OT whinge - timber

Just got some timber delivered today, left in my carport, as per instructions.

When I went out to check it, I find that one piece is badly damaged.

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The piece of wood it's sitting on is 20cm wide, so we're not talking about a small defect.

Why would the deliverer think I was going to accept a piece of timber in that state? Alternatively, how could the deliverer have failed to notice?

Also, it's over 1cm short. How hard can it be to get the length right?

They're going to replace it, of course, but I shouldn't have to chase up things like this.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else
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Why is it the deliverer's responsibility? They might be just delivering what they are given.

Reply to
PaulMMM

I should have made it clear that he's an employee of the supplier, not a third party.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

Thats delivery/couriers for you, seems to be a common trait in my experience.

The last time something like this happened to me, it was for a set of new 16" steel wheels for a 4WD. I noticed one of the boxes was destroyed, but wrapped back around the wheel. I check the wheel and it was crushed to half it's original size. How in the hell they managed to subject it to that amount of punishment is anyone's guess.

Anyway, that courier tried to get me to sign off on them with a straight face, knowing full well the wheel was stuffed. Of course, they were of no help at all in replacing it and the company I bought the wheels from ended up footing the bill for that.

Reply to
Jeßus

The only way to buy timber is to select it yourself. Otherwise you end up with the rubbish left over that they can't sell off the rack.

Reply to
swanny

There's probably some truth to that, though it wouldn't surprise me if this timber was damaged either during cutting or during delivery - the damage looks fresh.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

Reminds me of way back, when someone sent me a large monitor to use in some work I was doing for them. When it arrived, it was completely dead. On examining it closely, I found that the casing was cracked. So, it turned out, was the circuit board. The thing had obviously been dropped a sigificant distance during transport, but the courier company said nothing.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

Are you erecting this carport yourself? If not the installer would have fixed the problem and then you would not have had to worry.

Metro.....

Reply to
Metro

It's not for the carport. It's a replacement joist for the deck. It wouldn't need replacing if the tradesmen I employed to construct the deck had put something up that would last for more than ten years. It would have, too, if it had been properly sealed so that moisture couldn't get trapped between the decking boards and the joists. I dare say I got what I paid for, but there was no discussion at the time about my paying extra for something that would last a lot longer.

It should not be necessary for a person to do detailed research into a trade in order to get tradesmen to do a good job.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

looks like it was scraped by the tine of the forklift when it was unloaded from the truck that brought it from the timber mill, or subsequently when moving stock around.

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?? 100% natural

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Reply to
Jasen Betts

I suppose that works, if we then assume that the tine split the wood at the top and someone just pulled off the worst of the loose bits before leaving the timber ready for sale. In that case, there was still someone who was aware of the damage, but did nothing about it.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

Sylvia if that is the case I wouldn't be using just a bit of treated pine as a joist. Decent bit of hard wood ( excuse the pun ) would be the way go. That's what I used.

Metro...

Metro

Reply to
Metro

The current treated pine joists were installed 10 years ago to replace the previously existing hardwood joists, because the tops of the latter had rotted to the point where it was no longer practical to attach the decking to them. They had certainly lasted a lot longer, but it seems to me that they had the same underlying problem which was that they had not been protected from the accumulation of moisture between the decking and the joists, which is how the rot starts.

Most of the joists are undamaged. There seems little point in my replacing just a few with hardwood.

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

I bought some wooden lattice work from Bunnings, such as the type used to raise the height of boundary fence. This was some sort of treated pine.

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The elements were just stapled together and could be separated easily by tugging on them. Therefore the first step was to lay them out and nail in galvanized flat-head nails and then turn over the projecting sharp bits.

This took a lot of work.

The wood looked kind of crappy and porous, so a paint job was deemed necessary. A large pot of green acrylic paint ($95) was applied in two generous coats.

This took a lot of work too.

The contractor on site then mounted the trellis to the fence, but it didn't look right. The trellis needed a top rail to set it off and keep the water out of the top of the slats.- so back to Bunnings and then more painting.

This was a lot of stuffing about. Still the whole thing looked great.

12 Months passed, and the trellis assembly began to list inwards because the nails inserted by the contractor gave way.

Bummer!

Back to Bunnings for about 24 large 6" coach bolts with large washers, and an auger drill, and one whole Saturday, to drill though the mess and insert the large coach bolts and tighten them.

This took a lot of work.

Now the trellis has been in many years and still looks great. The acrylic paint, the top rail, and the large coach bolts did the trick. I hope the "contractor" rots in hell.

Reply to
Peter Jason

coach bolts are a lot of work, 150mm bugle head batten screws or roof screws are easier it install (if you've got a big-ish drill) because they're self drilling and they're usually stronger too.

--
?? 100% natural

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Reply to
Jasen Betts

As part of my decking task, I removed some galvanised bolts that were installed just three years ago. Already they show some corrosion. I'm starting to think that stainless steel is the only way to go if one wants something to last (but it's damned expensive).

Sylvia.

Reply to
Sylvia Else

Have a look at

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Haven't tried them yet but will soon.

Tony

Reply to
TonyS

Wood will last decades if it can dry out completely soon after getting wet. The design of your project may be faulty. Generally:

1/ Use a suitable wood, treated if possible. 2/ Use concrete foundations, then a steel bracket, and bolt the timber to this. 3/ Ensure wood has angled cutoffs so any water can drain off immediately. 4/ Use paint to seal across wood grain. (Staining the wood is not the same thing.) 5/ If possible roof over the decking with poly carbonate sheeting; expensive sure, but it is the final solution.

Check out the Google images thing for decking keywords, and drill down to find a solution to your problems.

Brass/bronze fittings may be cheaper than stainless. Check yachting suppliers.

Reply to
Peter Jason

One of the joists, now removed. Prior to its removal, I had scraped out the rotten wood with a screwdriver to determine the extent of the rot. The staples are there because they were holding some plastic in place to keep most of the rain out while I decided what to do.

The joist is 4.5cm wide by 19 cm deep. The rot had penetrated more than halfway down, and as shown, through one of the sides.

From what I understand about rot, this was probably all caused by a single spore landing where it could take hold.

The rest of the joist is completely sound as far as I can determine.

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Reply to
Sylvia Else

The decking looks like it needs some attention also. You should never counterbore screw holes on decking. Water just fills them up causing various hassles over time.

Metro....

Reply to
Metro

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