time, cutting the overall build time and associated costs down to a minimum.
With the frame up we recommend that you get the oak sandblasted using an experienced contractor. This will clean the frame whilst also producing a subtle even texture to the surface of the wood. It is essential that the frame gets covered on or before completion of the blasting to avoid any water staining caused by exposure to the weather.
Frame Finishing
The oak frame is now ready to be finished. Insulation, cladding, glazing, flooring, etc can all now be applied to the main frame without the need further heavy structural elements. This is clearly an advantage for the self builder who can now finish the frame or parts of the frame without the need for huge amounts of building experience. Alternatively a contractor or contractors will be able to finish the frame.
English Oak Buildings will under take specialist cladding of our frames and have developed a trademark pre-decorated warm wall and roof cladding system. The system is built up in layers on the outside of the structure to keep the oak frame visible from the inside. We start with pre-painted plasterboard fixed to the frame. Subsequent layers of plywood, vapour barrier, breather membrane, insulation and counter battening are applied finishing with an envelope of external cladding, oak or otherwise.
We are also a specialist in supply and fit of wooden-shingle roofing which works well with our frames or as roof on any new or existing building.
English Oak Buildings can offer a project management service where we work along side the project architect and provide a complete turn-key solution. For enquiries into project management please contact us
