Each year the time that I have to sit down and write this post seams to get earlier and earlier but here goes.
We are now at the point where we can not take any more oders for 2011 delivery. Any orders taken from today [7th Nov] will be delivered 2012. Our diary for January always fills up very quickly so if you want delivery early next year you will need to be placing the order shorlty. If you do place any order between now and the new year you will be emailed with a approx production date and delivery date shorlty after placing the order. Should you wish to get a rough idea of next years work load before placing an order just drop us an email.
You may well have seen that our shelves are 28 day delivery. Last year the amount of orders placed towards the end of the year ment that we had more than the 28 day work load in January. If this happens again we will post again on the blog and up date the situation. This would not affect any orders all ready placed.
Finally should you have any questions what so ever regarding lead times please feel free to drop us an email.
If this is not your first visit to our site you may well notice that the site is a little light on sales pages. We have had to hide some pages , mainly the more labour intensive items, in an order to maintain control over our work load. Basically we are trying to slow down sales!! All of the missing items can still be ordered and indeed most are pictured in our gallery but we will then be able to give you a better idea of a lead time based on your requirements at the point of order. This will stay like this I would think into the new year and may be even longer, we will just have to see how well our new planned system works. If you have any questions please email us.
Over the last week it has come to light that we have a problem with our email. We are getting incoming email but for some reason around 20% of out going emails are not getting through. If you have sent us an email are are awaiting a reply please try again or ring us on our contact number. We are currently working to fix this and hope to be back to normal shortly.
Update to the above post 23/7/11
It has come to light that the above problem is more wide spreed than we first realised. All in bound emails and orders are getting to us. However a lot of out bound emails and order confirmation emails are failing to reach customers. This problem was down to our ISP's email server and has now been by passed from this end. From today everything should be back to normal and if you place an order or send us an email you will get a reply. Please remember to see our questions and answers page regarding the slight time delay on order confirmation emails in general. The problem we have now is that we are unable to tell when the problem first started and indeed which emails got through and which failed. A lot of the order confirmations have been resent but we can'nt guarantee that all that are missing have been done. If you have placed an order please rest assured that we will have your order but should you want confirmation please ask.
On Tuesday the 18th we will have no power! The website will be still live and we will be able to take web orders. However we will have no phone or internet and as such will be unable to anwser any emails during this time. There will also be no order conformation emails sent. At this time we are unsure how long the power will be off but aim to get all emails answered and order conformation's sent as soon as possible once power is restored.
The snow is here again and yet again the country grinds to a halt. At the start of the year when we had the last bad lot of snow we continued to dispatch items on the days the courier was able to reach us. Once dispatched the items took much longer to arive as the couriers had problems getting to all their drops each day. The result was that as the items were spending much longer aboard the couriers vehicles and at depots they were much more liable to damage in transit and we saw a sharp rise in reports for damages. A damaged item is no good to yourselves or us and just delays your order even further.
With this in mind and the current adverse weather conditions we have taken the decision to suspend dispatches until this coming Monday [5th Dec]. We must apologise for any inconvence caused in advance but I'm sure you will agree that your items are better of a little late than damaged.
We use three different couriers depending on size and weight of items and one courier was able to get to us Monday just gone but the other two havn't been since Thursday last week. Looking at the met office forcast things should be back to normal for Monday
Please keep an eye on this page for any further delivery updates should they be necesary.
As stated on our Q+A page production times for floating shelves is 21 days. However in the run up to Christmas we are always busy with these items and prduction times will be extened to 28 days. Our last courier collection date is the 17th of Dec so this will make the last day for placing an order for pre-xmas delivery Friday 19th Nov.
You are more than welcome to order shelves after the 19th Nov but delivery will be in the new year. Placing an order after this date will ensure early Jan delivery as for the last few years we have had very strong sales over the Christmas week, so if you do want early jan delivery you must get your orders in late Nov/early Dec.
All other items
Sorry but the last order date for these has already passed and any items ordered between now and Xmas will be delivered in the new year.
Should you have any questions regarding the above information please contact us and we will be more than happy to help.
We are constantly looking for images of our products in their intended
environment, that’s any of our items but mainly floating shelves and bespoke
items.
If you have purchased any of our products and can take a picture and
email them to us it would be a great help. In return if we use your pictures on
our website you will receive and discount code via email to use on your next
purchase from our site to the value of £10.
There will be no minimum spend in order to use your £10 and full details
will be emailed to you should we use your picture. There will be no cash
alternative.
Happy snapping.
Regards
Pictures should be emailed to pictures@thesolidoakshop.com with the word pictures in the subject title
Home Insurance – Make Sure You’re Covered Dan Collins, Moneysupermarket.com.
