In Zimbabwe it used to be more expensive for longer lengths (purely because it is more difficult to get long lengths out out a tree). I noticed however in Wickes the other day that the longer the length the cheaper it is??!! Try the Wickes website for timber sizes and prices, they deliver now too.

Out of habit I always bought my timber either from TP or one of two timber merchants and never gave a thought to the growing pile of offcuts under the bench until I was forced to have the occasional clearout and saw it all down for kindling, giving most of it away. But then I 'discovered' B&Q!

The problem with buying from the merchants is that the lengths are variable and you're sometimes stuck with the "offcut less than 2.1 M" therefore you've got to have the full length whether you want it or not. All I can say is that since buying from B&Q, with their choice of stock lengths, the level of offcuts has fallen to negligible, with resultant savings. I get ALL my softwood from B&Q (sawn, treated and PAR), with the exception of sections like 10 x 8 up, not least because they're open 7 days a week from 7 'til 8 (weekdays) and will deliver, so downtime when I could be earning is no longer an issue so that's another financial plus.

Sorry if I sound like a plugger for B&Q but they aren't given enough consideration by the trades. Although having said that, most of the guys I know now get their stuff from there rather than the robbing sods at Jewsons because they can make the trip on a Sunday morning!

Thanks for the advice.  Got some more questions about WBP Plywood....

How waterproof is it?  It's likely to take be some time to build my outbuilding - it's been 11 months so far getting PP and building the foundations! It will have an initial skin of WBP before being weather boarded. The WBP could end up exposed for some months if I get delayed getting the tiled roof on etc. Is it likely to delaminate on me if it gets rained on or is it really "waterproof"?

Is there much difference between makes of WBP? I see some places advertise "Elliots WBP", "Chineese WBP", "Spruce WBP" at prices between £18 and £40 a sheet for same 12mm thickness. I need about 15 sheets so huge difference in total cost. Is it a case of you get what you pay for or is it all much the same?

you dont need expensive ply if its coverd you pay extra for the finnished layer just ask for exteriour ply

you ply should be fine with several cycles of wet and dry over several months becase its vertical and will be protected by the roof overhang

if its fully exposed without a roof i would temporeralily put a tarpaulen on the roof to give a dry area

Joiner, what are the lengths that B&Q keep in 47x 100?  Also, do you know what their price per metre is?  Is it tanalised do you know?

It would be interesting to compare prices with my Jewson/Brewer accounts.

Do they keep other sizes of carcassing timber or is it just 47 x 100?

I find ply very variable, there is a load of crap about and it can be hard to spot sometimes, that is until it starts to delaminate!

If it is exposed I'd cover it with a DPM.

How about using OSB? Probably work out cheaper

i have always found the european sourced ply to be completely cr4p!!!

the far eastern /Canadian stuff outlasts it by miles....

I wish I hadn't said anything about Kidderminster B&Q now, everyone will be after their timber from there and I'll be left with all the crap.

Pervert. You'll be offering me sweets next!

The correct name for wibbly wobbly timber is 'propeller'.  That's what we get delivered when our account is overdue.  

As I was rained off today I decided to do some preparatory work done on a job I'm starting next week and so had some time to spare. I decided to do a little ad hoc survey.

I decided on (ex) 8" x 1" board as the one probably most affected by distortion. I decided to check ten boards, the first I came to in each rack. I went to Travis Perkins, Tippers and B&Q.

Ratio was of bad to good...

TP  5:10

Tippers  6:10

B&Q  3:10

I'll stick with B&Q. You guys go where you like.

Yeah, the whole issue is one that's bound to pull up differences of opinion, depending on each individual's experience.

Idigbo is another contentious area. My experience of the stuff has been horrendous. Last year I walked away from a £16K barn conversion job (all the doors, windows and staircases) because they insisted on idigbo. It is bloody awful stuff. Talk about bananas!

My son asked me to make a large door for a property he was working on. The estate manager had been told about idigbo and insisted that's what it should be made of, rather than oak. Having usually worked with just British hardwoods, I thought 'Well, why not try a tropical?' Seemed fine enough. I cut it all down to rough section size, planed it all-round to finish size and left the sections for machining the following day, all laid out on the bench. I couldn't believe what I came back to the next morning. It was twisted BOTH ways. I had £88-worth of firewood. That's the only good thing going for idigbo - it's cheap.

I was subsequently asked to do one of those large glazed areas on a barn conversion and the customer wanted idigbo. After that last experience I insisted they supply the timber. I gave them two 3.5 metre lengths of 100 x 50 to replace, again, bent BOTH ways. That stuff hadn't been machined and so the timber merchant had it back, after an argument. It had been laid on sticks in my wood loft for just a week.

Mention idigbo to me now and you won't see me for sawdust!

Yet there are guys out there who swear by the stuff.

There's a postscript to that door story. Having told my son to tell that estate manager where to put idigbo the job was given to a local joiner (incidentally, I'm in Shropshire, the door was going to an estate in Devon) who apparently called me a prat for refusing to do it in idigbo. Guess what happened?

Keep it like that Zam, it's not worth the doubtful savings.

Nah, it's what Jake's middle leg was made of though!