I have been asked by my children's school to make a frame to contain
soil/compost type material for planting bulbs in. It is quite a large
triangular area and I was thinking of making it from decking planking etc.
The total height will be "3 bricks" i.e. approx 9 inches. I will stake it
every so often for strength but my main concern is will it last. I don't
think the school want a hundred years out of it but would like it to last a
while. Is the decking planking treated to withstand this or will I need to
do something else to it, I don't really want to start lining it with any
thing as I am providing all the materials and labour for free so the cheaper
and quicker the better as far as I am concerned. Also if anybody in the
Leeds/Wakefield area has any decking planks left over from a project, would
you consider donating them to a good cause?

Cheers

John

John wrote:

I have been asked by my children's school to make a frame to contain
soil/compost type material for planting bulbs in. It is quite a large
triangular area and I was thinking of making it from decking planking etc.
The total height will be "3 bricks" i.e. approx 9 inches. I will stake it
every so often for strength but my main concern is will it last. I don't
think the school want a hundred years out of it but would like it to last a
while. Is the decking planking treated to withstand this or will I need to
do something else to it, I don't really want to start lining it with any
thing as I am providing all the materials and labour for free so the cheaper
and quicker the better as far as I am concerned. Also if anybody in the
Leeds/Wakefield area has any decking planks left over from a project, would
you consider donating them to a good cause?

Cheers

John

Untreated softwood with a coat of engine oil/paraffin preservative
lasted very well in this job, so with a coat of that it should last a
very long time. Without, I dont know.

http://www.wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index...._Preservatives


NT

"John" wrote in message
...
I have been asked by my children's school to make a frame to contain
soil/compost type material for planting bulbs in. It is quite a large
triangular area and I was thinking of making it from decking planking etc.
The total height will be "3 bricks" i.e. approx 9 inches. I will stake it
every so often for strength but my main concern is will it last. I don't
think the school want a hundred years out of it but would like it to last a
while. Is the decking planking treated to withstand this or will I need to
do something else to it, I don't really want to start lining it with any
thing as I am providing all the materials and labour for free so the
cheaper and quicker the better as far as I am concerned. Also if anybody
in the Leeds/Wakefield area has any decking planks left over from a
project, would you consider donating them to a good cause?

Cheers

John
I made some rectangular frames for our front garden from 7 x 2 treated
softwood joists held together with 4 inch galvanised nails

I dressed the tops and outer faces with a disc sander to remove the
possibility of splinters
These have lasted for several years without any sign of deterioration

I guess 9 x 2 wouldn't be that costly but 7 inch of compost is more than
enough for most bulbs

Tony

On Oct 10, 2:03 pm, "John" wrote:
I have been asked by my children's school to make a frame to contain
soil/compost type material for planting bulbs in. It is quite a large
triangular area and I was thinking of making it from decking planking etc.
The total height will be "3 bricks" i.e. approx 9 inches. I will stake it
every so often for strength but my main concern is will it last. I don't
think the school want a hundred years out of it but would like it to last a
while. Is the decking planking treated to withstand this or will I need to
do something else to it, I don't really want to start lining it with any
thing as I am providing all the materials and labour for free so the cheaper
and quicker the better as far as I am concerned. Also if anybody in the
Leeds/Wakefield area has any decking planks left over from a project, would
you consider donating them to a good cause?

Cheers

John

Hi,

Some decking used to be CCA treated (google for it), so I'd be wary of
using left overs.

I'd treat cut ends with 'Cuprinol Green', NOT engine oil or anything
like that.

cheers,
Pete.

Pete C wrote:

Hi,

Some decking used to be CCA treated (google for it), so I'd be wary of
using left overs.

I'd treat cut ends with 'Cuprinol Green', NOT engine oil or anything
like that.

cheers,
Pete.

Green isn't too pretty. I'd suggest using the clear. I know where's
there a fence I used that on 20 years ago and it's still standing.

Andy

On Oct 10, 8:07 pm, Andy Champ wrote:
Green isn't too pretty. I'd suggest using the clear. I know where's
there a fence I used that on 20 years ago and it's still standing.

Well it appears Cuprinol have changed the formula in both clear *and*
green to something inferior.

So I'd look for something containing copper napthenate (for green) or
zinc acypetacs (for clear)

The green does fade away on bare wood IME.

Some light reading:

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf1997/laks97b.pdf

cheers,
Pete.

John wrote:
I have been asked by my children's school to make a frame to contain
soil/compost type material for planting bulbs in. It is quite a large
triangular area and I was thinking of making it from decking planking
etc. The total height will be "3 bricks" i.e. approx 9 inches. I
will stake it every so often for strength but my main concern is will
it last. I don't think the school want a hundred years out of it but
would like it to last a while. Is the decking planking treated to
withstand this or will I need to do something else to it, I don't
really want to start lining it with any thing as I am providing all
the materials and labour for free so the cheaper and quicker the
better as far as I am concerned.

Any pressure treated timber ('tanalised') will do, but make sure you treat
the end grain.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

On Oct 10, 7:19 pm, Pete C wrote:
On Oct 10, 2:03 pm, "John" wrote:



I have been asked by my children's school to make a frame to contain
soil/compost type material for planting bulbs in. It is quite a large
triangular area and I was thinking of making it from decking planking etc.
The total height will be "3 bricks" i.e. approx 9 inches. I will stake it
every so often for strength but my main concern is will it last. I don't
think the school want a hundred years out of it but would like it to last a
while. Is the decking planking treated to withstand this or will I need to
do something else to it, I don't really want to start lining it with any
thing as I am providing all the materials and labour for free so the cheaper
and quicker the better as far as I am concerned. Also if anybody in the
Leeds/Wakefield area has any decking planks left over from a project, would
you consider donating them to a good cause?

Cheers

John

Hi,

Some decking used to be CCA treated (google for it), so I'd be wary of
using left overs.

I'd treat cut ends with 'Cuprinol Green', NOT engine oil or anything
like that.

Cuprinol Green is for treating fences - not wood permanently in
contact with damp soil. For that you need something seriously
poisonous to fungi - which means something seriously poisonous to
humans. Given that the OP referred to "school", not "nursery", they
aren't going to be chewing it, so CCA or creosote sounds just the
ticket.

On Oct 11, 12:06 pm, Martin Bonner wrote:

Cuprinol Green is for treating fences - not wood permanently in
contact with damp soil.

Cuprinol Green is, (or was!), for timber in ground contact.

Maybe you're thinking of their shed and fence treatment that's
available in green among other shades.

For that you need something seriously
poisonous to fungi - which means something seriously poisonous to
humans.

Copper Napthanate is the former but not the latter.

Given that the OP referred to "school", not "nursey", they
aren't going to be chewing it, so CCA or creosote sounds just the
ticket.

I'm not so sure, you should see the sticky resin from the knots on my
CCA treated decking. Creosote also pongs for ages especially when the
sun hit is. If they were just the ticket they'd still be allowed for
the OPs application.

Also the OP's flower box may end up being used in a different way at
some point.

cheers,
Pete.