polystyrene posts

[Bill]

Maybe helpful?

Bill

[sooty1]

can anyone tell me where I can get garden posts (suitable for pergola) made from recycled polystyrene ? they are very rustic looking, and look more like the real thing than the real thing if you know what I mean ! they were featured in Geoff Hamiltons video 'Cottage Gardens' several years ago. I like them because they are lightweight, easy to cut and maintain, and very good if you don't have a burly labourer around to make things out of timber !

I've tried numerous searches but have come up with nothing, also visited dozens of garden centres and am beginning to think they are not being made anymore, which is a shame.

[paghat]

pergola)made from recycled polystyrene ? they are very rustic looking, andlook more like the real thing than the real thing if you know what Imean ! they were featured in Geoff Hamiltons video 'Cottage Gardens'several years ago. I like them because they are lightweight, easy tocut and maintain, and very good if you don't have a burly laboureraround to make things out of timber !

dozens of garden centres and am beginning to think they are notbeing made anymore, which is a shame.-- sooty1

I suspect googling failed you because you should've used polyethylene, not polystyrene, as a key word, or search for building materials +HDPE and you should get lots. A very few companies add a small amount of recycled polystyrene which does add greater strength, but I don't think any manufacture uses more PS than they do HDPE and sawdust. Products with PS have a higher chemical hazard rating than HDPE (which is a rating for the whole process of manufacturing impact on environment; the finished products are by and large safe, though not so safe the materials could legally be used for food packaging).

I looked into it as garage material to see if a building sitting on a periodically flooded tarmak wouldn't be better than wood as it wouldn't rot, but turns out it also wouldn't bare much weight and a garage was too big for construction purposes.

Plastic lumber may have looked "real" to you on fuzzy video but not so much in real life. Long stretches of it without bracing warps easily, a pergola with the weight baring down on upright plastic beams will probably bend them in time. At best they look like discount plastic doors at Lowes, the kind of plastic tricked out with wood rings printed on the surface. If that stuff appeals then so will the plastic boards, but it won't really pass for wood. They do have a wood content, they're made mainly out of recycled milk bottles and sawdust, competing with pres-to-log for mill waste.

There are many "brand name" providers of this stuff. The ones that got highest environmental ratings are Rhino, Fiberon, Trex, Maxituf, Perma-Deck, Enviro-Curb,Breezewood, Bear Board, Ameriwood, EcoTech, Orcaboard, Bedford Select, Plasboard, and Plasteak. There are maybe fifty additional companies which are rated poorly because of using unrecyclable resins or only a very small percentage of recycled material.

But even the higher rated plastic lumber is rarely more than half recycled material. The "carbon footprint" is much bigger getting this to market than for wood products by far. But it does for a while keep the crap out of landfills. For future recycling purposes a lot of it won't be easy to recycle at all; the type with stronger multiple resins in the mix may never be recyclable for any purpose, though who knows what future technology might do. Realistically no construction is permanent so when it comes down in the future it will be landfill after all. The environmentalism angle is often just a sales pitch and an equally good one can be trumped up for wood.

Plastic lumber is mostly recommended for decks and small construction because not strong enough for housing, garages, or barns. A pergola may be stretching it because most pergola designs will leave long lengths of the stuff holding weight. Even for a deck, the floors need redundant bracing or they'll sag. For starters on pricing and types, check out valleyuse.com or plasticlumberyard.com or american-plasticlumber.com (or google for a vendor closer to home) if you're convinced you'll like it. But I wouldn't get it shipped from afar sight unseen, as you might not like it nearly as much close-up as you did on fuzzy video.

-paghat the ratgirl

[sooty1]

Thank you both for your replies - 'highwood' seem to have just the rustic poles I had in mind, I've requested further information. - paghat - I'm looking into all the info you sent, thank you very much for taking the time. I'm not so concerned about the look of it as it will eventally be covered in climbers, my main concern is that I can saw and construct it myself as it is so lightweight.

Thanks both aga> ;783513']> -