Steven P

OPs image is just from the Amazon, Olympia Tools 80-934 Forest Master Ultimate Sawhorse, might be she didn't have a photo otherwise. i'm the same as Stere, cheaper, made of wood - less likely to damage a chain on wood, can make it sized to suit and so on. Easy to repair too. In mine I have the legs set and measured to the length my stove needs, if a log is balanced between 2 legs it is 2 long and if it falls through the gap it will fit in the stove.

However like I said before, if the total fuel bill is smaller next winter after using logs then it doesn't really matter if on or 2 logs a showing a bit of rot. If the fuel bill has gone up and the fire isn't just for aesthetic purposes then I would be upset too.

Wikipedia suggest that this beetle likes rotting and wet wood (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wharf_borer) so if your wood is drying it should be OK - the photos don't show rotting wood (it would be damp, and squashy). As such I reckon your house timbers should be safe as should the living wood in the trees. You wouldn't be seeing thousands and if you did the wood would be full of beetle tunnels, For the farmer selling you large rounds of wood as seasoned, I guess he is technically correct they have been seasoned just not to a level of dryness recommended by the stove manufacturers - getting them split and stacked to dry is the best thing to do here. If they are reading 20% now try splitting one and take a reading from the freshly split side, since wood dries from the outside in, the outside edge doesn't show the true moisture content, you need to split one and measure from what was inside to get that

For the type of wood I wouldn't get too hung up over the species unless you are being sold say, Oak and receiving say, Poplar. It will all work OK and if the price is good for you then all is good - you will know at the end of winter if the gas and electric bill has dropped more than the cost of the wood if the deal was good (else why bother, go convenience). If you are buying the wood as dried, ready to go then for the beetles, their lifecycle is such that over the winter they are in the wood, emerging in the spring or summer.... so if all the wood is burnt before the weather heats up you should be mostly OK. if it is fresh wood, recently felled, again their lifecycle I think is such that they spend a couple of years in dead wood before emerging - and the same applies - it should all be burnt by the time they would want to come out. Problem might be if the wood has stood in the suppliers for longer, say in the corner of a field for a hew years before being cut and split then they beetles might be ready to go. However the photos show fairly fresh wood, -shouldn't- be an issue - but I am not an expert. Species - I'd also go for oak (the bark picture in the first set), and ash or beech for the smoother bark

Yup, first port of call I would make for future reference would be a clean - cannot see a problem if it is caked in muck

Did you look behind the sofa, whenever I am looking for something, it is often there, otherwise you could register on the tip sites (link above) This is a common question and there are loads of other hints and tips in the forum

Hammer, nails, saw, tarp, to make a shelter - I'd go light weight and just take a tent

... 3rd post. Getting it in quick. Realising that is probably the wrong turn of phrase.

If you're not sure, why not leave it and see what - if any - apples it produces? That might help a decision.

Back to the question, the size is OK, but to the latest answer it would be very good practice to test and clean any chimney before any installation works - you might find that the chimney is sound, you might find that it is full of holes. If the liner is inside a sound chimney though even if the liner leaks the outer chimney will still be safe for fumes I think... but not sure any installer would go for that.

Similar came up before and my thought then was the first hire was for the machine plus your time to train their operator and afterwards the cost for the machine. Else go machine and operator route

Yup, assuming you are keeping sociable hours then nothing they can do - I think the advice was sort of after 9 in the morning, and before 9 at night Monday to Saturday and 10 in the mornings on Sunday. Like your comment, I'd hope my neighbours would feel free enough to pop over to say if there was a problem, and likewise I'd be considerate to anything I know about them - for example a few years ago one of mine did night shifts so I wouldn't use anything too noisy till his curtains were open at the weekends, give and take. However I also got a battery saw (it was half price, couldn't resist), and actually prefer that around the house any way - no ear defenders needed! and can use it in the garage if some of the firewood in there is oversized. Quite impressed with it - even though a domestic model, it took down a couple of tonnes of Alder the other week quite happily (measuring whether to cut a bit more depended on whether to charge again or not)

I guess you have spoken to the home owner, and they are happy with a repair, which kind of negates the insurance thing? From the above, the area needs to be cleaned - so check inside the shed to make sure you arn't going to be washing their prized possessions too. if it was me I would fit a bung in the hole (if only you could find a local hole sized piece of wood to cut to length....) and then seal it with whatever I found that looked good - I have a screw hole in the garage roof sealed with I think a screw, washer and tin of bituminous mastik I had inside the garage. what is the diameter of the hole by the way? Probably too big for that idea but a coach bolt and the largest washers you can find to plug the hole and then seal

The outlaw sorts that and then teaches The Boys new words..... (He was a farmer, visited once, thought he's have a go and gave up) Often for that if you look you can see where the most side branches come out - the knots - select the line of attack from that. Have a go at both ends then lay it on its side and work along it - usually sorts it OK, failing that, bung a stick in where it starts splitting as a wedge to hold the split open, axe hits the split every time then. If I think I will need to go at it sideways I'll take off about 1" to 2" width from the bark so it lays better -and this kind of reduces the pressure ion the log, sometimes that is all it needs... but all depends on the log However the last couple of years I have had some luxury of not needing to collect anything too bad - some I do for the challenge and work out

Rule of thumb I work by is to split everything I can as soon as I can - no good leaving it whole, split it in a years time and then having to wait another 2 years for it to dry. I only do enough for my house generally (and the neighbour, the local Scout group and a couple of friends too) - not a lot, not worth the cost of mechanisation so hand split it all - very few logs escape. What I can't split when fresh goes to the back of the pile for another go in a few weeks, but most split when fresh. As for how long, they dry quicker if split, and it depends on the drying area. I have 1 south facing wall - it is great - along the drive so the wind blows down it too. The garage wall gets evening sun, not quite so quick but the north facing drive wall is not so good at all. I reckon most hard woods are good to go after a winter and summer, some need the second winter (but then I leave them outside till September by then anyway)

To the topic, I would look at a small stove downstairs if you can rather than trying to fit a back boiler to your existing system - might be cheapest option if possible even with chimneys and so on. Next thought would be warm air ducting from the stove - as above if you can manage it. Look to air source heat pump air systems for fancy control systems you might be able to put together.

