Timber Decking and You

In its most basic sense, timber decking or wood decking is simply installing outdoor decks that are elevated from the ground. If you’re thinking of improving your home in style, decking would be a good choice for a wooden veranda, garden decks or even as an alternative to a stone patio.

Timber Decking: DIY or Professional Services?

Now goes the question of whether you should hire a professional deck contractor or perform the DIY-project of timber decking yourself.

Anyone with basic hardware knowledge and construction skills can build a deck like a simple DIY project. However, installing decks require thorough planning so that you can get the right amount of timber to work on, space to occupy and the time it will take for you to complete the project.

But obviously, it would be for your peace of mind to contact a deck contractor to ensure that your decks are made safe, sturdy and secure. UK Timber is just the right company to go to if you want the all-out convenience of services and materials to be available to you.

Untreated and Treated Decking Boards

Choosing high quality decking boards are a must to start with and you generally have two types to choose from: untreated and treated wood.

If you’re after aesthetic appeal, then you should choose untreated decking boards. On the other hand, if you don’t want to worry about insect infestation, decay and premature board wearing, choosing treated boards would be good for you.

Three Categories of Decks

1. Low-level decks – common extensions of your house and are usually at level with your floor.
2. Remote decks – usually found in gardens, ponds, and swimming pools.
3. Hillside decks – give you more moving area and are usually installed over sloped or uneven grounds.

Different Types of Decking Accessories

If you want to add several finishing touches to your decks and make them look even better, you may do so with several decking accessories like:

• Balustrades
• Hand and base rails
• Newels
• Panels
• Posts

Spindles

Timber Decking at UK Timber

At UK Timber, we offer a variety of decking woods available to make sure your garden decks meet your expectation of both quality and beauty. With decking woods available in English Oak, English Larch, English Western Red Cedar, Yellow Balau, Pressure Treated Softwood and even continental Redwood deck boards, you won’t run out of timber options for your decks.

With our decking calculator, you’ll be able to know how much of decking materials you need and even get your quote in no time. We also supply custom cut decking joists as well as a full range of decking accessories to complete your garden decks.

Easy to install and easy to maintain, timber decking not only adds beauty to your house or your garden. It also provides you with the ideal of enjoying the outdoors in comfort too. 

Balustrades & Decking

TIMBERS AND DECKING

Timbers are the best material to use if you want to achieve an aesthetic look for your project. Not just used for its aesthetic appeal, timbers are also the perfect material if you are to make a durable outdoor or indoor project. However, a timber project would not be complete if there are no finishing touches. Spindles, handles, hand base rails and balustrades will surely add the finishing touches for any of your project. One of the most used finishing touches for decking is balustrades.

WHAT ARE BALUSTRADES?

Balustrades are posts that are held up in the top and bottom of railings. Often times, the design of the balustrades complement the interior of the house if it is installed indoors or the decking of the porch if it is installed outdoors. Some balustrades are more rounded and thicker than the others but basically, the design should fit the taste of the consumers.

Balustrades are not made mainly for its design alone. The main purpose of balustrades is to keep people from falling off the steps of stairs. They serve as support to railings and handles of the stairs. When designing balustrades, the spacing is considered. The general rule in spacing is to follow the size of the square bottom section of the piece. However, for economical reasons, some builders or makers intentionally install the balustrades further apart so that fewer pieces will be used.

Aside from serving as a support for the railing and handles, balustrades also serve as ornaments for the interior of a structure.

GARDEN DECKING AND BALUSTRADES

Hardwoods such as English Oak, Yellow Balau and English Larch are commonly used for garden decking. The said type of hardwoods are perfect for producing high quality decking boards that are fully functional as a support in any garden project. In UK Timber, we stock on the best quality hardwoods such as the abovementioned. Additionally, we also keep a good number of softwoods such as Pressure Treated Softwood and English Western Red Cedar. To complete your project, we also offer the best quality balustrades, spindles, hand and base rails and complete panels. All those are ready made to ensure that there is ease of fitting in your desired project. To know more about our products for timber decking, visit our website or give us a call at +44 (0) 1536 267107. Alternatively, you can email us at sales@uk-timber.co.uk.

Oak Beams at UK Timber

Oak beams are considered as one of the most popular construction materials that are used today. They are very much favoured because of their natural beauty, durability and versatility. They can be used to construct almost anything, especially those that are related to gardening and landscaping projects. Oak beams, among other materials, are also affordable and very easy to maintain.  

Characteristics of Oak Beams

Many builders and home designers choose oak wood because of their quality and special characteristics.

