I figure I can do it a lot cheaper buying second hand 51/4 inch (83 mm) floorboards and then slicing off the tongue and groove to give 72mm floorboards.

A bit narrow - but some people are using 65mm decking

Every week I check the local Quokka magazine for anyone selling under $20 per square metre

Struck it lucky in this case - the owner of a house being demolished was happy to have them removed.

Main cost was Tony M's labour

This took us two days and was absolutely exhausting

The nails were slightly longer than those usual used and we had to absolutely throw ourselves at the board lifting tools in order to get them up.

Any other method tended to split the boards.

Had a lot of drama getting there (Cannington) on the first day - towing a trailer, rushing to get to site on time and meet Tony M - the car engine started overheating on the Roe Highway

I was very despondent at first - thinking that I would have to cancel the whole event and miss out on the free floorboards - but decided to try to nurse the car along.

Had to pull over several times, allow the engine to cool and to top up with spare water.

Managed to just limp in to the demolition site.

Called out the RAC while we started work on lifting the boards

The engine was making a hell of a rattling noise - I thought I had absolutely cooked it - turned out the timing chain was worn, low on oil and the electrical fan relay was defective.

The RAC guy was all for patching it up so I could drop it in to an autoelectrician during the week (reckoned that the mobile ones were very expensive).