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We’ve had an email from Jamie:
What can I do with an old concrete wall? It was in panels so came apart quite easily. I’ve got 12 panels in total, each about 1′ by 4′. They’re flat on one side and have a slight raised design on the other.
They’re not in perfect condition because they’re probably 20 years old but they’re ok. We took them down because it made the garden look like a prison yard and we thought a hedge would be nicer instead!
Our beloved friend Freecycle is an obvious thought here – someone else might dig that prison yard aesthetic.
Depending on how thick/strong they are, using them as paving might be another idea – perhaps in a low traffic area of the garden if they’re not as solid as patio flags (lining paths in a veg plot springs to mind).
If you’re willing to break them down, I dare say the concrete could be used for all sorts of things that need a bit of extra weight – the bottoms of planters for example. Ooh, that’s another idea: as giant coasters under tubs on fancy patios/decking, for when you don’t want the run off from the tubs to damage the stone/wood.
Any other ideas? Suggestions for using them whole and in bits are both welcome.
(Stock photo by sundstrom)
Categories: garden, items
Posted by louisa
on 13 October 2008
We’ve had an email from Kevin:
What can I do with broken tiles? I’ve just retiled my bathroom and was careful taking the old ones off but most of them cracked in half.
I also have some whole sample tiles that I got from the supplier from when I was choosing. I’m going to use one of the big ones as a hot dish plate in the kitchen but don’t know what to do with the smaller ones.
Following on from your trivet idea, smaller sample tiles would make good coasters or a place to rest your wooden spoon while cooking – especially if they’re pretty or nicely coloured.
Depending on their condition, the cracked ones could be used to “crazy tile” somewhere that doesn’t need to look 100% (like a storage cellar or shed) or smashed up further for a crazy mosaic effect. Offer them on Freecycle if you don’t want to do it yourseld – someone else might like the idea.
(If you fancy renovating them for reusing, I’ve used a translucent glass paint thing to paint ceramic tiles in the past – it let the original gloss of the tile shine through but it wasn’t particularly hard wearing and couldn’t handle being scrubbed clean. Other tile paint is thicker so harder wearing but it can easily look messy and a bit weird because it’s opaque and gloopy. Anyone else got any advice about this?)
Aside from that, there is always crocks for the bottom of plant pots.
Any other ideas?
(Photo by ftibor)
Categories: bathroom, household, items, kitchen
Posted by louisa
on 26 September 2008
It’s been *slightly* windy in the UK over the past few days and there are lots of shattered slate tiles on the pavements around here.
My mum and dad, who live on the battered west coast, have spotted similar blown off tiles around them but the debris tends to be red roofing tiles rather than slate ones.
These tiles tend to be ridged or curved and around an inch thick – so not useful for all the flat things slate tiles can do, like be coasters. They’re also a rougher texture so can’t be used as mini-blackboards or anything like that.
So, presuming this is quite a common issue around the country at the moment, what can you do with blown down roofing tiles? Whole ones might be able to go back on the roof but what about broken ones?
(Photo by tome213)
Categories: garden, household, items
Posted by louisa
on 22 January 2007
I’ve been thinking about Scott’s really big piece of slate from Monday and it reminded me that I often see old slate roof tiles in skips around our estate as houses are renovated and new roofs added.
We have a slate surround and hearth for our fireplace so slate goes well in our living room but we already have some slate coasters and to be honest, we don’t use them much.
Any suggestions how else we can use the skip-dived slate tiles around the living room or elsewhere?
The tiles are flat, and usually about 30cm by 20cm and between 5mm-1cm thick (1’x9″x um, a quarter of an inch or something).
(Photo by Flo_Evans)
Categories: garden, household, items
Posted by louisa
on 6 December 2006
A few years ago, when everyone and their auntie was trying their luck during the ISP goldrush, we couldn’t open the front door for the amount of AOL cds coming through the letter box each morning.
Thankfully, it’s all slackened off a bit now but we still have stacks of old CDs to get rid of: data ones that have burnt wrong, ones that have been scratched and, on the rare occasion we still get them, those damn AOL-et-al cds.
The myriad of coasters we already own (3 different sets, 4 in each set) far exceeds the amount of coasters we use on a day-to-day basis (zero), so employing CDs to do the job – which is often the suggestion – isn’t really going to be that useful to us.
So any other ideas? What other uses are there for them?
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Categories: household, items, office, technology
Posted by louisa
on 17 May 2006
