neiln

really? oo-er. the Turkey oak in my own garden had quite different leaves, less deeply lobed than a native English Oak so I thoght this park tree was something more unusual. Live and learn. Cheers.

Back last weekend and snapped these pics of the leaves and the tree. Tree is pretty sizeable, trunk about 2'6" DBH I'd estimate. leaves are not only deeply lobed but also very large, biggest maybe 6 or more inches long that tree is at the bottom of the park, you can see the River Dee behind, but there are other similar trees in the park

I did this, chiselled a channel across the constructional hearth roughly brick sized (200x75mm), with a ledge chiselled out slightly wider then put a double thickness of offcuts of floor tile stuck down over the top metl vent/grill right at the back. Decorative hearth will cover the lot

I'm putting a stove in currently so have been reading Part J and my understanding is a vent pulling from under a suspended floor is fine. Its what I've done too....so I'll be peeved if building control have an issue. I don't 'need' it, its a stovax stockton 5, a 5kw stove, but i know a vent is good practice and a vent to directly by the stove, even if not connected to an OAK (outside air kit) means cold draughts across the room from some other leak/source of air are much less likely. so not only does the stove burn properly, the room is more comfy. the 5kw cut off is a farce. that figure doesn't come from any tests and oddly enough its why lots of stoves that have a large firebox and can run at much higher power are rated to a nominal 5kw, as consumers like it, it avoid the part j necessity for a vent. a vent is good practice though. the sensible bit is the smoke chimney draw test....does it draw well? only trouble is alot of iffy installs could probably pass that test on a good day...a smoke pellet is perhaps not a great measure of draw but then its about the best practical test i guess. my own house is probably a typical 1930s build, fairly leaky but changed over the years....originally with fireplaces in most rooms for coal fires, and air bricks in all rooms, but previous owners blocked up the fireplaces and put in central heating, then blocked up the draughty airbricks. then you get more damp/condensation. you install double glazing to cut down more draughts but get more condensation...you install bathroom and kitchen extractors to pull moisture out the house and prevent condensation. then i come along and want a stove....so i need to and have opened an air vent, added another vent in the back of the hearth from under the floor too. I do a chimney draw test and it passes but being belt and braces and having read part J i know to redo it with doors to extractor fans open and those fans running. i got it to pass that test too but not so easily...i had to warm the flue with a blow torch for 2 mins or else the kitchen extractor caused a reverse of flow and the smoke from the pellet came out the stove vent and filled the lounge. so although that test passes with a warm flue i'm also going to add another air vent in the kitchen wall to help the kitchen get its fresh air....I know from when i recently installed the kitchen that previous owners had blocked up 3 airbricks in the kitchen so putting one back is not going to be a bad thing....even though the kithcen doesn't have the range the house had when biult (so one should be enough i hope, not 3) what i'm saying is, stoves need air and if you think it through carefully you can ensure they get it, in all circumstances, and in a way that doesn't cause cold draughts and comfort issues. I guess a good HETAS installer will know that...a good one.

Detailing is about restoring paint, trim, glass etc to perfect showroom condition, getting a high shine, and protecting the finish with waxes and sealants. Certain things can do damage to either the finish/shine, the paint or the waxes/sealants. caw dust landing on a car won't harm it so long as its properly washed off (no gritty sponges please!) 2 stroke oil and chain oil will leave an oily residue and damage the shine, but a decent car shampoo will remove it. The oily residue might strip a sealant off, but i doubt it. A dull detail (wash, de-tar, de-iron, clay, light polish to correct paint swirls, and application of a sealant) on a large car or a van is 2 days work and costs a couple of hundred or more. A half detail, the VERY most this van needs (all the above, but not paint polish) would be less. TBH, a wash and a top up with a quick detailer/spray on sealant would be all the van needs, £20 is a fair price for that done properly.

Thanks Peasgood and EdC, yes of course that makes complete sense, its a Victorian ornamental park and the Victorians were great explorers and seedhunters weren't they. The tree I thought the leaf was from was certainly a massive Oak, and dating from victorian times would fit I guess. I'm not in Chester at the moment but will be back in a couple of weekends...and I'm sure I'll be in the park to feed the ducks and play on the swings with my 1yo daughter so I'll try and get a photo of another leaf or 2 and the tree. I'd googled and would say the leaf labelled white oak in this diagram is very much what i saw https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/384917099373134103/

Walking through Grovesnor park in Chester at the weekend i saw a couple of leaves on the ground that looked like a non-native oak. Very deep lobes. I'd still describe the lobes as rounded but half pointy..a rounded point. Don't think it was just a random odd leaf as I think I found a tree of them, but it was dusk and partner and I were in a rush to get our little girl home so I may have been mistaken. Just wondering how the park came to have some non-native oaks planted and what they are....I suspect a white oak. Does anybody know?

