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Should I plane my own Cladding/decking ?


Tin Soldier

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Hi there,

 

I'm looking at board on board Siberian larch cladding for my house, I need approximately 500linear metres

I was also looking at smooth English Larch for decking as I cant afford hardwood, and dislike grooved softwood treated decking, again circa 500 linear metres.

 

for the cladding itself I can save approximately £600 by buying Kiln dried Larch board, approx. 25 x 150 and probably the same again if I bought 32x 150 larch boards for decking

£500 for a planer/thicknesser of decent enough quality so a small saving on planning my own cladding, but a bigger saving if I do decking too

 

Is it worth the effort, are there any risks, is it too much work to plane my own wood?

 

any advice much appreciated

 

 

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How much time have you got on your hands? How much is your time worth? In other words, can you earn more doing your job than it will cost to get someone else to do it for you?

 

If you are a control freak, or have OCD, then doing it yourself may outweigh the earn vs. cost equation of course ?

 

Personally, I love a good new power tool and would just not consider the equation at all ?

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I once planed all the wood fir a conservatory I built, I bought a little used thicknesses planer on Ebay, I worked out that it was about the same price but I would end up with the machine (which I still have and love using) it is good to have a machine that can thickness to exactly what you require for various jobs. It is a LOT of work tho ?

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Once set up (depending on make) they are not difficult to use, should self feed, it’s just carrying the boards to and from, you will need some adjustable rollers at both ends , first ones I found on EBay.  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-X-METAL-ROLLER-STANDS-REST-WOODWORKING-27-47-ADJUSTABLE-STURDY-WOOD/222252156762?hash=item33bf42c75a&enc=AQADAAADAFjVrDbVsZ8oH%2F8PNHtt9VX4%2Fw7FZcmMuqsX8uaFEduVNwcceV8%2BUJsc1LN8uV5AjIum5woZFgAeh5U%2Fq0h2UcvbzdVsAJJtYT3rqZIY%2Bi9pt8y4wZHcdfXG7RiUHcc8BAf1aYSowBVXVA60%2FpJzolwrcx5MAMoxI7eVJSuIhm5yfrz26foTqC0Ft24BW%2FKo6AgZMSyA%2Fee%2B%2FhW%2Fyiau%2F9CNakjBp%2BTc7U6BV11U5c34Wvqs1dEuzs6j%2FKzu5HyD1eVWdGXJrOKJb%2FileUD9QUGmD%2FSg5cFsCRvYO5EQiuwmJCbFnHIqTKVkOc4EWDjCEEmchYvmiErMyb3ZZVA%2FLRqEecpOaM1J5dNFyf%2FAZvBLqftgFPA8MgTrgaFa%2BwdiCIxLnj32O1fJ3ag%2BL2ioH0vLNe1%2BoLr22BYPt6n8LfMSL2qvQcCmO7e74Jn%2FPOH1r3AA1LVpxV8EDP4vtcO6G7SC882w47dBDG5bI4s2HcsS5oFAdoSXnmik%2Fo3ncj0v9xP9r9H6NlM%2BYfVjMf7W25Y%2FqDxsiQI8H50NbHz5iuEa4GQPppMYkEFj9JwSQS7gkQz9uTLgQNZZYZq297QQQhVZczvkgeY9EfOFmanO%2FsrPL9ykv%2FMpO7hH4pCHqOgNExYF2H8V5rbtHV4%2FegSL5NYifol2BPB%2B9wWfM7xN%2FobUpSRvZbDLvv9M8oDKxKJFbJwB0glNVEWAhGNMCxFMZpMPmI1wptPyisL%2BgkD%2BjPVL3yctjDruECxBj%2B86SrqxV4Sl%2Bh00ea0eKvpgp6y8EA3zwi9a5pJFBIHA9R%2BAZbzWNruaH1vSjSceGlxhekiqdw01U8ewaDc3fXbxEDP6zU%2FV%2FvBZHos99XKwgQy7lH96L39eVb69hET7gk9W2oCbboFbK%2FILRMtp9PVEkST%2FIVOWVsxDDLykbqv0zO0W4OTJQGwF0sLak5zqWeU9pAs2f3BaK2ETOW%2BMoWKB9SBVOpmPCkI8KXmL%2Fqr3cjP%2Bb8rIaxGwBe6UJqbj%2F9%2Bqy7kimw%3D%3D&checksum=2222521567628ad65c1238b045e2803a1413dc5ffa5d

 

Wow, where did all that come from ?

