Traditional Oak Frame Buildings

Oak frame restoration and conservation

At Alpha Oak, with our experience of how oak behaves, our skilled craftsmen can undertake restoration and conservation of any existing oak frame, from barns to homes, listed and heritage buildings.

We can sympathetically blend new with old, making sure that we only remove from the existing frame what really needs to be replaced, and taking into account aspects and details of the original form of the frame. We use air dried and stabilised oak to complete the repair works, so that there is no shrinkage in the new oak. Special care is taken to match features in the original beams, such as grains, knots, and shakes. We work with structural engineers to ensure frames are restored with complete structural integrity. We will always look to work with traditional joints, in order to keep the work as authentic as possible.

We can re-use any of the old oak taken out, if it is suitable to do so, especially if we have to take out a full beam due to only parts being in need of replacement.
Where we use new oak, if desired, we can make it look as old as possible by using tried techniques to "age" the look of the timber.
This can help to lessen the look of the restored timbers, to blend them in to the old oak.

We can also do delicate repairs to doors and windows, making replacement pieces in our work shop to match the existing profiles.

We have the ability to either undertake the works on site, or if possible or necessary, we can remove sections and take them to our workshop in the Forest of Dean.