Buying wood for fly screens

[lulubel]

I've done a search for this but didn't come up with anything that really answers my question.

I'm hoping to find somewhere to buy pre-cut wood like you can buy in Wickes, B&Q, etc in the UK. We're planning to make fly screen doors for our new house, but not really sure where to get the wood for the frames. Our Spanish is limited at the moment, so we'd really like to find somewhere we can look at what there is available and just select.

Do the big DIY stores like Leroy Merlin stock it or do we need to go to a more specialist supplier? (We would just go and look, but the nearest place we know of is an hour away.)

[gerryh]

Have a look in Leroy Merlin, Aki, Bahuas for what you need or almost any bricolage place.
Cheers
Gerry

[GrannyP]

We went to Leroy Merlin because the wood in Brico was warped! Hubby uses 25 x 38ml batons, staple mozzi mesh onto it, then overlaid by 1" by 0.5" wood. Gives it strength and you don't see the staples. We stain ours to match the window frames. Hope this helps.

[Maddi]

We went to our local Ferreteria, which had an adjoined carpentry and wood supply section, and ordered the lengths of wood batons we needed, along with metrage of mesh, tin of black paint (to paint the batons), staple gun and staples. This cost us 60 euros to do our 10 windows. We'd been quoted 1000 euros by a screen company! Quids (or euros) in. Don't worry about your lack of Spanish, you will get by with the use of your dictionary and common sense, dead simple. Good Luck.

[pete_l]

I'm hoping to find somewhere to buy pre-cut wood like you can buy in Wickes, B&Q, etc in the UK.

Spain (at least southern Spain) doesn't seem to "do" wood. Dunno why (maybe the scarcity of water leads to very few decent sized trees, maybe the insects, or the weather), but it seems to be a specialty item, unlike concrete . The only places I've found it are the large sheds, names as already mentioned - though it's not cheap.

When I first bought my place (I'm a keen woodworker back in the UK) I thought I'd just knock up a few pieces of bespoke furniture, as none of my walls were flat, plumb or square. That was a bit of a shock as it turned out none of my local ferreterias or brico shops had any. So is was a 200km round trip to the nearest Leroy Merlin. Even then they wanted €70 for one lousy sheet of ply, UK price £20, tops. Since then I've been saving hard and recently got a few lengths of 40mm square softwood - which is all they sell, from LM: cost about €16 - only x3 more than B&Q.

[ajtg1952]

I have found Bauhaus to be the best for soft wood, mainly pine. You have to search about a bit to get the least warped but as timber is dried so quickly now you have to live with this particularly in Spain.

It's usually always possible to get enough "straight" lengths to do the job.

[Martin Page]

Wood cant really cope with the extremes in humididty. It will be soggy and start to wet rot one minute and then it will be paper dry and brittle the next. It certainl looses any 'structural' contribution in less than 3 years. and thats if it doesnt get infested with lowlife first.
NO - wood is a no no to use down here. its also very expensive.
The best thing for mozie netting is an aluminium extrusion specifically designed for the job. you secure the netting with a rubber extrusion don the four sides of the window ... then attach that et al to the wall ! - simplez !

[lulubel]

Thanks for the advice everyone. We're off to our nearest Bauhaus tomorrow to see what we can find. If the prices are too expensive, I'll get my brother to get some in Wickes and ship it out to us. I've already learnt that getting things shipped from the UK sometimes works out cheaper.

Martin, we're making hinged screen doors, not screening windows. It's an old house, and everything else in the house is wood, so that's what we're sticking with. Besides, wood is what we're used to.