• Oak beams are considered versatile materials. They can be utilised to create various things from gardening purposes to landscaping projects.  
• Oak beams are also great to use because they can last for a very long time. Their durability is a characteristic that many people look for in a building material.
• Oak beams are budget-friendly. They are perfect for those who want high quality beams, minus the cost.
• Oak beams are naturally beautiful materials. Their colour change from silvery grey to a pretty dark grey after some time and with the cooperation of both the weather and the sun.
• Oak beams do not require much maintenance. They are also usually untreated making them safe and ideal for almost any project. On the other hand, if you prefer the oak beams to retain their natural colour, that’s the time that you can opt to use a treatment like decking oil.

The Different Oak Beams at UK Timber 

Structural Green Oak Beams – If you are searching for fresh sawn European and English oak for structural oak beams, oak boards and oak posts, then UK Timber is the perfect choice for you.

Air Dried Oak Beams – UK Timber has huge stocks of high quality air dried oak beams, so if you are in need of this kind of beam, then there’s no other place for you to look for this but here.

Custom Milled Oak Beams – Because UK Timber aims to provide its customers with all their needs, the company has seen to it that it can provide almost everything oak beams for every trade.

Douglas Fir/ Larch Beams – At UK Timber, the allowed dimensions for Douglas Fir are as follows: Length: 20-9000mm; Width: 20-350mm; Depth: 20-400mm

Oak Dowels – These materials have been in use for centuries and if you are looking for quality oak dowels, then you can definitely find them here at UK Timber.

Oak Mantel Pieces – These are made to order materials and are made from a natural product.

Yellow Balaus at UK Timber

Wood is the best material to use if you want to make a cost-efficient project and yet you do not want to compromise with the quality of the output. Unlike other materials, woods are natural and can be grown anywhere. Aside from that, woods have wider varieties when it comes to providing you with the best options. As for timber decking, Oak and Yellow Balau are the top choices of structural engineers.

WHAT IS YELLOW BALAU?

Yellow Balau is a wood that is inherent in the Southeast Asia most especially in Malaysia. The wood is the top choice of home builders not only because of its yellowish appearance that adds to the aesthetic property of a project but also because of its durability. Yellow Balau is a type of hardwood that is resistant from weathering, insect attack and decay even if left untreated.

Under tedious testing, it was found out that untreated Yellow Balaus have a minimum lifespan of 15 years, making it one of the most durable timber. Furthermore, Yellow Balaus are believed to be 50% stronger than oakwoods.

MORE REASONS WHY YELLOW BALAU IS THE TOP CHOICE OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS:

Other reasons such as the following makes Yellow Balau the top choice of structural engineers and local home builders:

• It has the capacity to dry slowly. When a hardwood has the capacity to dry slowly, it means that the wood is advantageous for woodworking. It provides efficient re-sawing before a final product is made.
• It has the best tensile strength. Structural engineers choose Yellow Balau whenever they can for their projects because of its tensile strength to handle stress before breaking.
• It is environment-beneficial. Yellow Balaus are always sourced in sustainable established agencies making it beneficial for environmentally conscious individuals or businesses.
• It is suitable for almost any kind of project. Yellow Balau is undoubtedly one of the best woods to use when making projects that require strength and durability. The timber is suitable for heavy construction, flooring, timber decking and crafting heavy furniture.

UK TIMBER’S YELLOW BALAU

Being one of the largest providers of quality timber in the mainland UK, UK Timber provides only the best types of Yellow Balau. The type of Yellow Balau that we have on hand is air dried to a stable state and therefore readily available whenever you want to use them. Furthermore, the decking board is intentionally made to be reversible so you have the option of choosing which side to use -- the one grooved or the reeded one.

Oakwood as Building and Crafting Material

As we all know, wood has been one of the more traditional and basic material that people have been using for building and crafting. Not only because it is readily available from nature and is naturally sustainable, wood has also been known to be a sturdy but flexible long lasting material. Wood is basically defined as the fibrous material that composed the stem and branches of a tree or a plant. Having this definition of wood, it is easy to point out that this material comes not only from one source but from a wide array of plants present on land. One of the most notable sources of good a quality timber product is the Oak Tree.

The Oak is a common name of a tree or shrub that is mostly associated as a part of the genus Quercus that are considered as flowering plants. But further study about oaks has found out that these plants actually belonged to two genera which are the genus Quercus and genus Cyclobalanopsis. Under the two classifications of the common oak name is a long list of species belonging to the same family. Though oak is a name used for a number of different plants, these trees have the same qualities to belong in the same classification.

Oaks are best known to be the material of choice of both early people and modern human beings. Through history, oak has played an essential role in the timber industry as one of the highest valued and most demanded timber products. Because of the sturdiness and the strength that it has, oaks have been developed to be one of the basic traditional building materials used by people. Oak beams have been known to be a good choice in building houses. Not only does it make a structure’s stability better, it also accentuates a building’s aesthetic features.

Timber products such as oak timber are also good materials for crafting. A lot of products like wooden barrels, chairs, tables, desks, and cabinets can come from oak timber. Oak barrels are the most common containers used in brewing and aging good quality liquor all over the world. Other uses of oak timber in crafting include artworks made from the material. Though most commonly used as a material for sculpting, oak trees because of its natural beauty has also been known to be a subject for a lot of visual arts.