My view... your dog, your dogs waste, your responsibility. OK if you get permission to leave it wherever but plain rude not to. Walking over a front garden - fine if they ask, but again, plain rude. Most dog owners are responsible - dogs under voice control to return and not chase every passing family, cyclist, runner or walker, they will pick up after them and dispose the waste where they should (and not in any passing bush or tree) realising that no one else will pick up after them, and so on. The few give the rest a bad name

I'm trying to work out the problem here. Is it the power lines themselves, as mentioned above they are less disruptive then burying cables, cheaper, quicker and lets us get power from where it is produced to where it is needed. Is it the substations? Relativly small unless you live next to them but necessary - without them the power lines would need to be a lot bigger and multiple lines all parallel. Is it that one part of the UK can generate green electricty and another can't so they want to hold onto it all, bering in mind the envirmonental issues if the rest of the UK was to then rely on gas, coal or nuclear - this will have a far greater impact Sorry to say but if we want to stop ou reliance on Russian oil then we need to upgrade the UK electricity infrastructure to generate electricity where we can and deliver it to where we need it, and for that we need pylons, subsea cabes, substations, windmills, solar farms and hydro plants. Or we can turn off the Russian oil, put us all on 60A fuses in the house (we usually have 100A) - no shower and making toast in the morning, and defenitely no fast charging electric cars (which we will all be getting by the way), oh and when yuor boiler packs up - it will be electric one then to give you a 3 way choice - tast and cup of tea, shower or heating in the morning!

For any business, how would you find yourself? Where would you look. For example, if I want a pint I would look to the town centre, if I want some roses for the garden, the local garden centre and so on. So where are you going to be found? I guess this goes to your target customer, the latest social media isn't going to get to a retired couple, facebook might not reach the local council. Branding is useful (any business), if you have a vehicle with your details on as it passes I only have 10 seconds to remember your details - so it needs to be clear - your name, and contacts for example, a website I would say is a must though doesn't have to be fancy - contact details and some nice photos - all your other advertising can link back to that, phone number and a contact form (some people prefer to fill in a form rather than talk on the phone). Try a google search "Tree surgeon" and your local area, your page needs to be somewhere visible. As above, word of mouth will get quality contacts from past customers. Are there any particular leafy areas near you - that could be worth targeted advertising - leaflets, or just park the van up somewhere visible at school run time on a quiet day. Newspapers.... not sure if I have read a newspaper this decade or not Oh, contact details.... have a real word physical detail, a land line, an address or your area and not "passing caravaner, mobile phone number: "

Just reading this thread - when lockdown started I had some cash but couldn't deposit it at the bank (dirty money - in the sense of bacteria), so local wasp killer came and I offered him cash - purely since I had it, not for a discount - and he just said "Sorry, I don't do that", simple, till I realised what he was meaning, I explained and he was OK with cash - the full amount. Likewise in a previous life, I was offered a bung, simply said "You'd better talk to 'Dave' about that, he is running the job" - sometimes the simple answer is best. "Sorry, no can do, and the price is still this". As for cash being cheaper - I am not sure depositing cash is cheaper - it doesn't save a round trip to the bank Monday to Thursday between 10 and 3, if they decide to open rather than working but sometimes not having to make that trip to get some cash could be good thing (for example my boys like a £10 note pocket money, 1 cash job a year would save me all their pocket money cash machine trips) - I'm not sure it is a cheaper option

I'd measure that is is long enough before you start - be terrible to get half way through, leaving a tree part cut, 12' in the air. Some tree surgeons would see that as an easy pay day and up the price since it needs to be done. The photos to me look like the tree is more than 7' from the flat roof -edge- and you want to be a couple of feet onto the roof to reduce the accident risk of falling off and to do the job without leaning. Appreciating that everything costs money, but if you can hold off till winter you can get a couple of bare root trees - which arn't a lot compared to something more mature in a pot from a gardening store, might be in your budget to take them out and grow 2 new trees - though you'd need to wait a few years to get them as you want but the end result will be more pleasing on the eye.

If you are going to pay someone to do the work it might be cheaper to fell them and buy 2 new trees to replace them than have someone climb up there and reduce their height..

Reading this I am surprised that a dealer would have stock from a year ago still on the shelf - whether the dealer had it in their store or the wholesaler had it in theirs - sounds like tying money up for nothing keeping that much stock? For the OP, all my other machines use the same fuel (OK petrol in my case), mowers, saw, hedge trimmers, and so on, so it all gets used up reasonably quickly (the mowers work OK with 2 stroke mix, and all the others need it, I just use the same) - might be something to consider Yes, be interesting to see the differences between fuels and cans see what makes a difference

I'm a bit far for him but a load of cherry blossom and I'd take the brash as well - worth sending a note around them and say it's all or nothing if you want it - bet he'd get someone soon enough

Look in the tip sites - link above