DIY Hindsight

In message <rqq6sv$n7m$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, R D S snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com writes

Conversely, I have several piles of second hand slate from my last roofing job not touched in 15 years. Along with the soft red brick and stable pavers.

One of us is a Squirrel!

I think 'squirreling' is a function of (potentially) several things.

2) Interest / ability. The chances of being able to do something with said stuff, be it re-use (eg. turning some surplus bricks into a BBQ) or finding it an appropriate home (eBay / Freegle / Neighbourhood Facebook etc).

4) Ecology. Realising that there is no such place as 'Away' when you throw something 'away' and so wanting to insure (wherever possible) surplus stuff is re-processed and disposed of in the best way possible.

Like, if I have an old inkjet printer that is really dead (no drivers available, dried up head, broken electronics etc) then I might take it to bits, salvage any bits I am likely to find handy (some cables, ground steel rods etc) and dispose of the remains in a more refined state (plastics / metals / electronics etc).

I don't buy into that 'if you haven't used X for 6 months, throw it away bs' because there are plenty of things that I go back to many years later, and maybe only for a short time (as situations arise).[1]

But I guess we need people buying new and disposing of this good (often perfect) stuff so that those of us who like a bargain or to play with stuff we otherwise wouldn't (not cost justifiable) can get their fix. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

'Not much gear but some idea'. ;-)

If they were old victorian slates then he sold them on for a nice price.

In Last Sundays "Escape to the Chateaux" Dick and Angel had a lorry load of recovered welsh slate trucked over to France all the way from Wales. Expensive.

I had a relatively new window replaced with a door recently. It still had the tape on.

The guy that fit the door kindly disposed of it for us! I need to make more effort to be knocking around when a job finishes.

I'm glad in a way, it would have just gone in the basement forever.

I generally throw away things that I haven't used for ten years - though I sometimes regret this.

ICBA to try to sell things - I used to use second hand shops but the prices were minimal. I might give things to charity shops, but, when moving house, I don't really have the time or inclination, and this is usually the time I might want to get rid of things.

I bought recycled welsh slates for my many year roof repair project, I then discovered it could have been a lot cheaper to buy new Spanish or Chinese slates

One day in the 1960s my dad was in charge of the demolition of a public lavatory. The end result is that in my back yard I have 41 glass bricks, in a pile.

Bill

I don't know whether it's true but a guy doing a slate roof told me that Spanish slate didn't last long.

Bill

Yeah, I think that's <inversely> included under 'space' though isn't it. ;-)

Agreed, daughter left here and was then living in her half sisters flat after she (step daughter) was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She carried it on after she died (for her niece) and has only started moving out of here of late. We have discovered two things:

That's the thing. Several of the times I've 'had a binge' and thrown stuff away I ready didn't want to I've then / later found I needed it. Not only does that often mean having to buy a replacement, it's often the case that you can't or you can't easily / affordably. You throw away that offcut of worktop then have to buy a whole length to get the bit you threw away. ;-(

I generally can't either, preferring to give them to anyone who can make good use of them. The problem with that is that a lot of stuff I have is fairly technical and so wouldn't be of use / recognised by the vast majority in a charity shop (so may well be dumped by the staff in any case).

I have taken a small (new, unwanted gift) kitchen electrical appliance to Cash Converters and what little they gave us was better than nothing and at least it might get bought by someone who actually wanted it.

Yeah, I think the house clearance companies can be handy for that as I believe they often try to sell any sellable stuff as part of their earnings.

I have given a large canvas (garden reycling) bag full of kids toys and games to a family friend who works with the scouts for them to sell at their fundraisers etc.

I need to go back to work as I seemed to get more stuff done at home then ... ?

Cheers, T i m

A neighbour recently had her (Victorian) slate roof replaced (I mentioned it here at the time) the vast majority must have been salvaged and taken away as there weren't that many broken in the front garden and they didn't have a skip.

I was interested to see if neighbour was given any discount on the original slates (she wasn't) and what the new ones were and 'luckily'(?) they were real slate, albeit Spanish .. so at least not synthetic?

Unless the old slates were somehow factored into the deal, I would have offered to buy some off her as most of mine were re-used when we did this roof around 30 years ago and my immediate neighbour still needs his doing and loses one now and again.

Cheers, T i m

I've got synthetic here. Replaced those nasty ceramic tiles which I'd guess were original and sort of fitted where they touched. Got a council grant to help with the work - and they specified artificial slate. Although I'd guess they'd have been happy with real.

They are lasting very well.

Did you get the chance to feel any, what are they like?

