Home DIY

there's a proper wooden (I suppose elm) board underneath, and judging by the way it's coming up it's just been glued down.

It's thin decorative wood glued to a substrate therefore it's a veneer.

Fair enough!

Pretty impressive how the seller managed to conceal that in all the photos.

Out of morbid curiosity do you have link to the listing?

If you look at the underside of the table do the boards line up with what's on the top?

It's interesting; someone has gone to a lot of effort to make it look like a breadboard construction table top. If the substrate is solid elm then the effort that has gone into the construction probably cost more for a less durable product than if they'd actually made a breadboard table top from solid elm!

I'd go with Bobbo's suggestion - glue and clamping, vacuum bag would be ideal.

The issue with that is that I can't imagine the wood is ever going to be properly straight again regardless of any clamping.

Wouldn't it be better to get some reclaimed elm cut to size and reglue? I'm planning on refinishing the rest of the table anyway

Sorry, the cushions. Looking for something similar.

You could... or you could just make a new table. Elm isn’t that easy to come by. English Woodland Timber have it sometimes but it’s pricey.

Send it back FFS

This.

Yeah. A better solution.

Link to listing!

Can't send it back, was done off eBay (tut tut). Got it cheap but maybe the gamble didn't pay off this time.

Cut the fucker up and feed it to your log burning stove in the winter

CSB/ this is basically my folks' awning when I was a kid (80s South of France) / CSB

@Bainbridge could you get the planks out and pit a few long cuts in the back of the board about 50% in depth? You could maybe do it from the underside with a dremel?
Once the back is cut you glue and pin down and then refinish.

My concrete fence posts are falling apart, are there any products I can use to patch them up?

I was going to try pva'ing them and putting some sand/cement in but I think it would fall out?

Pics not uploading, the concrete has blown all the way back to the rusting steel rebar.

Like you're doing with your staircase?

Yep

There are specialist products for such 'full depth' concrete repairs, but they rely upon removing the rust from the rebar and application of zinc-rich paint to reduce further rusting.
In all probability the remaining concrete is essentially porous to both moisture and CO2.
How long are you staying in the property?

We should get some marshmallows

@mespilus, I thought as much. I'm Intending to stay here however not sure I'm up replacing them at the moment. Is it worth de-rusting, painting and the filling? Cheers

awning when I was a kid (80s South of France)

Yeah I think these are from the 80s. You can still get the exact same fabric, different colour stripes available. I quite like it. If we were to buy new ones I'd go all meta OCD trying to find the right tone to go with the brickwork etc, it's better to keep patching up these filthy old things.

In terms of fabric I can highly recommend the Sunbrella stuff, eerily UV resistant acrylic.
I made a bunch of curtains for our three season front porch many (20?) years ago, no obvious fading yet.

These are the kind of products you will need:
https://fosroc.com/product/show/galvafroid
https://fosroc.com/product/show/renderoc-patch

I've no idea if Fosroc's distribuotrs are 'pro-sumer' friendly at the moment,
but,
as the Economy is in a hole they may well be more amenable.

This kind of stuff looks pricy,
but,
replacing the concrete fence posts is a tough job,
(about a year ago a price of £90 per post was quoted on here for London),
and if you are doing it yourself it would be easier to cut the existing posts
flush with their concrete surrounds,
and,
start with a half panel,
and dig new holes,
or you'll be getting through 2 or 3 bags of Post-mix per re-used hole.

Note; Renderoc or its equivalent works best onto roughened concrete to give it a key,
so no running an angle grinder along the spalled concrete to give a wonderfully smooth edge.

I think you can...eBay is still covered by the distance selling laws