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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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Kick plates for internal door
We are improving access to our downstairs toilet for my father, who
uses a wheelchair. This has included a double-swing door, so he can push it away from him whichever direction he needs to go through. We have found (before the painting was finished!) that this results in marks on the door from the wheel of the wheelchair nearest the hinge side. We have read about PVCu kickplates supplied by a firm in Leeds, but these are rather expensive at £36 each, plus £20 carriage. Can anyone suggest a readily-available alternative? - Regards, VivienB |
#2
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"VivienB" wrote in message ... We are improving access to our downstairs toilet for my father, who uses a wheelchair. This has included a double-swing door, so he can push it away from him whichever direction he needs to go through. We have found (before the painting was finished!) that this results in marks on the door from the wheel of the wheelchair nearest the hinge side. We have read about PVCu kickplates supplied by a firm in Leeds, but these are rather expensive at £36 each, plus £20 carriage. Can anyone suggest a readily-available alternative? Regards, VivienB Bent and Queer (sorry B&Q) do clear acrylic sheets which are easily drilled and screwed. It isn't too expensive for quite a large sheet either. They'll cut it to the sizes you need for you as well, I think. If not, then it's easy to cut with a sharp fine toothed handsaw, and the edges can be rubbed down with fine sandpaper to smooth them off again. I've used it on my garden shed door, and in the window (cheap double glazing for the shed), to stop the damage I was doing dragging the lawnmower in and out. Some food for thought? :-) |
#3
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On Wed, 11 May 2005 15:26:00 GMT, "BigWallop"
wrote: Bent and Queer (sorry B&Q) do clear acrylic sheets which are easily drilled and screwed. It isn't too expensive for quite a large sheet either. They'll cut it to the sizes you need for you as well, I think. If not, then it's easy to cut with a sharp fine toothed handsaw, and the edges can be rubbed down with fine sandpaper to smooth them off again. I've used it on my garden shed door, and in the window (cheap double glazing for the shed), to stop the damage I was doing dragging the lawnmower in and out. Some food for thought? :-) Indeed, thank you. I shall look in to the local 'shed' when I use their car park on Friday. - Regards, VivienB |
#4
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"VivienB" wrote in message ... On Wed, 11 May 2005 15:26:00 GMT, "BigWallop" wrote: Bent and Queer (sorry B&Q) do clear acrylic sheets which are easily drilled and screwed. It isn't too expensive for quite a large sheet either. They'll cut it to the sizes you need for you as well, I think. If not, then it's easy to cut with a sharp fine toothed handsaw, and the edges can be rubbed down with fine sandpaper to smooth them off again. I've used it on my garden shed door, and in the window (cheap double glazing for the shed), to stop the damage I was doing dragging the lawnmower in and out. Some food for thought? :-) Indeed, thank you. I shall look in to the local 'shed' when I use their car park on Friday. Regards, VivienB And free parking as well? You'll really get your monies worth out of them. LOL :-) |
#5
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VivienB wrote:
We are improving access to our downstairs toilet for my father, who uses a wheelchair. This has included a double-swing door, so he can push it away from him whichever direction he needs to go through. We have found (before the painting was finished!) that this results in marks on the door from the wheel of the wheelchair nearest the hinge side. We have read about PVCu kickplates supplied by a firm in Leeds, but these are rather expensive at £36 each, plus £20 carriage. Can anyone suggest a readily-available alternative? If you want PVCu, you can buy panels of the stuff from Wickes etc. Normally intended for lining window reveals etc. I think they do one about 6" deep (0.25" thick) which might suit? Or what about thin sheet metal? Cheapest would be to go round to an engineering works or steel stockholder and flutter your eyelashes a bit; but if you don't fancy that the big B&Qs sell it in various sizes, at a premium. David |
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On Wed, 11 May 2005 18:09:37 GMT, Lobster
