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It is that time of year again! Once again we are giving you the chance to win some great prizes simply by sending in your photographs.  They can be external or internal doors, skirting, architrave or accessories but they do need to be in a setting rather than standing alone in or out of a box! It's really up to you what you want to feature in the images. 1st Prize: £450 voucher to spend on our UK Oak Doors site. 2nd Prize: £250 voucher to spend on the site. 3rd Prize: £150 voucher to spend on the site. Plus we are also offering an extra bonus prize of a digital camera for the most inventive picture with the biggest 'wow' factor! As well as a wide variety of internal and external doors, UK Oak Doors also sell ironmongery, architrave, skirting boards, designer handles and more. The lucky winners will receive voucher codes which they can use for any goods on the site. To enter the competition simply email us with your door pictures and send along with your name, address and telephone number to competitions@ukoakdoors.co.uk. You have until midnight on the 14th of December to enter. The winners will be notified by email within 48 hours of closing. As a guide, photos should be high quality and no more than 10MB. Make sure the products are in situ and best of luck! Terms and Conditions: The first prize is a £450 voucher, the second prize is a £250 voucher and the third prize is a £150 voucher to spend at www.ukoakdoors.co.uk. Any spend exceeding these amounts must be covered by the winners. All prizes are non transferable and there are no cash alternatives. No purchase is necessary to enter the competition. Entrants must send their picture(s) along with their name, address and telephone number to competitions@ukoakdoors.co.uk. Failure to do both will result in exclusion from the draw. You must be a resident of the United Kingdom in order to be eligible for the competition. Entrants can submit up to four photos but only one photo by any individual entrant can be included in the final shortlist. Images may be digitally enhanced to remove spots or scratches, but not manipulated. Entrants can enhance the picture to make it brighter, clearer etc, but not manipulate the content. UK Oak Doors and the judges reserve the right to exclude any image they believe may have been excessively treated so as to alter its authenticity. Employees of UK Oak Doors, their immediate families, press, agencies, sponsors and commercial partners or any other persons directly or indirectly connected with the competition are not eligible to enter the competition. The winners will be chosen from all valid entries. Images will be judged on originality, composition, overall impact and artistic merit. The winners will be notified by email within 48 hours of the competition closing. The winners will then have seven days to respond. If the winner does not respond within seven days of receiving the winning email, another winner will be drawn. The winners will then have 6 months in which to redeem the offer. The order to redeem the prize must be placed over the telephone and confirmed by email. The Judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. The competition will run from 15/11/2011 until 14/12/2011. All images submitted must be the work of the individual submitting them and must not have been published elsewhere or have won a prize in any other photographic competition. It is the responsibility of each entrant to ensure that any images they submit have been taken with the permission of the subject and do not infringe the copyright of any third party or any laws. Entrants must warrant that the photograph they are submitting is their own work and that they own the copyright for it. Copyright in all images submitted for this competition remains with the respective entrants. However, in consideration of their providing the Competition, each entrant grants a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual licence to UK Oak Doors to feature any or all of the submitted images in any of their publications, their websites and/or in any promotional material connected to this competition. UK Oak Doors are compliant with the data protection act. Our policy is such that we will not pass on your details to any third party without your prior consent. Entry and participation in the competition shall be deemed an unconditional acceptance by you of these Terms.

