What to do with a coal bunker?

[Mentalguy2k8]

Still doing mum's garden, rod for my own back etc etc.

Anyway, she's got a nice concreted area at the side of the house, I've cleared it & will power-wash it somewhen, put in a table and chairs and all that malarkey.

Thing is, there is a dirty great coal bunker there. Solid concrete, painted green, similar to this one:

but twice the width, two doors etc. I don't mind it staying there (it's empty but I ain't moving it) but does anyone have any ideas for turning it into some kind of feature? I was thinking of putting some troughs and pots on the top with lots of flowery plants in, but as seen in the pic, the top slopes forward. What would you do? Angle-grinding not an option :)

What's the easiest and longest-lasting way of either making the top level, or stopping any ornaments/plants falling off? I'm all for No-More-Nailsing a piece of wood all the way across to stop it all sliding off but I wondered if the collective experts had other ideas that might be a bit less pikey?

[Jim K]

lose the top & fill it w crocks/polystyrene & soil & plant it up?

Jim K

[Mentalguy2k8]

Just had a brainfart, as it's concrete, could I lay a row of bricks/brick paving along the front but with the mortar keeping the bricks square to the ground?

[Mentalguy2k8]

That's along the lines I was thinking, but I was hoping to not have to either "lose" bits of it or fill the whole thing up.

Jim K

[Rick Hughes]

A few miles down the Road they found a group of 8 Polish building workers living in an allotment shed ... could be opportunity for rental income ?

[Mentalguy2k8]

Hmm,... detatched, South facing, skylights.. you might be onto something there

[Mike Barnes]

Mentalguy2k8 :

Sell it on eBay? Even if you only get 99p I'm sure you could make good use of the space and you'd be doing someone else a favour. I eBayed a concrete garage just to save me the cost of demolition and removal, and got a surprisingly large amount for it.

[meow2222]

A wood edge round the top, 1x6 or higher, and a wood edge round the top fill hole. Fill the area with soil and compostables, and plant it up. You can use the thing as a composter too.

NT

[Tim Watts]

On Friday 07 June 2013 18:56 Mentalguy2k8 wrote in uk.d-i-y:

You could mortar some paving slabs on to sort out the slope.

How about drilling some vent and drain holes in it (if you have an SDS) and using it as a compost bin? As long as excess liquid and drain out and air can get in it should work OK (OK, will need a stir to help from time to time).

But it has an optimal delivery hatch at the base...

And you can still cover it in plants...

[The Medway Handyman]

Build a mini deck on top?

[polygonum]

More than 30cm off the ground! Tut tut - you know planning permission will be required. :-)

[AC]

Big arsed BBQ?

Bury it, leaving the top hatch accessible, for a pretend nuclear bunker for Ewoks?

[ss]

ebay it or one of those freecycle websites...buyer dismantles and collects.

[Alan Braggins]

That was my reaction too. Sell it "collection only" and state that the buyer has to shift it. Or even offer it on Freecycle, if you have a local group.

[Nthkentman]

Still doing mum's garden, rod for my own back etc etc.

Anyway, she's got a nice concreted area at the side of the house, I've cleared it & will power-wash it somewhen, put in a table and chairs and all that malarkey.

Thing is, there is a dirty great coal bunker there. Solid concrete, painted green, similar to this one:

Get a flue built from stainless steel and fit to the top and use as a chimnea

[Brian Gaff]

Mushroom growing facility?

grin.

Brian

[Brian Gaff]

The problem with the wood idea is that water will run down the slope and get to te wood and rot it in mo time.

As for planting it all up, well I thought he said he was not going to dismantle it, have you ever tried to do that without some kind of help?

Brian

[harry]

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You never know, you/she might be glad of a fuel store. I would keep an amount of coal wood, ready for the next Winter power cut. Seeing as we are so buggered up with our energy supplies.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I've always wanted to see a coal tree harry.

Do you have a link?

[Bob Eager]

Magic.