Because of its longevity as a plant itself and as a harvested material for building and crafting, oak trees has been one of the best known composite sustainable materials available from nature. With proper preservation techniques, oak timber products can last long and remain strong and durable throughout its use. Oak trees are not only flexible, they are also versatile in uses and people are sure to run out of purposes for oak timber products.

The Definition of Timber and Its Uses

The use of timber as a construction material has gained much popularity over the past few years. According to a research that was conducted only recently, there is a high possibility that the next trend when it comes to materials for building new houses in the United Kingdom is going to be wood, instead of the traditional clay brick.

What is Timber?

Timber is the collective word for wood which was harvested and then later made into planks and boards. This is the type of wood that is used as a building material. It could either be manufactured rough or finished, depending on what the need would be. Timber can be classified into two and these are softwood and hardwood.

What are the uses of Timber?

Timber has many uses in our daily lives. Below is a list of the growing number of things that can be done with timber.

1. It can be used to make furniture.
2. It can be used to make paper.
3. It can be turned into boards that can be used for construction and other similar purposes.

There are other modern ways and things that make use of timber and some examples of these include the following:

• Oak beams 
• Oak flooring 
• Oak framed buildings 
• Decking 
• Timber cladding 
• Fencing materials 
• Fuels 
• Carcassing and Landscaping

Timber Industry in the United Kingdom

There has been a dramatic increase in the demand for timber in the UK for the past years. In fact, there were a number of campaigns launched in order to encourage and boost the industry of local forestry in Britain. According to the Forestry Commission, there has been an increase of 22% in the production of timber between the years 2008 and 2012. In addition to this, the Structural Timber Association stated that about 30% of the new houses in England are most likely timber framed in few years’ time. On the other hand, the figure has more than doubled in Scotland, where having timber framed houses has reached 72%.

Due to the rising trend of using timber, the said material’s demand and supply have greatly been affected for the past years, especially in the United Kingdom. Many people are looking into targeting the local forestry into increasing its production in order to meet the high demand. This material is very versatile and can be used in various ways. It could be utilised to make handmade furniture, it could be used as a landscaping and construction material, and other similar functions.

Why Use Timber Claddings?

When building homes, we choose the best materials to not only complement our home design but to also last for a lifetime. There are a wide variety of materials to choose from but we should be very careful in picking what’s best for our homes -- and wood is one of them. Using woods that are turned into lumber or timber has always been great for building homes. Aside from giving an aesthetic touch to the structure, woods also provide stability to the edifice. For instance, timber claddings are the best materials to use as weatherboards.

The use of timber claddings has now evolved from its usual function as a home material. From simply being used for residential purposes, it is now used in much larger and prestigious construction because architects find the piece to be very versatile -- it can be used to do a wide variety of pattern, texture and colour that can be adjusted through the use of shingles to prefinished materials.

At present, timber cladding is the choice of material for architects because of its beauty. However, a cladding doesn’t only complement your house. It also does a lot of wonder like:

1. Increasing your house’s resale value. If you are planning to build a house that you can stay at for a short period of time yet very cosy to stay at, then opting for a timber cladding as a material is best for you. With the very natural appearance of timbers, it creates a very exceptional artistic look to your home that will definitely add up to the beauty of your exteriors. You can leave the cladding as natural as it is and leave it until it fades into an attractive colour of silvery gray or golden brown or alternatively use oils or paints to decorate it with different colours. Furthermore, Timber claddings have a very strong natural resistance to decay which makes your house very strong and still beautiful despite of possible weather changes.

2. Making your house environment-friendly. Timbers are taken from sustainable sources such as plantations -- this means that timbers don’t require much fossil fuel for them to be manufactured compared to other types of cladding. Additionally, compared to steel and aluminium, timber cladding has less carbon emissions when harvested. The quality of the timber cladding depends upon the expertise of the timber company when it comes to harvesting -- if the company is expert enough to choose a timber that complies with the foresting rules, then the timber that will be selected will surely be of good quality. Furthermore, since timbers are made from a natural material, the timber itself can be recycled once it is at the end of its useful life.

3. Making your house insulated. Since claddings are positioned to be overlapping each other, the claddings serve as an insulator -- it helps the sound of noise to be reduced, making the structure more pleasant to live or work in. Furthermore, using timbers as a cladding will reduces or, better yet, removes the need for the use of large masonry walls in between siding and inner walls, causing for further cost reduction.

At present, a timber cladding is the best choice for building owners and architects because they aim to maximise the unique appeal of the material as well as its environmental advantages. Furthermore, it is a material that is gradually becoming popular for building exterior designs to the buildings not only because of its beauty but also because of its purpose.