Oh, the (typically) red clay jobbies? I thought they were supposed to be one of the best (certainly VFM) roofing solutions?

Oh?

Yeah, you can often 'upgrade' the spec but at your own cost etc.

How long so far?

Any council houses left round here are having their concrete tile roofs replaced and I saw one of the contractors carefully palleting up all the good ones up, potentially to be sold as salvage? Less stuff to go in the skip as well of course. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

My previous flat had a large walk in cupboard below the stairs of the upstairs flat which was very useful.

Why can't they have lockable storage units in the basement (or wherever) that you could rent? I know they do in some places. A basement launderette would also be useful so you would not need a (most time unused) machine in the kitchen taking up space.

Yes, it sounds like it might be. This is a block of 8 (2 x4) flats with a central doorway and stairs that go back and forth to open landings on each level (leading to an enclosed one feeding two opposing flats), so only the ground floor one side could make use of the under stairs space (I can't remember if it's open or not).

I know some places have access to something like that (a row / block of small sheds or even single garages). I don't think there is much room for 8 of anything worth having and they would need to be fairly secure to risk keeping anything of worth in there.

That would be lovely but I assume you don't live in the UK?

Here I think a basement is quite rare, except for some of the bigger houses both in the town and country.

There are a few rotary clothes airers out the back of the flats but I've never seen them used for much.

There is reserved parking though and a fair number of visitor spaces so that's quite a treat (and by no means 'standard').

To provide some more storage space for her I made up a simple frame using 63x48mm CLS timber. Two vertical frames, 600 deep by 2m high and with two 'shelves' made of 'beams' of the same material on edge. She now has 8 fairly large plastic storage boxes on the frame that is free standing in an alcove on something that can be easily taken to pieces (two uprights, 6 beams) and carried in most hatchback cars (we took it up there in the Meriva mini MPV), as / when she moves ... and no holes to fill in the flat. ;-)

In what was her room here, apart from the storage behind the (fold down) headboard there were two shelves the width of the bed over the headboard, storage in the (free standing) stairs that lead up to the bed, two levels under the 1m deep, wall to wall workbench and two corner cupboards for hanging clothes. In front of the window she had a long 3 draw unit and there was still room for two office chairs to sit and use the bench. ;-)

The bench now has my 3D printer on it and I'm gradually converting it to my PC / electronics / 3D printing study, keeping the bed clear for emergency use.

There is a nice balanced flue gas heater in there that keeps it very warm, even when set to below position 1.

All good till you want to move someone out who is into all sorts of things and had lived there all her life. ;-)

That reminds me, there are also 3 guitars hanging on the wall over the stairs and for a while she was sharing the room with her 6' 3" boyfriend!

Cheers, T i m

If you did them with a council grant they are lasting very, very well. Just don't allow aerial fitters or whatever to step on them because they do break

They're not as cold as real slate. very nice to work with, though - you can cut them with tinsnips. I got the roofers to leave me a kit of parts to do the outside loo - nice and low roof.

Well, on mine you could see daylight between lots of them. Could just have been poor workmanship - or war damage, of course. but the slates way a fraction of them.

These were I think clay. Same colour all the way through.

Oh, how thick are they?

If they aren't brittle like a real slate that would make them nice to work with. Can you walk on them (on a roof)?

I think if they are fired clay then (at industrial quantities) then I guess it might be likely they might not all be perfect.

I wouldn't have thought it much an issue if you needed a new roof and already had tiles (retaining tiles) but I guess might be if the house was built for slate and then you go to concrete tiles? I know some of the (Victorian) houses in our blocks have gone to cement tile (probably for cost reasons) ... if they had to have the roofs reinforced to do so? That said the timbers are pretty large, compared with the newer houses I've looked in anyway.

And what is their 'expected lifespan' (realistically, not the warranty etc).

Cheers, T i m

Quite a few houses have cellars. I've got the washing machine (with a suitable drain pump), dryer and freezer down there. Bit miserable to use as a work area though - too cold for me.

And while humidity is quite high (it's far from bone dry, like most cellars) nothing's rusted or been affected by damp. So far as I can see ;-)

Sods law says if you keep something because it may come in useful one day it will never be used BUT years afterwards when you have taken it to the tip (or given it away) the day after you will find the use for it.

However, 15 to 20 years of collecting screwdriver bits, now of unknown quality, I recently took a substantial weight of them to the tip and put them in the metal recycle skip. I now have a cordless impact driver and the few "impact" quality bits purchased recently will possibly last for the rest of my DIY career :)

Having recently cleared out my DIY "stock" room to overboard a cracked ceiling and to completely redecorate I found so much I haven't used in