wrote: If you want PVCu, you can buy panels of the stuff from Wickes etc. Normally intended for lining window reveals etc. I think they do one about 6" deep (0.25" thick) which might suit? It needs to be deeper than that - 400mm or 500mm - as it seems to be the hub of the wheel of the wheelchair that is doing the damage. I shall try asking what the local Wickes/Jewsons can offer along these lines. Or what about thin sheet metal? Cheapest would be to go round to an engineering works or steel stockholder and flutter your eyelashes a bit; but if you don't fancy that the big B&Qs sell it in various sizes, at a premium. I am concerned that the door is kept as light as possible, principally for ease of use. Also I think metal would look somewhat institutional. OK in a public building, but not in the domestic situation. - Regards, VivienB |
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On Wed, 11 May 2005 16:24:48 GMT, "BigWallop"
wrote: Indeed, thank you. I shall look in to the local 'shed' when I use their car park on Friday. And free parking as well? You'll really get your monies worth out of them. LOL :-) Well, I do take a walk round the store when I park there, but it's hardly my fault if they don't have what I want, is it? :-) - Regards, VivienB |
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VivienB wrote:
I am concerned that the door is kept as light as possible, principally for ease of use. Also I think metal would look somewhat institutional. OK in a public building, but not in the domestic situation. The aesthetic decision can only be yours; but a thin sheet of brass is what I fitted to a couple of doors at home, in this case to withstand the depradations of a puppy. Still looks OK to my eyes. As for the puppy, it's grown into a more or less well behaved dog :-) but not before it scratched up the door surround :-( Stefek 1, Sodnmurphy 1, Sodnmurphy win on penalties... |
#9
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On Wed, 11 May 2005 15:26:00 GMT, "BigWallop"
wrote: "VivienB" wrote in message .. . We are improving access to our downstairs toilet for my father, who uses a wheelchair. This has included a double-swing door, so he can push it away from him whichever direction he needs to go through. We have found (before the painting was finished!) that this results in marks on the door from the wheel of the wheelchair nearest the hinge side. We have read about PVCu kickplates supplied by a firm in Leeds, but these are rather expensive at £36 each, plus £20 carriage. Can anyone suggest a readily-available alternative? Bent and Queer (sorry B&Q) do clear acrylic sheets which are easily drilled and screwed. It isn't too expensive for quite a large sheet either. They'll cut it to the sizes you need for you as well, I think. If not, then it's easy to cut with a sharp fine toothed handsaw, and the edges can be rubbed down with fine sandpaper to smooth them off again. I've used it on my garden shed door, and in the window (cheap double glazing for the shed), to stop the damage I was doing dragging the lawnmower in and out. Some food for thought? :-) Having spent a chunk of the morning running round sheds, I found both acrylic and polystyrene sheet. Then this evening I discovered we already have a large enough clear polystyrene sheet (ICI Transpex 2) about 3mm thick, to do the job. Has anyone used this stuff for this sort of job? If you have, can you tell me - 1. Does it get brittle or discolour with age? 2. Is it handled the same way as acrylic, as BigWallop suggests above? 3. The door is opened from the outside by the wheelchair being reversed against it. Obviously we will need to fix the protector to the door without projections which will catch against the wheelchair. The thinking at the moment is to just screw it on - any pros or cons? Thanks for the ideas so far, - Regards, VivienB |
#10
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On Thu, 12 May 2005 17:57:38 +0100, Stefek Zaba
wrote: VivienB wrote: I am concerned that the door is kept as light as possible, principally for ease of use. Also I think metal would look somewhat institutional. OK in a public building, but not in the domestic situation. The aesthetic decision can only be yours; but a thin sheet of brass is what I fitted to a couple of doors at home, in this case to withstand the depradations of a puppy. Still looks OK to my eyes. Brass is not what I had in mind - I guess it would look pretty good. As my father already finds the unadorned door OK, but not easy, to open by reversing his wheelchair against it, I am very concerned to add the minimum weight with the protection. I have posted elsewhere in the thread that I have now found some clear thin polystyrene. - Regards, VivienB |
#11
