I am installing a large 180 litre cylinder in my loft. (It will probably be
an indirect plate heat exchanged heat bank, if you are interested). It will
be installed next to a party brick wall (not sure if single or double skin),
and directly above what I believe to be a transverse structural wall
supporting the joists. The joists are boarded, look to be about 100mm thick
and run parallel with the wall. I intend to convert the loft in the future,
which must involve the joists becoming considerably thicker. (Possibly
doubling in thickness).

How should I mount the cylinder? Should I rest it on the floor on a wooden
pedestal that can be removed/or made smaller when the floor becomes thicker?
Will this take the weight? Should I involve the wall in the mounting at all?
I could mount one mounting plate of the pedestal to the wall and have the
other end resting on the floor. Is this a good or bad idea? Should I strap
it to the wall for restraint? Should I use gallows brackets and forget about
using the floor?

Christian.

When you come to convert the loft then that is a different matter as you
may
have to move the cylinder elsewhere and then make what it is resting on
strong enough.

The location was chosen as being its final resting position with the
proposed conversion in mind. I suppose careful consideration of the runs of
pipe could mean that they only need adjusting for height when the cylinder
is moved up 10cm.

It is still tempting to build a 20cm high platform out of 2 by 4 that can
become a 10cm high platform when the joists are thickened, but then,
subsequently changing the pipe lengths is probably no more work than making
the platforms.

The cylinder will be directly above the wall not through coincidence. The
wall is directly below the ridge line of the roof. The cylinder needs to be
installed below the ridge line due to the height required. (The conversion
will be a full width dormer extension to the rear).

Would a thick lump of plywood be stronger than chipboard?

Christian.

In uk.d-i-y, Christian McArdle wrote:

Would a thick lump of plywood be stronger than chipboard?

[to support a hot water tank] I'd *much* prefer decent (but not madly
expensive) ply to chipboard. The "WBP" quality - nominally meaning "wash
and boil proof" of midpriced hardwood ply will shed hot water, should
you ever get a drip you don't notice, rather well (a quick coat or two
of varnish or Danish Oil won't hurt). Chipboard, even bathroom spec
"moisture resistant", is *not* what I'd want 180kg of 60-degree water
resting on ;-)

Stefek (who's just spent the whole weekend building a wheelchair/impaired
mobility ramp out of two sheets of 18mm WBP hardwood ply, (nearly 50
cm of height to cover, so two sheets totalling 4.8m length needed to
give even a 1:10 slope) and is impressed by its rigidity even before adding
three 6.5cm deep ribs down each length. Oh, if anyone's in Bristol, the
reason it rained last night from about 10pm onwards is that I'd put the
next coat of varnish on at about 9pm... some rather more vigorous
rubbing-down needed before tonight's coat goes on, dammit.)

On 10 Sep 2003 16:57:18 GMT, wrote:



Stefek (who's just spent the whole weekend building a wheelchair/impaired
mobility ramp out of two sheets of 18mm WBP hardwood ply, (nearly 50
cm of height to cover, so two sheets totalling 4.8m length needed to
give even a 1:10 slope) and is impressed by its rigidity even before adding
three 6.5cm deep ribs down each length. Oh, if anyone's in Bristol, the
reason it rained last night from about 10pm onwards is that I'd put the
next coat of varnish on at about 9pm... some rather more vigorous
rubbing-down needed before tonight's coat goes on, dammit.)

Stefek,

As a matter of interest, is 1:10 the recommended slope for a
wheelchair/impaired mobility ramp in general?

Presumably for a wheelchair this would be for where another person is
pushing the chair? It seems quite steep for somebody to self propel
themselves, although perhaps an electric model would manage it?


..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

In uk.d-i-y, Andy Hall wrote:

As a matter of interest, is 1:10 the recommended slope for a
wheelchair/impaired mobility ramp in general?

No; a few moments' googling suggested 1:12 as a minimum, and 1:20 preferred,
for self-propulsion. My 1:10 was dictated by "what slope will I get with
N sheets of 8-by-4 ply", for small integer values of N, and the amount of
intrusion into the space at the front of the house (as it happens the
house is L shaped, with the front door in the inner corner of the L,
so the ramp goes nicely along the other wall), knowing that for the
foreseeable future it's indeed someone else pushing the chair, or the
restricted-mobility person themselves walking up/down the ramp, which is
much easier for them than the relatively steep existing steps, with the
vague possibility of an electric chair at some point. 1:10 came out as
a liveable compromise for these requirements - a third sheet would've
reduced the slope to about 1:15, but the ramp would have ended rather
close to the more cluttered end of the wall. I believe a 1:10 is quite
self-propellable for the fit wheelchair user, but not for the relatively
infirm.

The gods of rain are holding off tonight, as it happens. They'll wait
until I put the final coat on, which will have the boat-deck style
anti-slip little polystyrene beads mixed into it, before sending a
deluge just after the idiot cats have finished playing in it ;-)

I have another adaptation yet to do, which I'll post a separate basenote
to ask about - thanks for prompting me!

Cheers, Stefek