I'm not an expert but I'm a homeowner with subsidence due to shrinkage of clay soils caused by trees, so I know what the arborist report is likely to say. They use the general guide, closer than it is tall and it might be a problem. I had trouble from several Oaks in he region of 15 to 18m tall and about almost that far away. So 10m for a mature tree and they will probably say 'it might be a problem with roots likely to extend into the vicinity of the house'. They will probably go a little further....and note particular trees of concern, Oak and prunus for example take a lot of water, maple a lot less. However, if your soil isn't a susceptible type it matters little. I'd suggest investigating getting soil samples taken if your worried. a bore hole could be used to take samples down to 4 or 5m and these examined to determine firstly the soil type (and if it is susceptible to shrinkage) and secondly the moisture content/desiccation. If there are roots in the vicinity of the house, the soil will be desiccated to some degree (no matter what time of year, but especially now). You may even get roots in the samples. Oh and just to add, subsidence isn't a nightmare....but getting the insurance company to get its thumb out its a*** and do something about it can be!

Plastic Wrap | Hearth.com Forums Home Expeditided Wood drying / Solar Kiln | Hearth.com Forums Home

Found the guy with e diy poly tunnels, Fairbanks alaska. he hit 7% MC (claimed) drying over the summer. was hitting 128F inside in May,someone else claiming 168F summer from a shrink wrap version and claimed to get wood to 18-20% in just Feb, just one month. Softwood probably but hey. Solar cord wood kiln operation | Hearth.com Forums Home Is devon colder than fairbanks in Feb?

Oh and winter doesn't matter if sunny. A guy on Hearth somewhere very chilly...Alaska I think, biult some small poly tunnel kilns and got wood dry in a few winter months!

I've read a load about 'Hill Billy solar kilns' on a couple of american sites, Hearth and aboristsite....or was just Hearth? Anyway, cut split and stacked wood, then just wrap with pallet wrap/clingfilm. If the stack is in a sunny spot it works just as well as greenhouse and people were getting (or so they said) hardwoods down to 20% MC in just a few months! people claiming to measure temps well over 100F inside the wrap in the sun, and photos of lots of condensate and rivulets running down. So yes, a clear tarp/plastic sheet over it should have some effect in sunny spots. You'll want to cover a fair bit of the sides too to keep the heat in. IIRC those using the technique opened up the ventilation more as time went on but can't remember details. google solar kiln or hill billy solar kiln and read hits on Hearth and arboristsite

the reason though is these prices. At these costs a btu from soft wood is twice a btu from mains gas and comparible to oil, electric or propane, all of which involve less work for the householder. the buner itself is also more costly....a gas safe plumber supply and fit a new boiler for a couple of grand, a decent burner large enough to heat a whole house will be a big chunk of that, hetas installers then take the proverbial in many areas with quotes of 3 grand to do an install. I'm not saying wood is too costly, given the work involved i can't see anyone making unfair profits and more must struggle. I do think stoves are a bit costly, but that would come down if more were made and sold, and I do think some hetas installers really are taking the P but that would change if more wer going in. The big problem is gas is too cheap. If this country were serious about being green it should have a carbon tax on stuff like gas and oil, and proper incentives on sustainables like wood

I agree wood is wood, the quality comes from being properly seasoned. Soft has advantages even.

Absolutely I get that transporting, processing, seasoning etc of wood is the same, hard or soft, so any cost difference can only be cost to buy the cord, so minimal. I'm just surprised its quite so small just because as a customer it seems hardwood is so much better...less storage space needed and less handling/feeding a stove for the same heat. Cheers for the table linked - ok, looks like hard is ~ 0.75 and soft around ~0.5 so 2/3rds density.

Lol! True, stoves are the trendy must have for middle class and many get used just a few times a year.... Christmas day, new year's eve, and aunty Phyllis' birthday. But then don't those sort buy logs by the net, £25 for about 10 kilos of wet wood, at B&Q?

Wow, I'm surprised the hardwood/softwood price difference is so little. Density of most seasoned softwoods is around half most hardwoods, so around half the btus in a m3, and you end up loading stoves twice as often, ish. So as a custmoer its worth paying about (almost) twice as much for hardwood as it is for softwood. That assumes quality is equal and hardwood is available.

Stockton 3 Wood Burning Stoves & Multi-fuel Stoves that's about the smallest stove around and if you can get a little more hieight (thinner hearth perhaps?) it will fit

As Avio says, its a pithy wood, very light once seasoned, not a great wood to burn. Rightly or wrongly I even turned down a free delivery of it.

it has a lot of resin/pitch which will spit and cause creosote IF its not well seasoned, but seasoned properly its good.

its very common rock climbing. What helps there is to push your heels down, easy on rock as your normally stood on just toe holds, but it my be possible for you to do something similar?

never a good idea to bring wood in from the pile/shed very long before it is burnt. It might look trendy to have a neat stack of uniform splits in the inglenook, but it does risk bringing the bugs in.

Ah, ta.

Stuff in the media today about the dual threat to Ash here and in Europe from Ash die back and from Emerald Ash Borer beetle. It sounds bleak. I know EAB has marched across the US swiftly and devastatingly. Is it just a matter of time until it happens here? Also we seem to have our Oaks under threat from Acute Oak Dieback and Sudden Oak Dieback. Are all our mature, native trees under threat?!

bump.