Facts about oak and engineered oak doors and frames
Oak is a sensitive hard wood and was used in the UK many years ago, almost every where wood work was used. Fencing, gates, doors, windows, frames, skirting, beams, etc. Sadly because we almost destroyed our English Oak by using it every where, and on top of that, they never replanted the trees like they do today. We do not have much oak left in the UK. So most the oak available today is engineered or badly seasoned imported oak.
It is still a beautiful wood and the best is American white oak and French oak. However the American option is extremely expensive, and unrealistic, so I recommend the cheaper, although still considered expensive French option.
So we recommend if using oak externally, that you take care of it, it will need light sanding and recoating every 3 – 5 years if using a varnish, or if a polish or oil is used, every few months.
New oak tends to crack and twist easy, so protect it from the elements as much as possible, i.e. a canopy or porch are ideal conditions.
Even the engineered oak that is pretty much a perfect grain veneer ( about 2 - 4mm thick over a solid laminated hardwood) is not perfect, if not protected, the veneer can bubble up. Also they do use fillers on these doors, near the join where the grain has splintered. This can not be avoided sometimes, and is not covered in the manufactures guarantee. Most the doors you will find in door shops and d.i.y stores come from the same importer under many different names. I only fit the best of these, and the d.i.y stores tend to stock the worst of the bunch.
When it comes to any timber door or product, do not expect 100% perfection, part of the beauty of wood is the natural effects of it, the grain, knots and the shape.
All Timber is a natural material and therefore is subject to movement from changes in temperature and humidity.
That said I still give you 3 months after fitting (fullly decorated options only) to come back to me to make adjustments if movement has occurred.
I do always do my best to prevent these problems from happening, i.e. I saturate the bare wood with a water seal, and if you have gone for a fully finished option will give it 3 to 4 coats of rustin's out door clear varnish.
Draught proofing.
If you are replacing your existing timber door for draught reasons, you may need to replace the frame as well. Most frame sets now come with a synthetic weather seal called Aqua Mac. This is rebated into the timber frame for maximum effect.
If your old frame is not rotten and you do not want to go to the expense of replacing the frame, we can rebate this into the timber door, how ever this is not as reliable and effective as the other method and very time consuming if your old door frame is out of squire. I do not offer this when we are decorating the door.
If we are making odd sized door sets we will advise that we price for rebating the Aqua Mac into the frame.
Even if you are having an A rated timber door set to order, there will always be imperfections in wood that let some draught in. But this is not a bad thing, building regulation state that you must now have vents fitted to doors and windows that are A rated. They discovered this where they have fitted upvc doors and windows to schools, and the children were fainting due to lack of air.
If this is not for you, I recommend one of our composite doorsets.
If you want something that looks like plastic, there is plenty of purpose made mass produced items out there!
My aim is to get it as perfect as humanly possible, remember it has come from a tree!
