Snip I was intending to do this on a bench my stepfather made years ago; when I tried making holes for the screws in the bottom of the legs I found that each leg had a copper plate fixed to it. This seems to have prevented the legs rotting. As a barrier it stops moisture wicking up the wood gain and, ISTR copper has fungicidal properties.
You would possibly need use larger sizes than the equivalent in natural wood but a lot would depend on the design of the bench and number of battens. I?ve used the products of this company
for a few tasks and got to under what works and where it needs a bit more thought and as a garden bench that folds out to become a table and two benches rots will be replacing the wood with recycled plastic . Fed up with having to treat it every and its too big to store away, besides it is still nice to sit in the garden as you get the odd bright day even in Winter. Worth reading their product information to see what needs to be considered
A lot of the street name signs around here are mounted on posts of what appears to identical stuff as has quite a lot outdoor furniture such as those combined bench and tables used in pub gardens I have seen in recent years so presumably there are other suppliers.
What I don?t like is when sawing it the saw ?dust? is a bit messy and unlike wood which you are sawing it outside and you miss a bit that has landed on the grass it will disappear into the ground fairly benignly as nature rots it the plastic bits don?t and just get everywhere. So now I place plastic tarpaulin under the workmate to catch it all.
No denying it is more expensive than natural wood but I?m reaching the stage of life that in 10-15years some things like maintenance of garden furniture will be a right chore so I might as well start planning for that now.
GH
My three seat slats are 38 x 19, but there are two supports running front to back between the two rails front and back so they are better supported than just having two ends. I can't detect much flexing even when I stand on them.
T i m submitted this idea :
Any two parts in close contact, will wick water in and make it remain there for some time - which was why I used large and long stainless bolts fitted up the centre of the legs, with their heads rounded into a mushroom. Something similar in plastic, would work even better than steel. The worst possible situation, is a cup or socket shape, into which the leg was fitted, even if designed to drain.
Harry Bloomfield explained :
A purely accidental design feature which I found useful of my bench seat, was its ability to be be lifted at one side and it would sit perfectly stable resting on two legs and the end timbers of the seats. It makes it easy to clean out underneath it, rather than having to physically move the entire bench, to clean under it.
T i m explained :
We bought one of those cheap Chinese bench seats from Aldi around 10 years ago, the ones with cast iron ends, wooden slats. The wood soon rotted out in the weather all the time. Three years ago, I decided to give it a refurb with new wooden slats. I used treated timber from (I think) Do-it-all and galv bolts. It has been fine since and much stronger than new.
Clever solution.
They often had such solutions in the old days huh. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
Depending if the void is already filled with sealant) or not?
I did similar on a wooden garden store but that was mostly for adjustability (I cut slots in the internal ends of the bolts to allow for the adjustment via a screwdriver).
I could print a largish headed plastic 'nail' / peg but it would still need a reasonable area on the end of the leg (or you would have to have the hole depth / peg length set accurately)? Spacer shims / washers in the hole and all held in place with a long recessed screw set up the middle?
Yes, as I stated (again, unless sealed).
Cheers, T i m
And I'm guessing the plastic wouldn't hold water like real wood would?
Interesting, thanks.
If it turns out more flexible than the equivalent section wood, maybe I could just make it a single seater?
Noted.
Yup, I've done quite a bit of woodwork in the garden and as you say, any bits that get away seem to vanish pretty quickly.
I guess one of the negatives is we then have more 'plastic waste' in the environment but at least you still have the bulk of the recycled plastic bound up in the garden bench and for a long time and with no additional chemicals required etc.
Quite. Thanks for that. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
So only under / between the base slats, not going down to the ground?
What about when 3 people are sitting on it?
Cheers, T i m
In message , Harry Bloomfield writes
Probably not suitable for portable seating but, slotting the upright and bolting through to secure a right angle bracket, preferably galvanised or stainless steel, gives a neat way of standing the timber off the surface.
Our softwood pergola is approaching 15 years with no sign of footrot:-)
Not to the ground.
Don't know, I don't sit on it with two others. Nothing noticeable happens with two.
The stuff is as strong as wood but it appears to flex less.
Ok.
Ok. ;-)
Fairymuff.
Oh, I would have thought it would flex more than wood would so that's good to hear.
Apparently it has a fairly high coefficient of expansion so maybe a 2 seater could be a 3 seater in the summer. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
That's what I was given a while back and is now mostly in bits.
Ok.
Ok.
Are we supposed to be in contact with (sitting on with bare legs etc) treated timber though? I thought this was why we only oiled of left wood au-natural for such furniture?
I think these things (especially 'cheap' these things) often use the lightest gauge materials they can get away with and so can generally be 'improved' (strength wise, if not atheistically) by the use of slightly larger gauge materials.
Cheers, T i m
I can't bring myself to get a plastic one. It just seems wrong.
Recycled plastic (planks) looks attractive but the bits I have tried so far are too brittle for normal hardwood replacement.
>
I saw some plastic furniture at the Chelsea Flower show, they were such good 'fakes' that, but for the sign etc, it would have been hard to tell. I don't think they were cheap but the quality was very good and they were claimed to be UV safe etc. Until you tried to lift one, they were quite light but not flimsy by any means, you would think they were teak etc.
While our current garden furniture is still more than fine, when it does need replacing, they will be in the running.
The type of material I have used doesn?t seem much lighter than the equivalent in timber though I haven?t actually weighed it length for length. It is a dense dark brown coloured material with an artificial ?grain? on the surface. now I have got used to recognising it I see it is now used in all sorts of places where the fit and forget ability rather than sending a team around to to repair or treat wood components every couple of years or so outweighs the higher initial cost. The road name in the village here must have been on posts of such material for several years before I twigged they were not real wood.
Perhaps that is an indication of a good type of material being chosen, just ?plastic wood or recycled plastic? covers too broad a spectrum without further investigation.
FWIW. my initial,use of the materials was for a rot proof garden railway support. The structural members. Are the heavy duty dense dark brown material , the boarding is planks of greyish material which does need reasonable support to stop it flexing. This has a higher proportion of recycled material in it sandwiched between two smooth layers. Nice material to screw or nail into but just occasionally there is a small void pocket where the coarser bits that make up the filling haven?t quite come together.
GH
I didn't weigh the chairs etc, I just lifted one (a two seater) and it seemed light compared to another wooden (I think teak or teak like) I'd looked at shortly before.
I don't know if these were recycled plastic or not. Rather stupidly, I either didn't pick up a leaflet or misplaced it. I've skimmed the RHS mag but can't see an advert.
I don't pretend to be a huge fan of fake wood but these were convincing. Unlike uVPC, which has a skin 'printed' with a fake grain. This seemed to have a grain in the structure,just enough to give the look of real wood.
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