HG1 is the town centre side of Harrogate, including the streets around the Stray. HG2 reaches the southern and western houses, where gardens are often larger and more open to the weather off the gritstone hills. Hardwood lives in both. Our team fits it, and we also tell you what it will ask of you afterwards.
Weather on the board
Harrogate is wet, and the wet comes sideways as often as it comes straight down. A board on a west-facing garden in HG2 takes the rain off the high ground. A board in a walled HG1 garden may take less wind and more shade, and shade stays damp. Both are hardwood problems of a different shape. The open plot silvers faster and checks at the ends if the sun follows the rain. The shaded plot stays dark unless the underside can dry.
We do not promise a colour. New hardwood is rich. Left alone, it moves towards grey. Oiled, it stays warmer for a while and then needs the oil again. Neither path is a failure. They are the two honest lives of the same board. Pick one with your eyes open. If you oil for two summers and then stop, you will have a patchy board. If you never oil, you will have a silver one, and that can look settled beside gritstone.
Grain and how a board wears
Grain is the map of the tree. It is also the part you feel under a bare foot. When hardwood gets wet, the grain raises. It settles again as it dries, though a neglected board can stay furry. A light rub with the grain, once the board is dry, takes that nap off. Across the grain you only scratch it.
End grain is the thirsty face. Cuts, mitres and the open end of a board drink water first and open small checks in summer. We seal ends when we cut them, and we leave you with the same treatment if you are oiling. Face grain wears where feet turn, at the door and at the top of a step. That wear is normal. It is not a reason to replace a board that is still sound.
Hardwood still moves. A board fixed with no room at the ends will pull or split in a dry week. The gap is how the deck stays flat.
Oil, and when to leave it
Oil is a surface coat. It slows water and keeps a colour. It does not turn timber into something that can sit in a puddle. The first coats go on clean, dry boards, worked into the grain, with the excess wiped so it does not sit as a skin. Later coats are the same idea, usually once in the warmer months, more often on a walked path and on end grain. A north-facing HG1 yard may need less sun-fading care and more patience about drying time. An open HG2 lawn may need the opposite.
If you would rather not oil, say so at the start. Silver is a finish if you choose it for the whole deck. Oiling only the bit by the door looks unfinished.
This is not an argument against other boards. Some households do not want a seasonal job, and that is a fair reason to look at a different surface on its own page. The choice belongs in your garden, against your stone, not in a table of winners. Our hardwood decking work is the fitting. This page is the aftercare.
A frame that lets the boards dry
The best oiled board still fails on a wet frame. Joists should be clear of the soil, with air moving through the void. Skirting that boxes the deck in, or a sheet that holds a puddle, keeps the underside wet while the top looks fine. In HG1 shade that wet underside is how a deck smells by the second autumn. In HG2 the wind helps, unless someone has closed the sides to hide the frame. We leave a way for air, and a way to look under the edge once a year.
Leaves block the gaps, so clear them. A mat that never comes up holds a wet square where you stand. The Stray guide covers those town gardens. Further out in HG2 the timber care is the same, with more weather.
Say, when you ask for a quote, whether you will oil the board or let it silver, and whether the garden is shaded HG1 or open HG2. We will not describe it as a board you can forget.
Frequently asked questions about hardwood boards
Will hardwood stay the colour it is on day one?
Only if you oil it, and only between coats. Left alone, it silvers. Stopping oil halfway leaves a patchy surface. Choose one path for the whole deck.
Does the grain stay smooth?
It raises when the board is wet and settles as it dries. A light rub with the grain, on a dry day, takes the nap off. Scrubbing across the grain marks it.
Is oil a one-time job?
No. It is a repeat through the years you want the warmer colour, especially on end grain and on the walked area by the door. Silver needs no oil.
Does HG1 need different care from HG2?
The timber is the same. HG1 shade stays damp, so the void must dry. HG2 often takes more wind and sun, so colour and end-grain checks show sooner. The frame is open in both.