To glue or not?

[coliholic]

Ordered a load of Western Red Cedar last Friday to build a new up and over garage door and a 3 metre fence alongside. £550 quid's worth. Gulp.The idea is that the two look just like a fence and hence no-one, least of all the local council, know that I've got another garage. I've currently got a couple of fence panels as doors and a matching fence that have seen better days, so this is just a replacement of existing but it's going to be a lot better since I'm going to electrify the up and over door.

So a couple of questions

For the door I'm planning on a 3x2 (in old money) frame all round and then horizontal braces every 2 feet. The cedar cladding will be vertical and it's T&G Vee and will be secret nailed and glued to the frame using gorrilla PU glue. So here's Q1. Should I run a line of glue in all the grooves so it can't move or should I leave it unglued so there's some room for expansion and contraction? And I've bought Sikkens Cetol wood finishing system, used it on a wooden conservatory years ago and it's excellent.

Now to Q2. The up and over mechanism. Been in touch with three on-line garage door specialists and even visited two local firms. And they're singularly not interested. One tried to tell me they'd never, in 20 years of trading, been asked for supply only before and the other one said "Oh well I suppose we might come and fit an up and over system for you but we'd much prefer to supply the door too" Yes, I bet they would. Surely it ain't rocket science to fit the mechanism is it? The door's going to be 9ft wide and 6 ft 6 high and the best I can get is once the door's built they want me to weigh it and then they'll order a mechanism which will take "a few weeks" and "no, we can't give you a price till it arrives from the manufacturer".

So anyone know anything about up and over doors and electric openers? Where to buy etc? Done google and not really got anything positive. Loads of companies will supply and fit, but seems a dearth of info and supply only. Unless you know better please.

 

[Alarm]

Should get you started,

http://www.garagedoorsuperstore.co....ers/shop-by-brand/hormann-electric-operators/

 

[^woody^]

You should avoid gluing the cladding, as it will expand and contract and it will likely split if glued

How much was the cladding board per m? I may need some shortly

 

[coliholic]

You should avoid gluing the cladding, as it will expand and contract and it will likely split if glued

How much was the cladding board per m? I may need some shortly

Thanks for that sort of what I thought though I'm leaning towards thinking that if it's all firmly held together the chances of it warping might be less? Not sure though.

Regarding price, went to three timber merchants near where I live (St Neots, Cambs) and they all said they don't keep it in stock would order it in specially. Don't bother with the sheds, (B&Q, Homebase etc), they don't know what cedar is.

Two of the yards said they'd come back to me with a price and three weeks later, despite chasing them each week, I'm still waiting. The third quoted me "around £5 per linear metre depending on how much I buy".

Was recommended to Brooks Bros, timber importer in Maldon Essex and had a good chat with two very helpful chaps there Tim, and Dan. I ended up going down to their yard last Friday, selected the lengths I wanted because cedar CAN come up very red, so I chose the pieces that suited me and they banded it all up while I was there. Price came out at just under £2.0 linear metre and since I spent over £500 they'll deliver free. Should be with me tomorrow. How about that for a deal?

Nice and friendly and helpful outfit and if anyone needs any special wood, they're THE place to go. Superb machining facility too, can make virtually anything you can dream up. They had some magnificent big "mahogony" planks that could make a very nice table. Hmm maybe next project?

They've also got yards in Skelmersdale, Sunderland and Nottingham

http://www.brookstimber.co.uk

Really glad they're not closer to where I live because I'd spend a fortune with them

 

[imageel]

I live up the road from Brooks and concur their staff are very helpful and they also have impressive stocks of timber - I purchased some oak from them, told them I wasn't sure what variety and they listed 6 of their huge bays and allowed me to wander around to select what I wanted.
Another good supplier - possibly slightly closer to you at Colchester is Thorogoods - equally helpful staff and good range of hardwoods -www.thorogood.co.uk

Cheers