Baldbloke

I didn’t know woodworm loves Elm, but would be treating it anyway. Thanks for the heads up! I will post pictures but it may be later this summer as I have the house to re harl and to redo the driveway

Where are you are based Graham?

This Elm appears pretty sound. The maul is sitting in a lump of Elm which has had some serious abuse over the last month

Hi Graham, That’s good of you! Extraction is tricky and time consuming as my wood is on a hill and it’s not clearfell. My steading roof is hipped and the ends of the trusses do not sit on a wallplate but are built into the wall-and so probably too complicated to manufacture off site. I’m envisaging a lot of Acrojacks and piecemeal replacement. Here is some of the same wood. It appears 100% sound. The existing trusses are largely made up of trunks split in half. I’m hoping to emulate that for the replacements.

Sorry, what is graded?

Dutch Elm disease. I’ve cut about 90 cubes of this Elm already as firewood. The only suspect areas I have seen so far have been at some of the larger butts for up to a couple of foot from the base where some of the butts are pumped. The smaller trees don’t appear to have this rot in the centre of the trunk at their bases. It was really the weight issue for handling as these trusses would be replacing the originals made from half trunks of softwood. The wood appears very elastic and strong with no apparent boring or rot. The trees that are completely dead are without bark and very hard. They are still standing, mostly as single straight trunks up to 60/70 foot high. I’ll just have to be careful in dropping them as they can break on hitting the ground. The best way appears to be to intentionally hang them up and then drag them off gently from the butt so they don’t hit the ground so hard. I’ll try and get down to the wood to post some pictures

Just over 40 miles to Dunfail. May just use that idea and run the trunks to a more local sawmill

I'll have to look into that, but think that service /hire option might not easily be found up here

Hi People, Milling would be a new venture for me as firewood and logging has been my main thing until now. I have access to standing dead elm which I'm hoping I will be able to use for trusses for a small steading (traditional Scottish farm building). The appeal in using the Elm is that I'm hoping it will need little or no drying as it seems (away from the butt) to be at around a 15% moisture content on dropping. I'd like to replicate the size and style of the existing trusses that need replaced. These are a maximum of 14' with a cross section in the region of 8" X 5". The quality of the finish does not have to be that great as long as the integrity of the wood remains sound. My questions are: Is Elm a suitable (if heavy) wood for trusses? I do appreciate that some nails may have a hard time going into this wood. Am I being unrealistic thinking that buying one of the cheaper mills and using one of my straight aluminium ladders, that I could do a run of perhaps 60 trusses? If so, which mill would you recommend, as this may be a one off job, and price is a consideration? Most of the elm I'd hope to use are not that big in diameter, but are straight as they have grown in a crowded wood. Would my largest saw (a 70cc 365 Husky) with say a 20" bar be up to the job, or do I need to lay out the cash for something bigger such as a second hand MS660? Many of the trunk lengths appear (to novice me) as ideal as they run at 8/10" diameter, so I'm hoping could be cut straight down the middle for two usable lengths. Cheers!

Moray, Scotland. I’ll have a look at the settings when I get near a computer to update my profile[emoji1303]

In another three weeks up here perhaps [emoji3]

We find that during warmer weather a fire once every three days is sufficient to keep the three bathrooms warm for mornings and nights

David, with that relatively small accumulator do you find that you can easily over fire the tank? Even with our 4000 ltr tank I find I’m on occasion putting in more wood than is needed, so can waste wood

How has everyone else got on with their installations, and are you happy with the result?

I will respond here when I get their reply[emoji1303]

I have just fired off an email to [email protected] asking whether I can now apply for the RHI tariff. They promise a response within 10 days. If the recent changes allow me to apply I'll be owing you a drink

At 59 I have never been in a gym but I have worked most of my life outside in either agriculture, woodland or keepering. I have had ACL repairs to both knees, slipped disc and am presently waiting for a new hip. Although I'm told I look fit, I'm generally pretty knackered. The people who determine when you will eventually be allowed to start collecting your pension will probably have never lifted more than briefcase, and probably only get in a sweat when having a w***. Look after yourselves guys as age and aches creep up pretty quickly when you have worked outside all your life.

