DIY with function over finesse!!

[mickthemaverick]

The potential high winds over the weekend caused a little improvisation this morning. There is a passage between our house and garage which has a wrought iron gate at the front, normally latched open, and a solid gate at the back which is normally bolted shut. The problem with the wind is that the passage is roofed with a lightweight plastic sheet roof purely as a rain shield for access to the garage. With the back gate shut high wind hits an enclosed barrier and is shunted up to the roof which I am not happy can withstand the strain.

The normal solution to this is to latch the solid gate open and the wrought iron gate closed, that maintains an element of security from straying animals etc while allowing access. Overnight in these conditions we padlock the front gate and leave the normal security gate open to give the wind free passage and hopefully thereby protect the roof. However the front gate latch is very free and last night the wind was able to vibrate it open and thus open the back of the house to all and sundry.

So this morning I have implemented the simplest of spring loading to the latch to hopefully avoid a repetition!

The roof in question

The front gate

The back gate

The back gate opened

The latch with first part of my mod

The improvised latch closer

[CitroJim]

Love it 1001 uses for a bungee!

[mickthemaverick]

Time for an update on the Elstree floor story. Having replaced the washing machine hose things didn't get much better over the next week so on further investigation we discovered that the main stop cock to incoming poly pipe, the original fault, was spraying a fine mist again!! So this time the original brass stopcock was replaced with a modern poly one which proved sound over the next couple of weeks:

Generic picture of tap type

That was a couple of weeks ago and today the floor has got this far:

One side

Another side

Onward and upward!!

[CitroJim]

That's starting to look better

[mickthemaverick]

I was so impressed with the bungee cord latching mechanism I decided to make it more permanent but without any drilling or welding, so I simply replaced the yellow bungee with a black bungee loop which looks like it was meant to be, so hopefully SWMBO will be happy with it on her return in January!!

Original job

Replaced bungee

[CitroJim]

Magic

[Stickyfinger]

Why am I thinking "Home Alone traps" ?

[mickthemaverick]

No idea Alasdair, I've never seen the film!!

[CitroJim]

Why am I thinking "Home Alone traps" ?

No idea Alasdair, I've never seen the film!!

I never have but like Star Wars and countless other well-known films, which I've also never seen - and have absolutely no wish to, I know the plot.

I only have to watch a few milliseconds of any 'soap' on TV to know what's happening and intimately know all the characters and plot, even if it's been years since seeing the last episode...

[Stickyfinger]

[mickthemaverick]

Right! Gotcha now, I just need to wire up the welder to the gate then

[CitroJim]

Right! Gotcha now, I just need to wire up the welder to the gate then

That might back-fire and close the gate permanently! At least you'd never have to worry about it blowing open in the wind again

[Vic Evans]

Dunno about UK bungees but here in France they're no much cop for long term outside use.
Years ago I bought a huge tarpaulin to cover the 15m long slated roof of a barn type building which was one of the outbuildings of a house I'd just bought. The roof had lost dozens of slates & leaked like the proverbial but as I had no time for permanent repairs & needed the storage the tarp. it was.
Several pals here helped me cover the roof & the tarp held down with a coil of bungee stuff fixed to horse shoes hammered into joints in the stone walls.
All was fine for a year or so until after a very windy night I was phoned by a neighbour some 300m away to ask if I'd lost a tarpaulin which was wrapped around a tree in his field.
Examination showed the bungee's rubber strands were degraded by, I assume, UV light & could be broken without effort.

[mickthemaverick]

I have a multi way bungee on the patio table winter cover which has served its time. I put it on first in 2017 when we were off to our US train and Alaska cruise holiday. Since then it has been on from October to March/April every year and still going strong so if it does give up in future I'll be happy to replace it for the £8 it cost IIRC.

Table cover bungee

The one on the gate will have a much easier life as it is only just extended and is under the passage roof so not being exposed to direct sun or rain. Again, I'll be happy to replace it with one of the other three that came in the pack for £5.50 should I need to.

[Vic Evans]

I wouldn't have minded replacing the cheap bungee but the tarp, which cost me a few hundred euros, was torn to shreds.