Imagine you could have the lustre and beauty of wood, but the tensile strength of concrete? What would you say if we told you you can? Green oak, properly prepared and air dried by the specialist team at Oak Porches UK, carries on a fine British tradition of building with oak- and here’s exactly why the nation has been in love with oak for literal millenia.
Why do people fall in love with wood?
Wood furnishings and wood homes have been a mainstay of house proud home-owners dreams for decades. Why?
The answer is simple- wood has a warmth and vibrancy that no other building material has managed to match. This is a once-living building material, and the cold lines of concrete or steel simply can’t compare. Able to be shaped to suit any style or taste, it also has the benefit of holding heat. Tiny pockets of air between the wood fibres help insulate a structure, keeping it warm instead of drawing cold from the air or soil as some other building materials do.
Yet, in general, wood is not without its downfalls. It’s not as strong as other options. It can be chewed on by pets and pests, and it can rot in a damp climate like Britains Some types of wood, especially when used as building extensions, can look ‘tacked on’ or cheap. So what makes oak different?
Why oak is the legendary wood for building
How has oak come to have a reputation for durability that lasts literal centuries, then? Why do humans keep coming back to oak as a building material? Some of the oldest structures in the world are oak, and still standing proudly. For centuries, even the toughest warships were built of oak. What makes oak different from other woods?
As oak loses moisture and dries out, it hardens- and it hardens to the consistency of concrete. There’s a reason special tools are sometimes needed to shape oak! As it becomes both denser and harder over time, it also becomes stronger and even more able to carry and distribute loads.
This dense nature lends oak another feature that will delight the heart of any UK home owner- pest resistance. Bug infestations in oak are very rare, and almost never occur after the wood is cut and installed. The compact nature of the wood fibres in oak simply don’t leave the space for bugs to worm or chew their way in. Even if they could, the same natural tannins that give whisky and wine their charming palette when aged in oak barrels puts off any insect invaders. Likewise, it’s going to take one tough puppy to even lay a mark on oak, making it pet-damage resistant too!
Oak is also known as one of the most rot-resistant woods there is. This is both why it was used so heavily in the navy and commercial sea applications until lighter modern materials came along, and how you can still see original vaults, beams and roofs in so many of Britain and the EU’s churches, castles and other historic buildings.
A building material from the past, for the future
All this historically made oak both a solid and a beautiful building choice- but what about its future? Properly managed oak forests offer a sustainable building choice that’s environmentally friendly as well as resilient and long-lasting. While they don’t grow as fast as pine or other, more fragile, woods, there’s no need for the high turnover that these cheaper, weaker alternatives require. It’s perfectly possible to ethically and sustainably produce oak for the building market, keeping standards high and the planet safer.
Add true value to your home
So, now you’ve seen just some of the many ways that oak, specifically, can be an ethical, solid, durable and dependable addition to your home- but we all know that isn’t all that goes into planning an extension. Will a green oak porch fit into your life? Will using one of our oak porch kits enhance your home? How much will it cost to install, and how much disruption will it bring to my day? These questions are just as important.
Luckily, the answer is yes, too. Our fully-trained specialists work very closely with you, ensuring everything about your oak porch kit fits the existing aesthetic of your home and enhances it, too. It’s not enough for a building to merely be functional- it has to look fabulous. Wood can, of course, be stained a huge variety of shades to capture the perfect look, too, but many clients opt to rather leave the natural lustre of the wood on show, so appealing is its natural character. Either way, you will find your oak pork kit will also ‘settle’ with time, melding itself seamlessly to the existing structure.
While some wood additions can end up looking cheap, or jarring to the eye, with a green oak porch from Oak Porches UK, or one of our premade oak porch kits, you’ll soon have an investment addition to your home that looks great, feel wonderful to be in, and will last forever too. If you’re keen to get started today, why not give our friendly team a shout?