Squaredy

Thank you for the input so far. My research and experience suggest to me that normal concrete is permeable to a degree. Certainly not dry enough for my purpose without some sort of waterproofing or membrane. It will be a simple reinforced raft foundation with a simple wooden structure sitting on top. Probably 150mm deep, but maybe getting nearer to 200mm in places. About 6 cubic metres in total. I agree about the shuttering I will make sure this is good, I do know how much easier it is when this is done right.

Us Arbtalkers seem to know about most things, so anyone advise me on waterproof concrete? I will be putting a reinforced concrete slab down later this year for a garden room and I do not want to use a plastic membrane - I know from experience that the edges and corners are just a nightmare to do properly. Anyone got experience of actually laying waterproof concrete? I will be buying in ready-mixed concrete so I will ask local suppliers what they suggest. But maybe some of you guys have experience of doing this?

Most insulators work I believe by trapping air. On this basis I would expect Poplar to be an excellent insulator, but with the advantage that it is not plastic based, so much nicer to handle and install and ultimately highly sustainable. The image below is Poplar viewed through an electron microscope. Slight gaps will not be a big issue (I hope) as they will be caulked like a boat hull, so allowing slight movement.

I still have the brochures I sent for in the early eighties when I was at secondary school, I got the brochures from all the UK manufacturers I could find and pored over them for hours. I have no idea why really, I had no money or space but there we are! Keep an eye on this thread Steve, you are not too far from me and I daresay there will be invitation evenings for wood people eventually....

Ah but Jonathon this is Wales not damp Scotland! I will kiln it if necessary before installation, and then leave a little gap like a boatbuilder planking a boat, to allow for a little movement. But the plan is it will be quite a controlled climate in there - after all it will have a snooker table in! If I need to run a de-humidifier during damp cold weather I will. I will update this thread as work progresses...might be this side of Christmas....might not!

Well the outer skin will be Doug Fir cladding with a breathable membrane under. The bottom line is I have to keep the building dry for the purposes of Snooker table etc. With a proper membrane in concrete slab and other details I don't think this will be a problem. I have discovered that the cheapest good quality second hand snooker tables these days are full size ones. I have to have a chat with the neighbour this weekend and see if he is happy for me to go right up to the boundary. If he is OK with that it will be full size. Dream come true...

Oh yeah, still going. Comes through the post not a paper boy, but is a nice little thing for our boys to get each week and not screen based.

When this is over or sort of over I am going to have a Chinese takeaway. They all seem to be closed around here. All other takeaways are open - surely it isn't due to bad feeling towards Chinese?

I am starting to design a garden room (well Billiard Room really) to go at the bottom of my garden. It will be a simple wooden structure, basically a large shed on a proper concrete slab, and insulated. It must be properly dry and to be usable it will need some insulation. My plan instead of buying Kingspan or mineral wool or whatever, is simply to use three inch Poplar which I have started milling for the purpose. My logic is as follows: 1) Pop is a cheap timber and I had ideal logs lying around which I can spare. 2) As it is a very light timber I believe it will have a fairly good insulation value. 3) By using Actual boards of solid wood as the insulation, if I do it neatly I do not then need to face them with yet more boards. They will be fitted vertically between the uprights of the walls. There will be no bracing as I am relying on the Pop to effectively do that for me. The Pop is starting to air dry, and if need be I will pop it in the kiln so it is properly dried before fitting. I am sure I am not the first person to try this sort of approach. No exciting pics yet, just a pop log on the mill today. Half milled on the Lucas mill as it was nearly three foot diameter, then finished off on the bandmill.

Thanks. Not made a final decision yet but maybe Hudson. Hud-Son Oscar 52 Slabber Sawmill Large Diameter Bandmill WWW.HUD-SON.COM The Oscar 52 Portable Sawmill has a 52" log capacity and an cut up to a 48" wide board, making it perfect for all those large logs. 23HP Electric Start I was going to go to the USA in July and I would have visited the factory and seen one in use. Sadly that trip is now off, so I may just order blind. No UK dealer sadly so will have to import it myself, but I know plenty of people who have done similar so hopefully this will be smooth.

If you can get them reading lots this is the way to sort English out. It is all about getting them off screens and loving books. We have Beano delivered every week (and have for years) and they love this - fun and reading practise.

In the case of our boys I think they are doing better than they would be in English medium education....I would home school them rather than send them to the local primary school or comp. But that is a reflection of our area - Newport.

Strange, I applied for one yesterday with my business bankers (Co-op) and unless I missed something it just said it must be used for the financial benefit of my company - it more or less said it can be used for anything that will help the company. So if I get it I will be investing in a super-wide bandsaw mill that I have needed for years. Not convinced I qualify though as I had to declare that as at the end of last year my business is classed by the EU s as in difficulty as the balance sheet (Ltd co) shows net liabilities.

Is this a wind up? Have you got some LIme leaves and a Cherry trunk to try and confuse us all???!!!