A piece of solidly built, well made, genuine oak furniture is not just decorative, it’s an investment. Oak lasts a long time if well cared for, so if you spend the money now you can enjoy your bookcase, dining table or wine rack for years to come, and pass it onto future generations.
But accidents happen. Furniture gets knocked against, or spilt on, or subjected to boisterous children with scant regard for the value of the item they’re clambering on. This is where having a good home insurance policy comes in handy.
Home insurance will reimburse you the cost of repairing or, in some cases, replacing an item which has been damaged or broken, or stolen. You may think you won’t need it, that if anything happens to your belongings you’ll be able to afford something else. But you never know what’s around the corner, which is why it never hurts to have a back up plan.
There are two types of home insurance. One covers the building itself, including windows, carpets and doors. The other covers the contents within the home; furniture, clothing and in some cases the food in your fridge or freezer. Before taking out a home contents insurance policy you will need to estimate the value of goods in your home, so it’s a good idea to hold onto any receipts for the larger items to help you with this.
You may find your insurance won’t cover certain items in your house, for example an expensive piece of furniture or jewellery. There could be a number of reasons for this; the item may be deemed too valuable and, if damaged, could result in a larger payout than your standard premiums would cover. Or it may be that owning that item puts you at greater risk of theft (often the case with expensive garden equipment as it’s in public view). Whatever the reason, if your standard policy doesn’t cover it you may want to think about a separate policy for that item.
If looking at a specialist policy you’ll need a recent receipt or written valuation to verify the item’s worth. The insurance provider will then give you an insurance quote based on the value of that item. You may be able to get single item insurance like this from your standard home insurance provider, or there are specialist companies who offer it, particularly for jewellery, expensive electrical items and antiques.
If you already have cover and later buy something expensive, contact your provider to see if they’ll insure your new item under the existing policy. If not, you may need separate insurance. Sometimes the retailer you purchased the item from may offer this, although store insurance can be costlier.
Like any other insurance, the cost of a home insurance policy can vary between providers. It’s best to compare home insurance quotes from a number of providers before making your decision. Read the small print: some insurers require you to pay premiums for a certain period of time before you make a claim. And remember, the amount of excess you pay can significantly reduce your premiums.
Many customers keep asking me the difference between what the call normal oak and green oak so I thought I would post out lining a few points.
The are of course different types of oak but the term "green" means the timber if freshly cut and will still have a very high moisture content, it is not anything at all to do with the colour. As this timber drys it will be liable to splitting and twisting and is not suitable for the production of furniture. There are some furniture producers that use green oak ie for beam coffee tables where the drying process that will that place in you home will add to the character of the piece how ever anything else will just and the piece will just end up being worthless. Timber for furniture needs to be dry with a moisture content not above about 12%. When the tree is felled the moisture content can be around 40-60% depending on the time of year which needs to be reduced before the timber can be worked.This can be done by kiln drying the timber or simply seasoning the timber, kiln dry is quicker and cheaper.
Most of my products are finished in danish oil unless the item is listed otherwise draining boards have a poly finish. An oiled finish is very easy to maintain by just wiping the item down with a slightly damp cloth. Should you wish to wax your item this can be done straight over the top of the oil and I would recommend the use of a natural product such as bee's wax. Please try and avoid aerosol products as this can dry the finish of your product.
An oiled finish will require re-oiling about once a year depending on the amount of use the item gets. The item should be wiped down with a mild detergent solution or white spirit before the oil is aplided. The oil should simply be put on using a brush or clean rag and then left to stand a few minute's don't worry about any brush marks or runs at this stage. Absolutely no skill is required for application as even when the oil is applied with a brush, it does not have to be brushed out in the same way as a varnish. The brush is merely used to spread the oil liberally over the surface. Once the oil has had chance to soak in, using a clean rag wipe away any excess and allow to dry [4-8 hours depending on room temp]
If I had to give you one piece of advice regarding oiling your product it would be to use a good quality oil. Danish oil is just like any other product out there on the market, you pay cheap you get cheap!! Rustins is a very good oil and is readily available from most DIY stores and not that expensive. I have tried "own brands" before and trust me it's not worth the bother. Solid oak furniture with a little loving care will last for years and years, don't spoil it with cheap oil.
If you have purchased any of my products and require further advice on oiling your item please don't hesitate to contact me, either via email or phone. Contact details can be found on the contact us page.
Over the next few weeks this page will be up dated with details for basic repairs should you ever damage an item so please check back soon for more info. If you don't feel you would like to attempt an repair I do offer the service here at a very reasonable rate.
