oakbydesign
01423 593 794
Martin and Corinne first contacted Oak By Design in September 2020. They wanted to replace what Martin called ‘the slab’, a raised, paved area in front of the door at their detached barn, renovated home in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside.
The ’slab’ sat between a concrete pillar to the left of the door, and the stonework of the room to the right-hand side of the door, which stood forward slightly of the door.
Joanne quoted for an open oak porch, oak seat tops and oak tongue and groove boards for the underside of the roof. They wanted 4 oak posts, which would sit on dwarf walls, with 2 curved brackets to the front elevation.
They weren’t sure about whether or not to have the oak boards for the underside of the roof, so Joanne sent them photos of both options for them to decide.
Happy with the quotation, they were ready to order, but then the continuing Covid pandemic left them, and many others, feeling a bit insecure about what the future would hold financially, as both worked in the airline industry.
They decided to hold off for a few months to see what happened with their jobs and finances.
Towards the end of the summer, 2021, Martin jumped back on to the oak porch project, and after a rethink by Corinne, they decided on 2 additional curved brackets to each side of the porch.
They chose to have oak seat tops fitted against the dwarf wall sides, and had the name of the barn engraved on the top of one of them and ‘The Browns’ on the top of the other side.
To see our blog on our engraving options see here. They also requested to have the edges of all the main timbers on the oak porch finished with a stop chamfer.
The oak boards for the underside of the roof were also deemed a necessity by Corinne.
They chose to have the oak porch and the oak roof boards finished with Osmo Protection Oil 429
They had planned on having the porch walls ready for delivery in the autumn of 2021, but when they ordered the coping stones for the tops of the porch walls that Mike had built ready for the porch, they were told there would be a delay – due to Covid!!
Once everything had been measured and confirmed, the couple placed their order, ready for installing in Spring 2022.
The porch was delivered in February 2022, but there was another problem. Martin had transposed the measurements for the porch. He had measured the porch posts centres width correctly at 2400mm but had given the details as 2040mm. He was mortified as he had checked all the details against the Sales Order Acknowledgement we sent him, and the diagram we supplied.
Not a problem though. We brought the porch back into the workshop to make a new truss, at the correct size.
We then advertised the porch (after making the rest of a porch to fit the smaller truss) on our social media pages, and the same day we had someone in desperate need for a porch, and they could build their walls to accommodate the porch size.
When the new porch was ready Martin had his builder mate ready to help him with the installation (or maybe it was the other way round! Martin’s words!). They made short work of installing the porch. Martin sent regular photo updates to Joanne to show their progress.
Whilst at their local builders, where he was buying battens for the roof, Martin was thrilled to see a green oak porch on display in their showroom.
“It not even close to mine”, he said proudly!
“Ours looks better than we had hoped. We are so pleased with the result”.
Once the porch was installed Martin then arranged for the wiring to be in position to have lights at both sides of the door installed and a pendant light hung within the porch.
The walls to the side of the door, and above, were all rendered and then painted. Beautiful mosaic grey and cream tiles were then laid on ‘the slab’ and the oak seats fixed, providing great storage underneath for logs for their wood burning stove.
Martin had one final question – “Gutters or no gutters?” Joanne’s reaction was – “No gutters!” There is no right or wrong answer, but they can always be fitted afterwards if they aren’t installed at the outset.
After everything was finished, Martin provided a fabulous review on Google
“I could not recommend Oak By Design more highly. Joanne and the team worked tirelessly to resolve an issue that was the result of my mistake when I ordered the porch. Great customer service!”
It was a pleasure to work with Martin and Corinne on this project.
The breathing space they had since first thinking about the porch, ensured that when they did order the porch, they had thought through everything. Down to the tiles, lighting, seating and final design of the porch.
As Martin has shared the progress of the porch on regular photos via emails to Joanne, we have lots of installation photos to share.
Martin emailed Joanne recently (a few years since installation) to say “The porch is still looking amazing. The oak is weathering nicely and it is one of the best things we have done!”
Martin and Corinne have created a lovely, cosy home, doing major renovations themselves. Covid caused a lot of delays on many building projects, but the Browns got their home finished, and they absolutely love it!
Telephone: 01423 593 794
Locksley Park
Blind Lane
Tockwith
YORK YO26 7QJ
Opening Times:
Mon to Fri - 9.00am to 5.00pm
Bank Holidays - Closed
Christmas 2025- TBC
Oak By Design is the trading name of:
Oak By Design Ltd.
Reg Number: 04384416
VAT Number: 664 8012 33
