Not all wood is made the same.....

Here in Spring Hill, Florida, the primary source of any DIY materials is either Home Depot, which is almost identical to B&Q (even the colour scheme is the same), and Lowes, which is much the same except somehow feels a little more "upmarket".

Both stores stock a wide array of tools and lumber - the American term for what us Brits would call "wood".

So, I've had to decide what material I'm going to use to build my TARDIS. Naturally, knowing bugger all about "lumber", I thought I could just go in, buy some of the stuff and leave, but nothing is that simple!

The first question I have to answer is whether or not my TARDIS will be an internal fixture, or will live outside. This is important since my choice of building materials is determined mostly by this. If I was going to an internal job, I could just pick up some ultra-cheap MDF or plywood, but if I want my TARDIS to be an external feature I have to go for something that is going to be able to stand the weather out here in FL.

I've decided that I want to use my TARDIS as a shed, so I'm going to go for materials suitable for external conditions. This restricts my choice down to 2 materials that are easily sourced here:

• Pressure Treated Pine - a wood that has been pressure treated with some sort of Copper compound to resist rot and termites
• Cedar - a naturally resistance wood.

Now, it seems that of these two Cedar is the more expensive, but produces a better finish. This leaves me with three options:

1. Build the TARDIS wholly from treated Pine
2. Build the TARDIS wholly from Cedar
3. Use a combination of treated Pine and Cedar

My current thoughts are to go with option 3 - it'll work something like this:

• Base and Roof constructed from Pine
• Side Panels and Doors constructed from Cedar

The idea here is that the base and the roof won't really be too visible close up, so a rougher finish would be ok, whereas the sides and doors would benefit from the better quality wood.

The only issue then is price - I know roughly what the costs for the Pine are, but I didn't really pay much attention to the Cedar prices. If it is going to work out much more expensive, I'll probably stick with Pine and just be prepared for more sanding!