Home DIY

You need to spell it as if you are taking the piss out of the Ikea catalogue - Takker.

I got mine from Amazon, other vendors are available (I imagine).

Ah ha!
Thank you.

What's the forum recommended paint stripper again?

Anyone know anything about pulleys?

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I think it was @citygent who had an amazing pulley-based bike storage system.

Looks like you'll need very wide arms.

This could solve your other problem too, small child as a counterweight.

Long lifting straps on the bottom of the board, that extend up into the loft, lifting from the loft with someone stabilising the bottom. You could rig steps to rest the board on as you lift, so it's not all in a oner.

Think I'd need about 30 small children. Sounds like a job for @Balki

I was thinking about something along these lines - but worried about scuffing the surface too much.

My thinking at the moment:

There are two beams that run parallel with the door frame on either side of the hatch. i.e. facing the loft ladder there is a beam in front of and behind the hatch as you come up through it. They're about 20 feet apart. I'm debating ratcheting something tight AF between the two and hoping the stress doesn't collapse my roof. Then lowering [a] pulley/s above the hatch (my recollection of primary school physics meaning something like - the more pulleys / the less effort).

My other options:

Cut the fucker into tiny pieces and reassemble with PVA.

Slide it back downstairs and make a killer dining table / work bench for kiddo to do his home schooling / brain himself on the corner of.

It's unbelievably heavy for one person.

The last time I had to bring worktop into a house was at night and it was 4m rather than 2m but there were two of us and it somehow worked (until I got bitten by the neighbour's dog after my arm overhung our fence).

If you're worried about the surface, wrap it in packing blankets. Useful things to have, and only about £2 each.

Honestly, just rigging something so that you can rest it after each lift will make it less stressful and can go slowly. How tall is the loft space? Will the board be able to go straight up, or will it need to tilt as it goes in? If no tilting is required, it shouldn't be too bad.

Quite a bit hinging on the ceiling up there being solid enough to support it.

Hindsight etc.

No tilting required I don't think.

Not quite sure what or how to rig anything physical beneath it / not sure what I've got that would do the job.

Someone needs to be up there to guide it in but the ladder needs to be in vertical/unusable position for it to get through the gap. So earlier I tried Mrs CYOA up there waiting and me trying to lift it first onto a very solid chest of drawers about 60cm high. Couldn't do it on my own - can do the deadlift but needs a pair of hands to guide. Could potentially pivot it onto it somehow and then if it's hanging over the edge, bend my knees and get under it to stand/then stand on top of the thing but it would be very dangerous.

I picked up this bed frame off ebay

and it's a bit wobbly, to say the least.

I was thinking of bracing it along the back, at the bottom - I have enough 18mm MDF spare to make a 4 inch brace, but would 1x4 planed pine be better / stiffer?

Or would it be more sensible to stick a sheet of laminated MDF (£19 for a sheet of 15mm furniture panelling from Wickes) along the entire back.

I was thinking of attaching them with screws & dowels.

Does that sound sensible?

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I really like these, not sure if they'd be of use for your situation.
https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/home/storage/straps-and-lifting/51157-forearm-forklift

This is why I think you should lift from the loft. Straddle the gap, and with the right length strap you should be able to do all the lifting as a deadlift, provided you can rest the board as you go.

Tbh tho, this sounds like the perfect storm for damaging things and falling out with your partner. I’d hold off until you can rig something up, or get more hands on it.

I'd put the 1 x 4 along the bottom finishing flush with the back of the unit then screw or tack a shear panel across the back of that 5mm plain MDF or hardboard would do the job.

That length/dimension of MDF will be fine in tension but even 18mm will flex/warp like a bastard under compression. Pine would be better but furniture paneling would work too and better prevent racking IMO. After all, it's how a lot of large/cheap wardrobes are braced with a million tacks around the perimeter.

edit: what @Bobbo said

So the second photo should show the beam in front of the hatch as you come up - I've just spent 10 minutes tugging at it and it seems very solid.

On the opposite wall at the same height is the last photo (with the window) but the beam isn't visible - whoever started converting the loft before the previous owners didn't finish but they started there. I could, I suppose, saw out a section of the plasterboard.

Is it sane to string some kind of rope/ratchet/pulley up there that wouldn't pull the beams together / break them?

The beam isn't higher than 2 metres so once it gets to the max height (less the distance of any pulley) the worktop is going to need to be pushed / pulled up manually (perhaps with the strap-underneath solution mentioned earlier).

Tempted to just book a bloody dormer conversion in and get someone else to do this.

.

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Rip it in half lenghtways and rejoin it once up. It's laminated strips anyway, cut down one of the seams. I imagine it's going to be on a frame so strength shouldn't be an issue. Could always use dowels/biscuits in the join.

Yep, in no rush - it's currently lying flat under the bed. Out of sight out of mind. Until I stub my toe on it.

This was my original plan (though it involved buying smaller/cheaper pieces of 'something' and assembling rather than spending a chunk plus delivery on this). Seems a shame to cut it if there's a way of avoiding. It's going to be a desk (just so I can lord it over @Soul ) that I'm going to be looking at a lot in the coming months so would be nice not to be irked every time I stood over it.

I have one of these: https://www.toolstation.com/dewalt-dcs391n-xj-18v-xr-165mm-cordless-circular-saw/ which says it can do 55mm but I'd be surprised if I can make a tidy job of it.

Yeah, but then you can claim you "built" the top instead of buying it ;)

If it can wait til you have a better solution, or help, then I agree. I'd hate to have to cut it. But if it was something that needed done, it feels like the least bodgy (rather than pulling down the roof).