DIY with function over finesse!!

[mickthemaverick]

I'm feeling chuffed with myself too today having finally completed a job which I've been meaning to do since I moved in here in 2008! Since then I have been storing my ladder in the garage roof which then gathered various stuff above it:

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meaning whenever I have wanted to use the ladder it has involved a lot of taking down and then putting back up afterwards.

The straw for the camel's back came when I wanted to adjust our canopy frame and I was 100mm too short to reach the top bolts when standing on my stepladder so I had to get the proper ladder out. Having completed that job I decided to split the two ladder sections, returning one to the garage roof as in the picture above, to hold up the other stuff, and then hanging the 'base' section along the side of the shed. Obviously I did not want it to be available for any passing cat burglar so after a bit of head scratching I decided to adopt a security chain locked with padlocks inside the secure shed. This is the result:

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Obviously it won't stop an angle grinder equipped rogue but it will certainly deter any chancers!!

[CitroJim]

Always a good plan to lock a ladder stored outside Mick. I have one stored outdoors that needs locking up!

[myglaren]

Same here. It has locking brackets but I took the locks off in February to use the ladder and never refitted them. The ladder is mostly used to put plant trays on to grow seeds.

[MattBLancs]

It's a difficult one, as the more secure you make it, the more of a mess they'd likely make trying to overcome it with brute force (i.e. yank the chain out the side of the shed, you'd end up with a hole in shed side panel to patch up)

[mickthemaverick]

No chance of that in my shed Matt, the side planks are cut from 13mm ash and would need far more force than a person could muster. As it is down the side of the shed it would be very difficult to bring any scaffold pole style leverage to bear so I am confident that it will deter the casual cat burglar. Also in the picture you can see the left side chain tail hanging down which actually wraps round the post and latches on to the large padlock on the right. To pull that down you would effectively have to pull down the whole shed - not going to happen without a tow machine of some sort!!

[mickthemaverick]

I had a cry for help this morning as I was getting up. My friend in Elstree's water main feed had sprung a leak and reparations were required. The picture shows the point that was leaking which was down to poor installation in the first place. The pipe had not been properly seated in the stop cock and over the last 9 years had worked its way out producing a fine spray, which may have begun some time ago, but was not detected until my friend was about to wash her kitchen lino last night before going to bed. She noticed a glistening along the edge of the floor boards and investigation identified the culprit.

The arrows show the problem was on the main feed side.

Hence the water had to be turned off in the drive while the stopcock was replaced with a new one fitted onto the correctly cut and seated main.

Then the soaked floor had to be attacked:

The sodden boarding on the concrete floor

The next job was to lift the boarding and spray the concrete with mould killer:

The treated floor now left to dry out

The plan will be to seal the floor and then recover with new lino/vinyl covering over the next few days.

[CitroJim]

Gosh! What a job Mick And what a great friend you are to sort that lot out

I had that happen once and since then I check very regularly for any leaks in the kitchen, bathroom and downstairs loo...

[mickthemaverick]

When I ordered the ladder hanging brackets they came in a pack of six. This morning I made use of two more of them, with some plywood offcuts which have been cluttering the garage, in my homemade ladder shelf. I need it to paint the house weatherboards before the winter sets in so I got as far as making the shelf before the rain clouds called a halt to activity. :

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[CitroJim]

Excellent!

[myglaren]

In a former life, we used a similar but more complex and sturdy version of this:-

Not DIY of course.

There's another version that I haven't seen until just now, that could be bodged DIY'd

For work at the top of the ladder one of these makes life a lot simpler and keeps the paint kettle off the wall.

I have one of the latter, makes gutter cleaning so much safer and easier.

[Vic Evans]

Touching up paintwork where heat pumps installed a few months ago needing hole through gable. Dangerous off high ladder so cobbled up this brush & roller frame on garden extension pole. With me guiding pal on brush, job done in a few minutes

[myglaren]

Grandson wanted a hanging 'thing' for a trailing plant. Bought a couple in Dobbies at extortionate prices.

Then found this, free. Bought a 5M chain for it then wondered how to fit the chain.

Bodgery it is then.

Not very elegant and I'm sure there is a proper way to do it. Works though.

[Stickyfinger]

Needs 124 plastic welding stables to finish that off

[mickthemaverick]

You may remember I had a garage roof leak issue back in 2022 which I sealed with a 10 year guaranteed sealer,
details here, well sadly I have to report that last weekend's torrential rain managed to breach the seal and the same corrugation well showed signs of seeping again this week while SWMBO was on holiday.

I decided that the best solution would be to overlay the existing roof sheets with brand new polycarbonate sheets and thus prevent the water from getting onto the old sheets altogether. I thought to myself 'Easy enough to buy new sheets and lay them on top with the securing screws going through both new and old into the beams' Then I went upstairs and looked at the roof as it is now:

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Oh yeah, I put those boards down for access and the ivy has gone potty, and the sealed gulley still looks sealed!! Maybe sheeting over the top just isn't the way to go, time for a completely new roof has to be the right way. Now that means emptying the upper shelves and maybe the whole garage, clearing back all the ivy, getting the boards off, removing the flashing and the old sheets, possibly adding a couple of new beams, installing the new roofing sheets and flashing and finally possibly refitting the walking boards and then refilling the garage, though there is nowhere to put the stuff while the job is done, maybe 3-4 days or so? Total material costs around the £300 mark. I am going away next week so no chance to do it before mid October by which time the weather may not be helpful. Hmmm!

Pondering on that it seemed to me that a temporary solution to overcome the problem is required to see us through the winter and then put on the new roof in June next year. With that in mind, and not really wanting to get up there and paint more sealer over the sealer I decided the best approach would be to accept the leak and arrange to catch the water that came through and divert it out of the garage to a safe place for drainage. Hence I purchase a 'dog bath' with built in drain tap and installed it as you can see below, the tank itself is supported by steel hooks through the top and the ladder beneath which is very secure:

Tank in situ

The drain valve

Outlet position

Hose route

Hose exit

Having completed the install I filled the tank until the drain came into operation and checked it is leak free. I just need to insert an appropriate material into the bottom of the tank to bring the bottom water level in line with the outlet which is 12mm above the tank bottom so as to prevent 12mm of water going stagnant inside the tank!!

[CitroJim]

That's good Mick... Yep, only way is to properly re-roof but your 'work-around' should do until you can