Yeah that is interesting. And reassuring, as what we all seem to be forgetting is that in the short to medium term the only real way out of this situation is for us to get herd immunity. In other words most of us need to get the virus and recover. For most of us we cannot dodge it forever. The most vulnerable perhaps should be shielded, but even this is debatable. My mum is 80 in three months, lives on her own and has had no proper contact with her two sons or two grandchildren (or indeed anyone) in 7 weeks. A vaccine could be years away. If we keep trying to shield her she could eventually die in a few years lonely and sad. She would rather take her chances and have a 90% chance of a normal life than stay locked down for an unknown period. As soon as the law allows, she will be visiting her family and I don't blame her. Remember, the scientists have said that it is possible we will never find a vaccine.

Check if you can claim a grant through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme - GOV.UK WWW.GOV.UK If you're self-employed or a member of a partnership and have been adversely affected by coronavirus (COVID-19) find out if you can use this scheme to claim a grant.

Has anyone had success with the Self Employed grant? I also tried today and had the same message as Saul, but there was no problem with my return last year, I would have thought I was eligible. Maybe it is not live yet and rejects everyone???

Have you looked under the leaves for aphids? A pic of the tree in its tub might help.

So what a mess we have here in Wales now following BoJo's broadcast this evening. People living in England can (from Wednesday) drive to wherever they like, sunbathe, relax in the sun, presumably have a kick around with a football, or a cricket bat. Here in Wales, we are still locked down indefinitely. We can leave the house more than once, but not drive anywhere to walk or exercise. So people living in (for example) Ross-on-Wye can drive to Brighton beech, or the Lake district and have a lovely picnic, but if they head half a mile west and cross the border into Wales, they could be turned round and fined. I am going to ring my brother now for a chat - he lives in Bristol, so I guess he will be going back to playing golf weekly as long as it is in England.... I hope the leader of the Welsh Assembly (or whatever they call themselves these days) has the sense to align the rules urgently, or we are going to have a right confusing mess, and possibly much resentment. What is even more annoying is that BoJo seemed to set all the rules initially, even in Wales, and we all received our BoJo letter telling us what to do, yet now it appears he no longer has a say in Wales. I am not saying either message is wrong, I just think it would be sensible to be consistent!

Not sure I can help you with what is causing the leaf problem, but I think you need some soil in the pot as well. General purpose compost should be good up to a point but has no structure and should be mixed with soil. It is different for growing tomatoes or courgettes - they only need to live for a few months. A tree needs as large an area as possible with good soil and lots of nutrients. I trust is was not bare root by the way, as this is the wrong time of year to transplant bare root trees. If it had a good rootball it may be OK. Hope this may help a little.

There is no denying the logic of your argument, Spanish or French would be a far more useful language. But as has been pointed out local cultures are also important and of course in Wales there is a strong resentment to everything being anglicised due to hundreds of years of blatant repression from Westminster governments. This is why the Welsh language society has a lot of power. Is it really a good use of resources to put so much emphasis on Welsh language? Is it really money well spent to have reversing warnings on dustbin lorries in Welsh and then English in Cardiff (a largely English speaking area)? For an English only speaker they may have been run over by the time the warning gets to the English version! My wife and I sent our kids to a Welsh language school largely because they have a much better reputation and because they say it helps with learning generally to be bilingual at an early age.

Yeah we have had a nightmare with Hwb, finally got the hang of it, but so many conflicting instructions have been given it has been a pain. So now my wife uses it (and Twinkl which is much easier) and I just make up stuff that I know will be valuable and appropriate for them. In Dad Home School they have baked a cake, studied and written about Tyrannosaurus Rex (the 7 year old), the American Civil War (9 year old), done Uke lessons, researched how to play Chess, learned how to use a traditional encyclopedia, and much more. Much of the focus will be on writing over the coming weeks sadly for them!

Yeah my two are in a Welsh school also, and my 7 year old has not even started English yet. Luckily it is not a problem for our two as they read loads. But yes the Welsh school is really good at teaching Welsh (and in this area most of the kids are not in Welsh speaking families of course) but I am realising everything else is maybe not so hot! And yes, there is no emphasis on writing at all. I feel neat writing is a basic skill you can give kids which is never going to do them any harm, and may even lead to many other skills, and greater motor control which could possibly mean they are better equipped for some highly skilled jobs like surgeon, artist, sculptor sportsperson, etc, etc. Private schools still place massive emphasis on writing, and hey guess what? Half the UK medal winners from the 2012 Olympics went to private school.

Well for me the starting point is always to work out how many cubic feet of timber it is which in this case is about 4.33. Then multiply it by a price per cubic foot which for me with good ash is £28.75. This gives a price of around £125. Sometimes I then bump the price up a bit if I can see it is really spectacular. Realistically this is the price for the piece when it has fully seasoned in a couple of years, and of course what sometimes happens is it cracks and distort so ends up not being worth so much. If it is no good as a slab when dried it gets re-sawn and sold as square edged boards which usually means lots of waste.

No It is in the stack ready for sale next year or the one after.