Edited by joe90
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I'm all for DIY and buying tools but just to be realistic about things. That's 500m x 4 sides.

You'll enjoy it for the first few hours. Accept it for the rest of the day and however long it takes you after that you'll begrudge it. Especially if you somehow randomly get a nick in your blade (which happens by magic most of the time) 

 

Don't get me wrong it'll be an achievement and I'm sure you'll be happy with what you've done but I wouldn't reccomend it as a cost saving exercise. 

 

Iv machined a fair amount of timber and it soon looses its novelty. 

 

My 2 cents. 

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Seperating the cladding from the decking its 500 lm or 125 planks or so

Its apparently regularised though obviously thats only known for sure once it arrives

 

4 passes per plank, I'm assuming 1 on each side? 

 

Board on board I'm guessing would only need the face side of one layer, and face and sides of top layer boards to be planed... 

 

or does it all have to be planed to ensure regularity? 

 

Are we talking days or weeks to get this all done, with help to lug, position and stack planks 

 

Adding the decking into the equation it would mean not only a cost saving but the decking quality would go up from English larch to siberian

 

I have to be realistic though

Edited by Tin Soldier
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Technically it should be 4 passes per board (every side). But if its board on board and its already regularised you could probably get away with 3 passes (front and sides) on your front boards and only a single pass on the face of your back boards. (I will secretly judge you but I would probably do the same) 

 

Tbh if you have an efficient setup e.g no long walks and plenty of stacking space it's a good day's work for 2 people depending on the feed speed of your thicknesses. 2 days at the very worst. 

 

Depending on the size of the board and assuming you have 2 people you can feed more than 1 plank at a time. Staggered but technically you'll have "3" boards in the machine at a time

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1 hour ago, joe90 said:

Once set up (depending on make) they are not difficult to use, should self feed, it’s just carrying the boards to and from, you will need some adjustable rollers at both ends , first ones I found on EBay.  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-X-METAL-ROLLER-STANDS-REST-WOODWORKING-27-47-ADJUSTABLE-STURDY-WOOD/222252156762?

 

Wow, where did all that come from ?

 

Delete everything after the "?"

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Just now, Tin Soldier said:

Sounds like your giving a thumbs up ?

 

If you've never prepared timber before and would like to end up with a thicknesser this is the ideal job for you. 

 

I just usually try to be realistic about what should be DIY and what shouldn't. You sound like you want to have a go anyway so what's the worst that can happen. You resell a second hand thicknesser employ a joiner with a portable thicknesser. I doubt you'll lose much either way 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Is it necessary to put cladding timber over the top of the planer? If it were me and the stock was relatively flat I'd machine it all underneath the thicknesser to required thickness ie 30 odd mm then just square the edge over the top then back to underneath thicknesser. 

Or have I got wrong end of stick?

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On 19/07/2019 at 14:59, Tin Soldier said:

I've gone with it = 900lm of 32x150 Siberian larch on route to make up some board on board cladding and decking

 

metabo hc260c planer/thicknesser enroute too.

 

Good for you, I would not be without mine nowadays, (very similar to yours) take time setting it up meticulously (this will take a bit of time) and it will be well worth it, if only the feel good factor of doing it yourself. Enjoy ?

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interesting topic, we will have a LOT of western red ceder cladding and TBC decking when we get to that stage.  WHat i dont quite understand is the dif in the planned timber and just kiln dried.  Can someone point me at a stockist so i can understand the price / spec difference?  ta

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4 minutes ago, redtop said:

interesting topic, we will have a LOT of western red ceder cladding and TBC decking when we get to that stage.  WHat i dont quite understand is the dif in the planned timber and just kiln dried.  Can someone point me at a stockist so i can understand the price / spec difference?  ta

 

Try https://www.vastern.co.uk/prices/

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so for me the difference was enough to get me a 'free' planer thicknesser as in I'll keep it.

Below is an example of siberian larch for 450 linear metres,  top one is planed cost (note the difference in thickness)

 

Board on Board 21*146 b grade 3.864 1738.8
32x150 Siberian Larch Sawn 3.144 1414.8

 

I actually ended up buying 900 lm, (and got a discount for bulk order), so that I use the same material for cladding and decking, smooth siberian larch

 

 

Edited by Tin Soldier
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