ABOUT US
Andrew Dickson founded Dacha Oak in 2000 and is the Managing Director.
Having a long standing passion for oak trees and the historical use of such beautiful wood, Andrew identified Ukraine as growing the most superior oak trees in the world. He travelled to Ukraine with a small investment and set up a saw mill specialising in oak boards. He and his local team managed all the steps from sourcing logs in the forest, cutting and drying boards after careful grading and exporting to UK based timber merchants. This was a huge commercial success and quickly expanded to an output of 150 cubic metres of sawn boards per month.
Andrew then identified an opportunity to establish the production of superior oak flooring in the UK, taking advantage of world renowned machining and quality control. To date, around 12,000 private homes, businesses and commercial properties in the UK have Dacha's quality oak flooring installed. Every step of the way - from forest to floor, Dacha Oak provide a bespoke service with the personal touch. Andrew and his team ensure his satisfied customers will enjoy their superior Ukrainian oak floor for generations to come, in their proud homes.
ABOUT OUR OAK
At Dacha Oak we source, import and mill only the finest quality oak direct from Ukraine. Oak is grown widely throughout Europe with over two hundred individual species across the continent. Eastern European oak is generally characterised by its very clean appearance, straight grain and slight silvery natural colour. This is in part due to a unique combination of cold winters, light winds, local soil composition and slow growth which nurtures the very best conditions for the oak to grow. It is renowned for its inherent strength, durability, and innate beauty.
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Ukraine meets and exceeds the international requirements for forestry management, so all of our oak is responsibly sourced. We control the entire process; from tree-felling, through the manufacturing process, to the distribution to our customers. Dacha Oak products are meticulously graded to meet our own high standards, ensuring quality in each and every piece we produce.
The manufacturing process begins in the Ukrainian forests, where our experienced team carefully select the most suitable logs. On arrival at our UK saw mill, the logs are sawn into specific widths and stored in our air drying facility for up to four months. We know the traditional method of air drying oak prior to kiln drying is paramount, as it minimises patches of uneven colour. The timber is then transferred into our drying kilns for four weeks. Once the oak has been kiln dried to the optimum moisture content it is packed into individual widths ready for machining, before the oak is graded and allocated to produce each premium product.
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