pulling up decking

burn the fecking stuff.

You need to bear in mind that (tanalised) decking timber may contain arsenic so even burning it outside could be problematic.

Here's someone who campaigns on the issue :-

I agree, it is the outdoor equivalent of laminate flooring :oP (which i have in my kitchen btw!!!)

Onlt for teh neighbours. F*ck teh neigbours, DIE DIE DIE!!

Oh get a life.

Burn that too.

if you're stuck for ideas, don't want to just take it down the tip & you're anywhere near Richmond-upon-Thames then I'll take a load off your hands! It makes good raised beds for the allotment.... (& the allotment creed is "reuse - don't buy new materials!").

arsenic falavoured spuds - yum ;-)

so what's the alternative when your new extension has a 4 foot drop onto a sloping garden ?

I agree it can be a bit "suburban" when overdone, but it CAN be quite handy.

Some people reserve this level of prejudice for IKEA - which I find similarly bizarre

confused of Bristol

brugnospamsia wrote:

Brick wall and backfill with hardcore and topsoil, and use as croquet lawn.

As here..

Crap by any other name is still crap.

that your house then ?

here's mine ;-)

Sounds an ideal location for an adult-sized slide with a small treehouse underneath. If you put a swimming pool in the garden you could add flumes.

Owain

Hi,

Sounds like there is a bit of algae on it, a gentle pressure wash or some decking cleaner will make a big difference. Also some decking stain would help it lose the green colour and make it a nice deep colour.

cheers, Pete.

brugnospamsia wrote;

similarly bizarre

Only good thing Two Jags ever did for Stockport - banned them building an Ikea there !

I joined in with the young folks on the M32 roundabout in Bristol about five years ago protesting about IKEA - even though I couldn't wait for it to open myself - but left quietly when I heard the rave wagon had been stopped by the police ... I have to say as a 40 year old fogey I was slightly intimidated by the police dogs especially when it dawned on me that they might also be the sort of dog that could smell the "hand-rolled cigarette" in my pocket ;-)

As it was, I discreetly disposed of the afore-mentioned item and left, tipping my hat to the Kevlar armoured policemen little more than half my age and they were similarly respectful in return :-)

They probably assumed I was a journalist or a social scientist or something so I wasn't in any danger of arrest in any case and hence wasn't very cool at all ;-)

I acknowledge Ikea /is/ annoyingly laid-out and is frequented by a lot of "Sunday Supplement" types, but I'm way too lazy to spend hours fashioning slatted wooden shelves when I can buy a couple of "hat racks" for less than the price of the materials.

As it happens the long-term plans for my house feature no laminate flooring or decking and very little from Ikea, but I still find much of their stuff to be functional rational good design .....

just my 4.8 old pence' worth

BTW I've decided 45 is the new 40 :-)

Actualy a shitload of builders rubble went in there, and crap cement, building sand, hardcore , most of teh original gravel drive and the mud it was mixed with, and, indeed, anything else left over.

Yes.

I'm working up to one of those.

If you are referring to the fact that you shouldn't eat green potatoes then the poison is not arsenic. The poison is actually and alkaloid called solanine. The green is actually chlorophyll but it is a good indication that the potato has produced solanine as well. Solanine is very poisonous but fortunately present in small quantities even in very green potatoes (you could eat a green potato and not die). The, I suppose, positive aspect of solanine is that it is very bitter, as most alkaloids are, so you wouldn't want to eat it anyway. Deep peeling a green potato will remove all the solanine as it is only present in the skin and just below.

As for arsenic, plants will take it up into their leaves and fruit to some extent if there is any in the ground and some plants are better at it than others. However, if there isn't arsenic in the ground then there wont, in fact can't, be any in the plant.

Graham

Potatoes are curious vegetables.

They are ftom te same family as datura, belladonna, and several other members oa a family most of which are deadly poisonous, and used in the manufacture of witches ointment. ;)

I think tomatoes are in the same family.

It is reckoned that potatoes would not pass FDA regulatuions if they ever had to take the test...

I must say - maybe its urban legend that arsenic was what the skins suposedly had.