In article , Victoria Clare writes:
| (Nick Maclaren) wrote in news:ch1g0a$a4q$1
| @pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk:
|
| | We are a maritime nation after all: most of our history wouldn't have
| | happened if wood became instantly unuseable when slightly damp!
|
| That Does Not Follow. Many woods last a lot better when wet than
| when damp, and the algae that cause them to become slippery (inland)
| are killed by sea water.
|
| Sea water does a fine job of making things slippery and/or rotten. So does
| fresh water. This I can vouch for from personal experience, having owned
| and used a number of wooden boats. Plus, boats are sort of hollow? This
| causes them to fill up with rainwater and go green inside...

That Is Not True. Yes, wood at least under high tide mark goes
slippery, but the algae that do it (it is NOT, repeat NOT, the
water that does) do not thrive unless they are washed with sea
water pretty regularly. And the algae that make things slippery
inland ARE killed by sea water.

We are talking about flat surfaces, NOT actually washed by the
sea, lakes etc. on a daily basis and designed to NOT collect water.
If YOUR garden is below high tide mark, or otherwise under water
much of the time, I recommend moving.

| Nonetheless, Britain is riddled with freshwater lakes, rivers and canals,
| and surrounded by sea, much of it populated by people cheerily walking on
| wooden surfaces that intermittently get drenched in both fresh and salt
| water. A bit of sand in your varnish can do wonders.

On the contrary. Unless they are walked on enough to stop the
algal growth, such surfaces get lethally slippery. Sand helps,
but NOT enough to stop the algal problem. And, to repeat, sea
water wetting is ENTIRELY different from rainwater wetting.

| Whenever decking is mentioned we always hear this chorus of 'slippery when
| wet', yet this never happens when someone asks about lawns. My lawn is
| definitely the slipperiest thing in my garden, as it slopes at a steep
| angle, and what's more, it's slippery when it's dry too.

Not as slippery, and I am almost certainly more sensitive to that
than you are.

| Incidentally, talking about unsuitable surfaces, how come we never hear
| that slate makes unsuitable paving because it gets so damn hot in the sun?
| I burnt my feet on slate paving stones a few weeks ago!

A few days a year, at most.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.