Bravo to all these amazing creative minds. I hate wasting stuff that still has life in it. By the way, though I have read that some pallets are treated with a fumigant which is toxic. Generally, make sure pallets are stamped with “HT”, which means they haven’t been exposed to chemicals (at least not in the treating process.) Avoid unmarked pallets or those with “MB” for methyl bromide. Well, if anyone wants some really nice, bargain 2nd hand windows we just pulled out of our 12 y-o house to make way for a sliding door, and you live around Melbourne Australia, please check them out here: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/112070272414?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1586.l2649

No that is not correct. It will be Synteco oil that he will be talking about I assume. I have only used it once because we could not get enough of the livos oil in wa for one job. That was in a yoga school about 10 years ago. Still going strong. I am selling my house in about a year and after 6 years of renovations, three dogs and kids that are now 12 and 13, I will only consider polishing our floor with a white pad. Show me a poly floor that can hold up to that. Actually our floor looks better now than it did when it was first done. Sanders don't like using oil for two reasons, it does them out of a job or they aren't confident enough to use it. Bottom line is there is no better solution unless you like plastic looking,feeling floors and some people do. Each to their own.

I have only seen one wooden bench top that has managed, over time, to keep the wet out and avoid that black mouldy creepage where the water splashes behind the taps and around tap inserts. It was built by a carpenter and then the owner applied oil to gain the colour desired before applying several coats of marine epoxy (several = at least 5), sanded back before every new layer. It was burn proof and the colour locked in by epoxy coat with no maintenance required (until a visitor put a burning pot on it and left it there while attending to fire on stove, still... only left a black ring. That said, the owner promptly got out the sander and ground back until black ring was no longer charcoal texture, then reapplied oil and layered epoxy until black ring looked like it belonged (can't do that with any other surface I can think of?). After 15 years there is no sight of the insidious black mould from water penetration so I suppose it is the same recipe as with most thing successful projects in life, research, research, preparation, preparation, preparation and don't falter at the finish line.

You won't believe this but it is true, I bought a house when I attended a garage sale. The owner of the house I bought was helping her friend with her garage sale as they were leaving the area, she said she wanted to sell up and move with them, we got chatting and she took me to her house that she wanted to sell. It was fantastic, on one third of an acre with a rural outlook, in need of a bit of work, I agreed to her price straight away, I got it for a great price and no real estate agents were involved and I love it. Wasn't really planning on buying a house but the opportunity presented itself and was too good to pass up, my family still tease me about my love of garage sales and my ultimate purchase!!