You are absolutely correct in that I have not included the cost of the wood or my time for the processing. I enjoy the cutting and the processing keeps me a bit fitter. The two lorry loads I previously purchased from the Forestry Commission (2015/16) came to £410 and £423. There was supposedly around 22 tonnes on board each time. Delivery by haulier cost a further £250 and £270. My oil bills were up to £4.5k a year including running an Aga. Oil for the Aga still runs at approximately £1000 to £1200/ year. Think you are wrong as I complained (in 2014) to various bodies (DECC, RECC MCS) after a retrospective consultation limited boiler size for domestic consumers to 45 kw. This was immediately after I had the boiler installed. Absolutely crazy that the biggest houses (and therefore the biggest users of heating oil ) should be excluded from a subsidy payment. My mistake was getting in too early before they had got the detail finalised. Which is why (in a strop) I stuck up a wind turbine which not only pays better subsidies, but also helps to power immersions in my thermal store. Don't believe that's true unfortunately even though it makes perfect sense. The letter I got from the DECC specifically says for domestic use that the boiler size limit is 45 kw. Since they stated I was a Domestic Consumer it did allow me to bypass a lot of bollocks and have the reassurance of consumer status for accessing the wind turbine subsidy tax free, as well as only having to pay 5% VAT on the whole installation. What is really stupid is that one is actually allowed a 45 kw log or wood chip boiler alongside an additional oil boiler and are still able to access the domestic RHI. Commercial RHI is not so limited for Wattage but does requires meterage. However if you are correct and can guide me to the correct legislation I'll be due you a pint!

Yes. Beech Lime Elm Beech Beech The big trees were probably planted at around the same time the present manse was built (4th house on site supposedly). Third picture down is the last elm in the area which is dying from the beetle. Shame the large beech blew over. An unusually strong summer east wind and shallow roots abutting the driveway didn't help. No amount of pulling would bring it back upright....

For two years I bought pulp type wood from the forestry commision until getting my act together so have a fair idea. With soft wood I would say about 30 tonnes or just over considering the weighbridge says a wood lorry load of unseasoned wood is around the 20-24 tonne mark. Our place is quite big (7 bed, x two living rooms etc) I'm presently using dead elm and recon on about 20ish cubes a year. However this year as spring has yet to spring probably more. For a 3 bed house older house you'd probably get away with a 30-45 kw boiler and smaller thermal store. With that size you would also get the domestic subsidy payments so might be worth considering. The boilers themselves are quite efficient compared to say an open fire or a log burner that only heats locally. Ours was 24k and took a team of two 5 days to install. Since 2013 it has effectively already paid for itself when I look at the old oil bills.

Although everyone appears to cut here I’ve not seen much mention of people using their own firewood. Thought I’d post a picture of our 60kw boiler and thermal store. Do you have something similar and how do you rate it? Ours has been in since 2013 and has so far been trouble free. This doesn’t qualify for any subsidy as it’s supposedly too large for domestic use, and I already claim domestic consumer status to claim tax free subsidy for a 20kw wind turbine. This plant keeps our largish house cosy through the winter with one fire a day, and only needs fired up once every three days through a decent summer. Before this we had a large log burner in the house that burnt almost as many logs without the benefit of heating much of the house.

With that quantity would it be worth getting it under cover, drying it and selling it on to the renewables sector?

And the law has changed on buying rat poison[emoji1304] You can only buy it in smaller quantities and at half the strength.

+ 1 for the Fenn traps but make sure you keep skin contact with the trap to a minimum. Crafty bastards appear to be able to sense that traps are not conducive to a long life. My Fenns are kept outside and I only set them using gloves I use for handling wood. Avoid poison in the house as they find the most awkward and inaccessible places to snuff it. Almost had to move out of a house following that mistake. Place your trap in a tunnel/pipe for best results (ensuring trap can spring freely within that tunnel) and place tunnel up against a wall. Make sure trap doesn't rock or stick up too much above ground. They tend to follow walls and generally avoid crossing open spaces.