Janice Knew What She Wanted For Her Oak Porch

When Janice contacted Oak By Design for the first time, in February, she had already done her homework!

She had visited the website and looked at the galleries showing all the different oak products. She had also read reviews on Google, Facebook and Trustpilot, so she knew she was dealing with a 5-star company!

When Janice phoned the office, she spoke to Amanda, who asked her all the questions she required to enable her to produce a drawing of the proposed size and style of porch, and then a quotation.

Amanda e-mailed Janice a generic porch diagram which shows the measurements required to produce a drawing.

Janice sent the details back and explained more precise ones would be supplied once the builder had seen the drawing, as the porch was to tie into an existing roof.

Janice’s beautiful, relatively modern(1960’s) home is in a beautiful part of the country, and has fabulous views. With a grand approach to the house, Janice wanted a statement porch to reflect her stunning home.

She knew she wanted a porch that would sit on dwarf walls. With a 45 degree pitch, the porch would tie into the existing house roof. She also wanted side brackets and diagonal intermediates in the truss design. It was to be fitted to an existing enclosed porch area.

The overall width was 2515mm, the depth 1235mm, and the overall height would be just short of 4 metres.

Amanda sent a quote and drawing and explained how we only use Air Dried Oak for our porches, how the main joints are traditional mortice & tenons, and that we finish all our porches with 2 coats of Osmo Polyx UV oil.

Amanda also sent her a photo of the optional stop chamfer detail that can be applied to the main posts on the porch.

She also discussed engraving the house name on the tie beam of the porch, which Janice opted for.

Janice already had a stunning oak door that had been recently installed within an anthracite frame, together with side lights. She wanted to ensure the oak porch finish toned as well as could be expected with the oak door.

Amanda sent a sample of Air-Dried Oak with 2 oils options on so she could get the closest to her door. She chose the Osmo Polyx UV Oil in 420 – Clear Satin.

A few alterations were made to the design after Janice spoke to Dan, her builder.

Janice also wanted oak over-boarding for the underside of the roof. This is solid Kiln Dried Oak boards that are supplied as a Tongue and Grooved board, cut to size and oiled ready for installation above the porch oak rafters.

She also requested we supply more Kiln Dried Oak for the builder to make seat tops and brackets for inside the porch.

Once Janice was happy, she had everything organised she paid her deposit in March and her order was put into the production diary for a lead time of early April.

The porch was delivered via Pallet Track, and whilst being fitted Janice decided to have an oak triangular infill piece for above the door. This was arranged immediately and was sent out.

The porch walls were built from both a red and Staffordshire Blue brick, and they were topped with a limestone coping stone. The brilliant white of the coping stone really sets off the warm tones of the oak.

Dark grey slate tiles finish the floor of the porch beautifully.

The oak seats are very popular with Janice's 3 year grandson. He recently told the postman that the seats were made especially for him to sit on because, "they are not too high, not too low but just right " we can guess which fairytale his Daddy’s been reading him!

Once Janice had everything finished, she emailed Amanda to say:

“We are over the moon with how wonderful the porch looks, even better than I’d hoped.

Hope you agree it really compliments the house and makes a statement. We’ve had so many compliments already.

Huge thanks to you for all you did, your patience with the issues we had and generally your friendly and helpful approach…. We really appreciated it ( and so did Dan )”

Janice also supplied a Google Review -

“After much research into several different companies I chose Oak by Design based on reading reviews and seeing photos of finished porches on their website, so to anyone considering an Oak Porch I hope my photo's and review will be helpful in making a decision.

Amanda was wonderful from start to finish, giving us advice and demonstrating endless patience with our amendments and the issues that arose as a result of building onto an existing sloping roof. She liaised with both us and our builder directly which meant communication was always prompt, effective and solution focussed. Nothing was too much trouble for her.

We chose to have the oak panelling inside the roof which looks wonderful, especially when lit at night. We also had the seats which we adapted, again with Amanda's help, to meet the builders’ suggestions. She sent us samples of the different oil finishes so we could match our existing front door which was so helpful.

The porch itself is amazing; such a quality product and one which has exceeded our expectations: we absolutely love it!

Our builder was equally impressed and has since recommended to another client.
We really couldn't be happier with everything and have received so many compliments already.

Thank you, Amanda (and Oak by Design), for making the whole process easy and producing such a stunning Porch!”