The Brief

For this project, we needed to make and fit a new porch for a brand-new house in Bosham, West Sussex. We worked with the developer and architect who supplied both plans and designs for us to work with.

Once the fine details had been discussed and agreed along with some small samples provided to our customer for approval, we then began the manufacturing process in our workshop.

Action taken

We built everything in Sapele, a hardwoord that lends itself perfectly for a long-lasting external structure. Due to its natural oils inside the wood, it can fight off the effects of wet or dry rot and insect attacks. When you combine Sapele with a good paint finish, you create something that can last a lifetime, only needing regular decorating when desired.

The large, round pillars/support posts were made out of laminating several pieces of the Sapele wood together, giving us the overall size. We then got them turned on a huge lathe over at West’s Of East Dean. We do have a lathe for small turning work in our workshop, but these pillars/support posts were enormous and required specialised wood turning equipment.

Outcome

Once all the components were made and coated in a primer undercoat, we then headed to the site to begin the installation. The roof section was so large and heavy that we enlisted the help of a friendly ground worker who helped lower the roof on with a large digger, acting like a makeshift crane.

Once everything was installed, all that was needed was for the lead workers, decorators and gardeners to make everything look lovely!

Check out our other projects here