Squaredy

Best way to deal with it is simply to slice the boards into two pieces, plane the separate pieces and then joint them. With the correct equipment this is not difficult. If you are simply looking to sell them I would sell them as is - many of your customers will know how to deal with the cupping. For a skilled woodworker it is no big deal and will result in a stable slab. Nice looking timber by the way.

I used to think the Telegraph was one of the more reputable papers. Are they seriously trying to suggest the beaches were busy because of Dominic Cummings? Not the beautiful weather and the bank holiday and the fact that everywhere indoors is shut so half the population is heading to outdoor beauty spots? How stupid do they think we are? As far as I recall, in England you are now allowed to travel to beaches, so did anyone really expect the beaches to be quiet???!! Despite what the Telegraph article says the beachgoers are not breaking the rules. I noticed finally a bit of balance in the news re packed beaches. Remember the pics of Southend Beach looking a bit on the full side? Well here is the local newspaper's take on it, with photos from above. The man who shot the drone footage said "There were packed beaches, although people seemed to be social distancing, coping with restrictions and being sensible". Amazing drone footage shows thousands packed onto Southend beach (but at a safe social distance!) WWW.ECHO-NEWS.CO.UK THOUSANDS of daytrippers appeared to respect social distancing guidelines as they lined the town’s beaches yesterday.

Ash logs also get exactly the same looking beetle galleries under the bark.

Is it an Oak? Mighty funny oak if you ask me!

Yes indeed that is what I found out also, Belgium is by far the worst. Interesting that the press all seeing to be saying Sweden is now higher than UK. Sweden is just under half the number of deaths per million population compared to Belgium. Still not good, but much better than UK (and much better than Spain, France and Italy), despite the press. Sweden overtakes UK with highest coronavirus death rate per capita -did they get it wrong? | World | News | Express.co.uk WWW.EXPRESS.CO.UK SWEDEN has overtaken the UK, Italy and Belgium to record the highest coronavirus per capita death rate in the world.

The UK is currently the second worst hit country for Covid 19, and Sweden is well down the list. Anyone know who is worst hit? Ignoring micro states by the way as SAN Marino is the worst hit overall.

Oooohhhh really? Where?

Healthy scepticism I would say.

Sorry I missed your meaning. Here it is, same people same time, different angle and lens.

Yes I agree it is ridiculous, but the police are patrolling the beaches here in Wales - well the ones we could get to with a short drive anyway.

Well perhaps you can, as I don't know which pic you mean. But again it makes no difference to the point. The press are very good at putting a twist on things, and we all need to keep our wits about us, and not get sucked in to hysteria and half facts. I am sure some lack of social distancing was going on, and I do not condone this, but I do not trust the press to give a balanced picture.

I was not there Felix, so I will have to take your word for it, even though you also were not there. My point is still very valid anyway. The media love to create a story, and it is very easy to go the the end of a long beach and take a picture which makes it look as if hundreds of people are all close together. This picture below is of a queue for a shop and they are all 2 metres apart. Doesn't look like it does it? Do you trust the media?!

I have just been out driving around Newport to get a few bits for my elderly mum, and to be honest it looks like lockdown has ended. I saw lots of social distancing going on, but I think even here in Wales it looks like most people have given up on the "Stay at Home" message. Hardly surprising when garden centres, fishing venues, golf courses, KFC and Burger king and so on are all open. It is just a weird situation when we all know we are legally not allowed to drive around to places, yet most people clearly are. I think they need to give up on lockdown and simply ensure social distancing. Otherwise we risk having a load of rules that no-one respects or cares about, and they will lose all control then.

Oh dear that is embarrassing, I have corrected my beeches to beaches. I did wonder what Big J's post meant!

A very organised looking construction it has to be said. Like all these jobs good preparation makes such a difference. Thank you for sharing, and where can I buy that stuff you mention....ticketyboo....sounds like just what I need.

Water cannot flow through concrete I agree, but apparently it will seep through due to capillary action. I would love to believe otherwise but I fear I cannot.

It is really not difficult to use a telephoto lens and make a beach that may be a mile or two long look crowded. OK we can see there are lots of people on the beach, but does that mean they are not social distancing? It would be interesting to see drone footage from above to show how far apart those people really are. It is worth remembering the internet is full of twisted stories and click bait. I think a beach is a perfect place to visit in lockdown, and as long as you respect people's personal space and don't start breaking the rules the risks are probably much less than shopping at Tesco. My family would love to spend a day at a beach, and living in South Wales we are quite near to many enormous beaches, but we aren't allowed to. Apparently it is safer to walk along local roads with no pavements, or cycle with two young kids on narrow lanes.

To be fair Andy you have missed my point. I am objecting to the inconsistency. As a family we could be fined for driving a couple of miles to a local forest for a nice walk on our own. But golfers are driving illegally by the hundred to use the golf course in my village. Of course golf should be allowed with sensible distancing. And so should a family visit to the beach with social distancing.

I don't know how my fellow welsh citizens are accepting the duplicity of the lockdown now. Golfers driving from all over to my village to play golf, yet my wife and kids are stuck in and no longer able to walk on the golf course, and not allowed to drive to other local places to walk or cycle. It sucks. Sort the rules out Welsh so called Government: either allow us all to drive to exercise etc (like England) or enforce it here and stop the golfers. Maybe we should get our golf clubs and head down to the beech for a spot of beech golf. (at 7 and 10 they are too young to play a proper round of golf).

Well yes indeed, but the snooker table will not leave much space for anything else....!

I am going to build a garden room, which will have a snooker table in (possibly full size) and darts board and in the future who knows what else.

Ah well as I said thank you for your input. I will be putting pics up when I have something to show! Not very exciting for you I realise, but I know getting the slab right is key to a simple and successful build.

I am not using a screed, just tamping the concrete then floating by hand. Done it before and found it easy, and gives a much stronger surface of course as concrete is super strong. Don't think the snooker table legs will be too heavy, weight of 160kg or so per leg should be fine I think. I will be using mesh in the mix due to the size of the slab. Appreciate your input. Are you a snooker player?

I may well put polythene dpm under the concrete but cut to fit not folded up into the corners, so hence still needing another method to keep the edges dry. Def don't want damp balls....

I think paying the extra for waterproofed concrete is the way I will go. It will cost £400 or so extra for the 6 cubic metres I will need, but I think that is worth it. If it works. Anyone got experience of this? If you are wondering why I don't want to use a plastic DPM it is simply the extra difficulty of getting a good result when doing the pour at the corners and indeed everywhere the plastic sticks up. I want to keep the pour as simple as possible - after all I don't want to get it wrong.