If you have a deck you are replacing, rather than sending it to the landfill make a usable composter.

My original deck was cedar, I cut the boards into 4' sections, than stacked them on top of each other and clamped them together, you than lay the clamped boards down with the narrow side up. Take a circular saw and put 2... 1 inch deep cuts 2 inches apart and approx 2-3 inches from the end of the board, after making the 2 cuts on both ends you can easily knock out he notches with a hammer. When you are done the boards should look like a Lincoln log, you can stack them as high or low that you want. Works great and lasts a long time, plus the old lumber is not being sent to a landfill.



posted before, figured it would be better in this forum.

Those would certainly be some nice sturdy bins, Rj !

VERY nice! Would probably make really nice raised beds too. That is, as long as they haven't been pressured treated with anything toxic. I think construction wood was once treated with arsenic.

Certainly looks beautiful too.

Did you see the post in the NARR?

I absolutely love this. Even though you said it has been posted before, I never saw it.
Thank you for including it here in the new forum.

I learned how to cut the notches with the circular saw, knock them out with a hammer, then clean the space with a chisel. Nice and neat.

A few years ago I 'rescued' some lumber that had been someone's deck surface. Not knowing the history of the lumber I made raised beds to be used only for flowers; not for food.

Here is the stack of raised beds that I made using that old deck lumber (with my dog Jack inside doing an inspection):


Here are the beds in place before filling with soil and plants:


And now, thanks to you, I will use the same wood to make the compost bins.

greene said:
I absolutely love this. Even though you said it has been posted before, I never saw it.
Thank you for including it here in the new forum.

I learned how to cut the notches with the circular saw, knock them out with a hammer, then clean the space with a chisel. Nice and neat.

A few years ago I 'rescued' some lumber that had been someone's deck surface. Not knowing the history of the lumber I made raised beds to be used only for flowers; not for food.

Here is the stack of raised beds that I made using that old deck lumber (with my dog Jack inside doing an inspection):


Here are the beds in place before filling with soil and plants:


And now, thanks to you, I will use the same wood to make the compost bins.

Wow, @greene, these are beautiful. Jack seems to be saying, "Ahhhh, how nice of my mommy to build a doghouse for me!"

joannakat said:... wood was once treated with arsenic.

Since 2004 the pressure treated wood no longer contains arsenic.

greene said:

Since 2004 the pressure treated wood no longer contains arsenic.

Right, so you just need to do what you did if you're unsure of the history. Wonder what they're doing today?

joannakat said:

Wonder what they're doing today?

Since I spend a lot of time working with wood, I know this stuff.

Here is one link that should help you better understand the good and bad about pressure treated lumber and how to best work with it.
http://www.finehomebuilding.co...

joannakat said:VERY nice! Would probably make really nice raised beds too. That is, as long as they haven't been pressured treated with anything toxic. I think construction wood was once treated with arsenic.

Certainly looks beautiful too.

Did you see the post in the NARR?

What is NARR? This was the idea I came up with as to what to do with lumber that had to be discarded. Yes you should not use treated wood

I believe joannakat was directing that comment at me since I did not know the history of the wood that I was using for the raised beds, soon to become a compost bin thanks to your most excellent idea.

Yes, I agree, using untreated wood to make the bins is best. My bind (made from mystery wood) is for the "Back 40" and the compost will not be used for the veggie garden.

crawgarden said:
What is NARR? This was the idea I came up with as to what to do with lumber that had to be discarded. Yes you should not use treated wood

Yes! It's an excellent idea and beautifully executed! The NARR is the Not A Raffle Raffle where you can purchase tickets using your acorns and win prizes!

Please read my post there and if you wish, reply to it there!

Here's the NARR, and my post is titled, "Oak trees are a'shakin', acorns are a'fallin'!"
https://garden.org/ideas/view/...

Weedwhacker said:Those would certainly be some nice sturdy bins, Rj !

Hi Sandy,

They do hold up well, made them 14 years ago, and before that they served as a deck for 20 years!

greene said:

Since 2004 the pressure treated wood no longer contains arsenic.

Plus -- Rj did say that his deck had been made from cedar...

Weedwhacker said:

Plus -- Rj did say that his deck had been made from cedar...

Rj's idea is great, and the explanation of how to implement it is really well done too.

If anyone is interested in more information about pressure-treated wood, the below link might be helpful. It mentions that the arsenic and chromium was discontinued, and that it has been replaced with a new method. Also, I think that the arsenic and chromium treatment is still used for some applications. But none of this takes away from Rj's gorgeous work! It's just an aside so that our fellow NGA members will take care when repurposing wood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Well, I thought it was finished last month, but it wasn't.

The tops were heavy to lift. And keeping them lifted meant lifting them totally up and over to rest on the fence. Which annoyed me.

And then I had a totally wicked idea. Counterweights...

The tops took 17 pounds of upward pressure to lift before (I weighed the lifting pressure with a fishing scale). So I screwed 2"x4"x6' boards to the tops and added some 6"x6"x53" posts left over from building the new decks (I save scraps and this is why).

Here are the bins now.
The 6"x6" posts are attached to the boards. I used two 7" lag screws anchored with fender washers up into the posts per board. Those posts won't ever come loose!
The weight of the posts is perfectly matched to the weight of the tops. Instead of 17 pounds, I can lift the tops with a finger.
And close them just as easily!
The tops sit upright on their own...
The front slats lift out for easy access to the compost contents.
The slats have small pieces of wood as spacers...
That fit into slots I created by sandwiching a 2"x4" board between two 1"x6" boards ...
All the sides have braces...
And I even have a barrel of dirt to shovel a couple inches into the bin after every 6" of compostable material.

AND, they are extremely beautiful.

I agree too -- those are great-looking compost bins, Yardenman!

Looks 👀 great!