Fibreglass water tanks

[Novice DIY'er]

Having moved into a smaller house, we've had a combi/condensing boiler installed but I now need to remove 2 fibreglass water tanks from the attic! Any ideas from the people here on how I should/could approach this. The loft hatch is quite small and the pitch of the roof is low which isn't helping matters.

Thanks in advance.

Harry

[Andrew Mawson]

boiler

Drain them, cut them up with a jig saw into smaller than hatch sized pieces and job's a good 'un

Mind you with threatened water shortages I'd be tempted to keep them full of water.

AWEM

[The Natural Philosopher]

Cut them up with a jigsaw.

[Novice DIY'er]

Andrew and Natural Philosopher,

Okay, so the jigsaw seems to be the preferred choice at the moment. I'm going to assume I should cover up all itchy surfaces including my lungs and eyes before starting?

As for water shortages, not been mentioned up here in Scotland........................Yet!

Harry

[Andrew Mawson]

message

Damp the surface before cutting but yes wear a mask if worried. Why remove them, can they not stay there minding their own business for a few decades?

AWEM

[Novice DIY'er]

Andrew,

Due to the pitch of the roof, there isn't a lot of space up there to start with and when you include the roof formers (Or whatever you call those big W shaped frames inside the roof) there isn't a lot of space. The water tanks are wide, low coffin type ones (As there used to be very low water pressure in the area) and they take up a lot of space. So no, removing them would be a much better option in the long term but will need to measure so I have to do the least number of cuts!

Thanks,

Harry

[The Natural Philosopher]

Actually chopped strand mat in polyester is not at all bad compared with e.g. rock wool.

And a jigsaw leaves coarse dust.

Mask probably..gloves if you must, but really if you can't be arsed it won't kill you.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Any hollow cuboid can be reduced to flatst sheets by cutting along all of its vertices. Thats 12 cuts in all.

[Paul Andrews]

Hardly. They may be flat sheets, but will they be flat sheets that can go though the loft hatch? According to what the original poster says, then "No".

I guess that's the difference between a philosophical discussion and real-life.

;-)

[Novice DIY'er]

Paul,

There is method in the 'madness; as the flat sheets are flexible and could be twisted to 'fit' through. Not attempted it yet but once the heat drops a bit I'll get started on the job.

Thanks to all for the replies.

Harry

[The Natural Philosopher]

1/. I stated that a a fact of geometry, not necessarily a solution to a real life problem 2/. They were got up there somehow....;-) 3/. The description as long low and flattish suggests that in sheet form they would be extricable.

[Matt]

Geometrically it might be 12 but practically it is 8 cuts as the top doesn't exist.