In the last few weeks the government has announced a year-long relaxation of current planning laws.  But what does this mean exactly to you and I? And what's the reason behind it all? What the new rules mean? Under the new proposed rules, homeowners will be able to avoid the lengthy bureaucracy and costs associated with getting planning permission to build onto their home.  For a whole year, they'll be able to build up to eight metres into their gardens without requiring any council planning permission. At the moment, the current law states that if you want to extend your property any more than three metres from it's rear wall, you need to get planning permission.  Applications are long-winded and complicated and can take at least eight weeks to get considered.  The new laws will scrap this, allowing you to go up to eight metres, without the need for full planning permission. So, if you're considering the idea of adding a conservatory, loft extension or a garage conversion, then now could be the ideal time to get on with it. What about businesses? The government wants businesses to benefit from the relaxation in rules, as well.  So, if  you own a shop you can expand it by 100sq m, and an industrial unit can go up to 200sqm.  Shops and offices will be allowed to develop up to the boundary of their premises. Any restrictions? If you live in a conservation area or in a listed building then some restrictions will still apply, so check them out before getting the builders in. What's it all about? The government wants to kick-start the economy, and sees this temporary measure as a way to boost growth.  It'll ease the burdens placed on homeowners and businesses who want to expand and put their improvement plans into place, but are put off or thwarted by the current restrictions. How can it benefit you and I? We all know what a tough housing market it is, and has been, for a good while.  Relaxing the planning laws will be ideal for those families who need the extra space, but can't afford to move house, or don't have the motivation that the upheaval of moving brings.  It'll allow these families to consider other options to make their current home bigger, such as adding on a conservatory for extra living space, converting the attic into an additional bedroom, or converting the garage into living or working areas. It'll mean that families can get on with the job, without the hassle, time and expense incurred with the planning paperwork, or the worry that the application might get turned down. Businesses looking to expand can reap the benefits of adding to their existing workspace, rather than having the unnecessary headache of searching for new premises and all the upheaval associated with relocating.  Many businesses may have the ambition and desire to expand, but have been put off by the current planning laws.  The relaxation of the laws could well give them the green light to go ahead and put those ambitions into place. Find out more about the planning laws by clicking here.

Sometimes it’s hard to explain exactly why you love something and cherish it above other similar things you could have chosen instead, anyone that's been to a wedding and heard the groom's speech will know what we mean. Art is another good example where ambivalent appeal defies precise explanation and this only adds to its integrity and cache. This may seem like the most romanticised introduction to a blog on doors imaginable, even more so than the tipsy groom mentioned above, but it’s quite common for people to hold a deep fondness for really good wood. In fact our fondness and love for good wood is bordering a medical condition but we are comforted by running UK Oak Doors as this has brought us into contact with other sufferers of the condition, or ‘customers’ as we like to call them. Sometimes however, on receipt of a solid oak door from UK Oak Doors customers may be perturbed to see that it is made up of two or three separate boards not one big lump so we thought we’d explain a bit more about how we make them and why... Single board construction or not? As much as we’d like to use one whole lump of oak for one door this would be extremely expensive for the customer and even more costly to the environment. The number of trees to door ratio would be excessive and the finished product would be prone to movement too. So what are the alternatives? Well, you can use cheap materials for the core (ie particle board) of the door structure then stick on a wood veneer, that practice is widespread across other internet suppliers (also known as engineered doors).  It’s cheap but not very cheerful. This is like eating a hamburger with dog food stuck between two buns, from a distance it looks fine but it’s not going to fool anyone for very long. A dog food burger, charming – What’s the other option? The other option is to construct the door from separate boards of solid oak. We choose to use three boards for the best mix of strength and resistance to warping. We have tried two and four boards but for the majority of doors the best mix for long term stability and warp resistance is three. This maximises the long term life of the door whilst ensuring what you see is what you get – 100% solid oak using mortice and tenon joints with no composite or honeycomb core and no veneer. Veneered doors have a much shorter life and wear and tear is immediately obvious and unappealing whereas with solid oak doors wear and tear adds character providing they have been adequately protected with oils or waxes. Only the most superior oak is chosen for the doors meaning you are guaranteed to get gorgeous swirls of oak grain rippling from top to bottom that like a fine wine will get better with age. Also, by using solid oak you can trim down doors more than with veneered doors to get the best fit for your doorway. Apart from the look of the grain what makes UK Oak Doors so special? As much as we’d like to take credit for the look of oak grain,we can’t, it’s one of natures gifts. We can however take credit for using construction methods that show off the oak at its best and for the longest possible duration. We use mortice and tenon joints for the most solid possible build quality. How many companies can supply you with a product for around a couple of hundred quid that will be handled and operated on a daily basis that with only a bit of regular maintenance will still look good at the turn of the next century? And all of the wood used in construction is 100% solid European oak taken only from sustainable forests which overall means we must adhere to PEFC guidelines to ensure the minimum amount of waste packaging and environmental impact from start to finish. If you suffer from the same condition we do, a deep passion for good wood, unfortunately there is no cure. But you can satisfy your affliction with a 100% solid oak door from UK Oak Doors, don’t worry, help is at hand.