Where we get our timber

We have been handcrafting timber garden buildings for 50 years and built a solid reputation for the quality of our work which starts with the timber we use. There are several reasons why timber is our first-choice material when it comes to crafting our garden buildings, one of the most important being it’s a sustainable resource with a low carbon footprint. We have carefully selected all the suppliers we work with to ensure they hold the same values as we do in terms of manufacturing sustainably. 

Today, all our garden buildings are made from FSC® certified Scandinavian Redwood Pine sourced from our timber mill partner in Northern Sweden. Here, the Redwood is slow grown for more than 130 years at latitude above 65 degrees north. These conditions encourage slow growth to form a close grain with less knots signifying the strength and superior quality of the wood.

As part of the timber certification all timber must be traceable and from a sustainable source. Our timber mill partner replants a tree every time one is felled as part of good forest management and ensuring a long-term sustainable supply. After the tree has been felled, VMF (The Timber Measuring Association for the Northern Area of Sweden) inspects and marks the timber with a supplier identification number. It is then classified and sorted according to size and quality, ensuring all timber can be traced back to the forest in which it is grown.

The logs, which are only grown within 150km of the mill, are transported by lorry to the mill and de-barked; the bark is pulped and sent to a paper mill. From there, logs are sawn into workable pieces and any off-cuts are used as fuel for the kiln, ensuring that there is no waste.

The cut pieces are kiln-dried (essentially, putting the timber in an oven) to reach the required moisture content needed to cope with the British weather conditions. This makes them compatible with our chosen paint systems. If it is too dry the timber will swell and take on moisture; too wet and the timber will rot quicker and not marry well with the paint system. Any waste after this point is made into animal bedding or made into pellets that can be used as fuel for boilers.

After the timber is dried, it is re-sorted and machine-checked, before being hand-checked for the correct grading of the timber. This makes certain the timber is of consistently high quality. Each piece of timber is then planed through a Molder machine for a smooth finish.

The timber is then sent directly to us, transported by rail, ferry, and finally by road to our yard. It does not spend any time deteriorating in storage units or waiting for transportation by other companies, which again ensures the utmost quality.

Once the timber arrives at our headquarters in Norfolk, it goes into our picking warehouse. All the garden buildings that we sell start off like the picture above. It’s then down to our skilled craftsmen to ensure that same quality is maintained throughout the build and for us to continue to engrain sustainable practices and initiatives throughout the business.