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"VivienB" wrote in message ... On Wed, 11 May 2005 15:26:00 GMT, "BigWallop" wrote: snipped 3. The door is opened from the outside by the wheelchair being reversed against it. Obviously we will need to fix the protector to the door without projections which will catch against the wheelchair. The thinking at the moment is to just screw it on - any pros or cons? Thanks for the ideas so far, Regards, VivienB If it's the clear rigid Poly' stuff, then you can cut and drill it just the same. The only thing I think you will find is that it will be soft and will melt easy with if handled roughly. Try not to use a jigsaw to cut it as it will probably just bond itself back together at the back of the blade. A fine toothed handsaw, or a copying saw, are the ideal tool for this job. It shouldn't discolour quickly, but like anything else of this nature, it will become dull and scratched over time. The surface of polystyrene is also not as robust as true laminate acrylic, so it might get scratched a bit easier. It'll still do the job you want though. Fixing to the door is one thing I need more info' on to make sure comments. What is the door made of, and is it a hollow egg-box structure. Most internal doors in modern flats are made of a frame covered with on both sides with a thin sheet of plywood. They have a cardboard web of honeycomb shapes in between to make the surfaces of the door a bit more rigid to the touch. They aren't as solid as an old oak door. :-) To fix anything properly to this type of door, you need to take self-tapping screws with counter-sunk heads. Quite large heads to give a good secure fixing. Drill the holes through the poly' sheet slightly smaller than the screw. So a 5 mm screw nail would need a 3 mm hole in the sheet. You then counter-sink the hole on one side, with a proper counter-sink drill bit, to a depth that is just enough to hide the screw nail head below the surface of the poly' sheet. And I mean "just below the surface of the sheet". Feel your way with a little counter-sinking and keep checking with the head of the screw nail. Once you do one, you should then get an idea of how deep the others need to be. Present the poly' sheet to the door, and with a good screwdriver, start turning the first screw in. This is where self tapping screws come into play. A self tapper screw will make its own hole, and this is the ideal solution for a hollow door. Make sure you get the sheet level, not in line with the edges of the door, but level with a bubble level. If the door has been shaped to fit the hole, then the kick plate will also look skew wiff if you fallow the edges of the door. Once you get the first screw to bite in to the door surface, stop screwing. Don't tighten it in fully until you get the sheet level enough. The loose screw will allow the sheet to move around a bit for the placing procedure. Try to fix the next screw nail diagonally opposite the first one. This is a great way of making the sheet firm enough to put the other two screw nails in. Don't fully tighten any of the screws in until all are placed exactly where you want them to be. When you're happy with the level and the look, then tighten the screw nails in until they grip tightly, but not over tightened. The same method can also be used on other type of door structure without any changes. You should now have a polystyrene sheet fixed to the door. The screw nail heads should be quite well hidden so they don't catch on things, and it should all look pretty. If that's the way it looks and feels, then go put the kettle on and make a nice cuppa' tea. Good luck with it. |
#12
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VivienB wrote:
On Thu, 12 May 2005 17:57:38 +0100, Stefek Zaba wrote: VivienB wrote: I am concerned that the door is kept as light as possible, principally for ease of use. Also I think metal would look somewhat institutional. OK in a public building, but not in the domestic situation. The aesthetic decision can only be yours; but a thin sheet of brass is what I fitted to a couple of doors at home, in this case to withstand the depradations of a puppy. Still looks OK to my eyes. Brass is not what I had in mind - I guess it would look pretty good. As my father already finds the unadorned door OK, but not easy, to open by reversing his wheelchair against it, I am very concerned to add the minimum weight with the protection. I have posted elsewhere in the thread that I have now found some clear thin polystyrene. Appreciate you might not go for the appearance; that's personal opinion; but the weight of a thin bit of metal sheet, brass or steel, will not make one jot of difference to the weight of the door, in terms of how easy it is to open. It won't weigh much at all on its own, let alone when screwed to a hinged door. Davod |
#13
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On Thu, 12 May 2005 21:41:29 GMT, "BigWallop"
wrote: Snipped admirably clear info. on how to do the job Good luck with it. Many thanks. The door is modern (as this house goes) as it was fitted only about 40 years ago! - Regards, VivienB |
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