I have acquired two old(ish) garden benches which have cast iron endsin reasonable condition but rotten wooden slats. I had intended torepaint the ends and replace the slats with hardwood, however mypartner spotted Homebase were selling new benches for only £30 each.The Homebase bench is shown here: bench ends are more attractive but those on the Homebase benchesare just about good enough. I already have some dark blue metal paintand they should come up well with a couple of coats of this. So the question is, can I obtain new hardwood slats and fixings forless than £30 per bench, or do I just give up and buy two new benchesfrom Homebase?If I buy slats, what combination of type of timber and preservative(or paint) would be best, taking into account its strength, resistanceto rot and appearance?

What would give you more satisfaction, bringing the old benches back into active use, or buying and assembling a couple of benches from a shop?If you decide not to attempt to renovate the old benches, can I suggest you see there are any local projects that would be interested in taking them on - something like that can be used for helping 'naughty boys' get back on the straight and narrow, or sometimes as occupational therapy for people with learning difficulties.

Replacement wooden slats for garden bench?

May 11, 2008 23 Replies

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dd.gilbert9 6 years ago

Top answer ;): I made replacement slats from old barge boards. They are treated so should last a long time. New barge boards cost £6 from Wickes and you can mak e four 4-foot slats from each.

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tabbypurr 6 years ago

d last a long time. New barge boards cost £6 from Wickes and you can m ake four 4-foot slats from each.

Could be a top answer if posted 12 years ago when the question was asked. Use google groups to get here rather than that mad website you're on and yo u won't have these problems.

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F Murtz 6 years ago

.are they not just bits of wood ,what's this kit business, this is DIY

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brian.stapelkamp 5 years ago

Hi, My 5 cents worth. I use upcycled wood from pallets. Care must be taken to s elect know free lengths, but the length of an E pallet is 1.2 meters, perfe ct length. I have done 3 Benches, all of them look great. The pallets that are ideal are ones from oil companies. The ones that are used to deliver 4 x 44 gal Drums of engine oil to garages.

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