Mantlepiece needed asap...

[sloth]

Hi, my dad is looking for an English oak mantlepiece to go in his very old oak beamed house (17/18th century, I think ). Plenty of French oak available online but it's just not the same. Am I right in thinking seasoned would be better than green, to avoid the plaster cracking as it dries and moves?

If anyone can supply maybe post a pic here, delivery to Colchester or could pick up if local.

Measurements around 6 foot long and 8 or 9 foot square, I'll post up accurate dimensions when I get them. (Might not matter if one side is rough as it could go 'in' the wall.)

Thanks in advance, Kev

[agg221]

I can do it, and I'm fairly local, but I'm presuming 8-9" square rather than feet......!

 

Alec

[se7enthdevil]

8-9 foot square will be tricky to come by i think...

 

plenty of 8-9" ones on ebay that have come out of similar period buildings...

[agg221]

plenty of 8-9" ones on ebay that have come out of similar period buildings...

 

Tricky subject. If the building in which it is to be fitted survives in anything like original form then it will be listed. This means listed building consent is needed for alterations/replacements and this specifies materials. Current thinking discourages the use of 'period' materials as it makes the building history harder to read, and can encourage stripping out old buildings for their parts.

 

It's slightly contentious, as 'recycling' was always practiced, eg of exterior timbers into internal walls, and continues to be acceptable to a limited extent under English Heritage guidelines.

 

Alec

[sloth]

Yes inches, sorry! Alec, if you pm me your number I'll pass it on and you can have a chin wag about the finer points.

Nice and easy, go Arbtalk might just get me some more raffle tickets now

[youcallthatbig]

dry would be desirable yes.... but then it would need to have been cut for about 8-9 years to achieve it, so ask the question and look the person in the eyes when you do so.............hopefully you will get an honest reply as to when it was cut, failing that work on the assumption that 12" width of oak will shrink 1/2" when drying from green to kilned, so with 9"widths, anything up to 3/8th" if installed when green , or 3/16th" (5mm) away from plastered edge assuming shrinkage is uniform on all faces.

 

I can supply green, cards on the table.£74.00+vat ex works near bungay, Suffolk.

[Copford sawmill sussex]

We have got a field full of English beams all air dryed, some straight some with charector

[Copford sawmill sussex]

My dads been sawing for 32 years so some should be dry enough!