Wonderful Wood!
Here at Green Oak Living we are passionate about wood! Our office is packed with beautiful samples and we are always working on ways to incorporate natural and attractive features of green oak in our projects. Some of our clients choose beams that are uniform, some pick out unique, naturally shaped and twisted sections to add a unique feature to their extension. Here are a few terms to top up your timber terminology!
Gum Pocket: An excessive local accumulation of resin or gum in the wood
Pith Flecks: Small dark flecks in the wood – a characteristic of American Cherry for example.
Quarter-sawing: Cutting a log at a 90-degree angle to the growth rings, producing a vertical, uniform pattern grain.
There really is nothing to compare to seeing a project up close if you want to trully appreciate the beauty of an oak framed living space, and we are always delighted to show clients our current projects.
Welcome to Green Oak Living
We hope you will find the contents interesting and relevant. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about how we can transform your home with one of our beautiful oak framed extensions.
Over the coming months we will keep you up to date with some of our exciting and unique builds, including 2 bespoke oak framed homes in Surrey.
BBC Article
Using Oak – is it eco-friendly?
Our clients are increasingly interested in the sustainability of our chosen material – oak. Here are some fascinating facts about this beautiful building material.
Until the 18th century, when they fell out of fashion and were gradually replaced by brick and stone, most buildings in England were timber-framed. Today there is renewed interest in timber frames, not least because wood is a very “green” building material.
Wood has the lowest energy consumption and the lowest carbon dioxide emission of any commonly used building material. It is an organic, non-toxic and naturally renewable material. New build timber framed houses are usually of green oak, but reclaimed oak frames can be used.
Timber suppliers are signed up to reforestation agreements. This means that they ensure that more trees are planted than are felled. New trees produce more oxygen than old trees and also absorb more carbon dioxide.
Wood is a carbon neutral material. The process from tree to beam uses only a small amount of fossil fuel, even allowing for transport. A typical 100 sq m detached timber framed house – conforming to the latest building regulations – produces about four tonnes of carbon dioxide less than the equivalent masonry house. This is equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide produced by driving a car 14,000 miles. If all new houses built in the UK since 1945 had been timber framed, more than 300 million tonnes of carbon dioxide would not have been produced.
Wood has good natural insulation, which means that a timber home will heat up more quickly than one of concrete.
There is no waste when building with wood. The parts of the logs that are used for timber are used to make paper, chipboard, heat and energy.
Give us a call to find out more about why building with oak is so attractive.
