What contractor is ideal for replacing a garden cast-iron bench?
Bonnie Biville
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
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ShadyWillowFarm
2 years agoBonnie Biville
2 years agoRelated Discussions
The Garden Bench
Comments (41)shamefully, I have NO places for sitting in the garden (not wishing to encourage idle offspring and their pals) - although I do have a timber coping round my beds which was always meant to be used as possible bench seats (similar to Paula's)....but was filled, within days of construction, with dozens of pots, seed trays, tools and other garden equipment, leaving just enough space for an elderly collie to poke it's nose into the plantings - which have overflowed onto every remaining inch of space. If pressed, I can produce a couple of folding seats, once the pots on the floor have been kicked aside....oh yeah, I have a chair (for me) in the greenhouse. At the allotment, the seating tends to be bits of timber balanced on breeze blocks or upturned pots ). I sometimes sit in the wheelbarrow too. The gardens are not places of rest but places of work. To relax, I go inside and loll on a sofa with a book....See Moremethod for welding cast iron?
Comments (23)Hunter, If you tub is a real old tub, it was probably a sand casting, and old sand castings are very dificult to weld. We do restoration work, and we had an old six piece metal fireplace harth, and the horizontal top (the mantel) was cracked, and a small 1 1/2" x 6" piece was broken off. None of the local shops around hear would touch the project. I ended up at our local CC talking to the dir. of the weling program, who turned the repair into a live project for one of the welding classes. We had three welds, 2 aprox 4-6" and the other Aprox 2". The metal mantel was aprox 9" D x 60" W. We were concerned that the heat from the welding would crack the top, so they chose to use TIG, and placed the mantel on a LARGE steel bench. The 1st weld went great, then as it was cooling, we started to get additional cracks in the top due to the cooling. We then placed lots of sand over the mantel, and had several students using Oxy Acc. keep the sand warm, along with the exposed portion of the mantel. The rest of the repair went extreamly well, and it took about 20-30 minutes to slowly cool down the repair work. One of the kids had one of those digital point thermoters, so we used that to monitor the cool down process. Since then, we've done some of our own repairs, using about the same process and have had good results. I hope this helps...See MoreFinding a contractor to fix 140 year old windows?
Comments (42)I am so glad that you love your Marvin windows--we have one small bay window from Marvin that we added in the kitchen , but the fact is, on a house with 46 windows, the cost-effectiveness of replacing that many windows is not justified. At least not here in upstate, NY. That one window alone was over $1000. When I priced out windows this summer (and I looked at about eight different companies), the only ones we could afford were about $300-400 per window. For "crappy" vinyl windows. Still, that was an $18,000 investment on a house that we paid $125,000 for. The numbers just didn't add up. If we went to Holbrook Designs (exclusive Marvin dealership here in Albany), the new wood windows were $800 and UP! Even if we got the $800 windows, we would be talking over $35,000!! In Holbrook's defense, they were absolutely lovely and professional on the phone and warned me of their costs before they came out to measure and give me the ubiquitous sales pitch. Storms were about $120 each. Is cleaning four surfaces a pain? Absolutely. But my two oldest kids can help me from the inside while I work from a ladder on the outside. Might be a pain when I get older, but we do actually have window-cleaning companies around here if necessary. And in a house with three kids and two dogs, we are not exactly "neat-freaks," so deep cleaning the windows in fall and spring is plenty for me. I thought this decision to keep my windows would be hard for me (check out earlier posts I have put on about the same thing...some as far back as 2006--that's how long I've been mulling this over!), but I am really fine with it now. These windows have lasted for 150+ years...I'll let someone else make the decision to rip them out somewhere down the line! Not gonna be me :) I do think it's to each his/her own, however. My sister-in-law has a charming little 1930's bungalow but likes everything new--so she had no problem replacing all of the original windows and doors with new ones--and covering up the old wood floors that needed some TLC with laminate. They love it and are happy with their choices. So that's fine! But for me, I like the solid, somewhat imperfect but historic feeling of our house. In it's 150 years, it has only been owned by three families (one of which was my husband's grandfather), so I can just imagine all of the life events taking place there. And with the windows, I just like imagining how many people have actually looked out those same windows over the years. I know--romantic and corny. But I can't help it--history teacher with a minor in urban renewal and you get a historic architecture sap!! ;) S...See MoreCan this be done? (kohler receptor, shower bench, half wall)
Comments (13)So you are now looking at the full length receptors, like I am, then. I can't use the Kohler Salient that so many have used because of the oval raised pattern on it. It is a silly design as it makes placement of a large bench very difficult. So I saw the Kohler Bellwether in real life and it looks promising. It has a slope from left to right or right to left, depending on the side you choose for your drain. I like that the front of the pan is finished, unlike the Katherine or Purist, which have to be tiled in the front. It is a little taller in height at 4.5 inches, though. That is not good for me, but I would consider some creative installation techniques, if approved by the guys at this forum. I prefer to stick with cast iron or something equally heavy duty. A very heavy family member may be using it. I originally was going to use the Swanstone ADA roll-in shower base with a trench drain at the entry, but I just am not sure about that set-up. Which receptor are you looking at now that you are going for a full length one?...See Moregardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
2 years agotsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
2 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
2 years agobtydrvn
2 years agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
2 years agoRevolutionary Gardens
2 years ago
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