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What can I have thats large instead of troughs at the front of a house! Help

I worked out that I need 4 troughs at the front of my home at 150cm in length and 30cm wide as the way my home is designed I want to prevent someone driving through the front door. This is a deterrent designed to look nice!! however, I found out these troughs are very very expensive £150 each so I am looking for something large that is visible and looks nice and that will protect my front doors. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Posts

  • Orchid LadyOrchid Lady Posts: 5,800

    What about Belfast sinks Paul?  They can be expensive but if you keep looking on eBay you can get a bargain, I got 3 for £5 a few months ago image

  • artjakartjak Posts: 4,167

    Paul, could we see some photos of this area? Also, look up Tufa  and Super Tufa on you tube; its a way of making tubs that look like old stone, using compost, cement and sand.image

  • Orchid LadyOrchid Lady Posts: 5,800

    Apparently you can use that method Artjak has just mentioned on big polystyrene box things (I think you can get them cheap from fish merchants or somewhere like that??) I think someone posted about it on the Belfast sink thread but no doubt someone will be along to tell you more image

  • Ok thanks Orchid Lady I appreciate that, yes I can up load a photo Artjak, not now as its pitch black but tomorrow image

    I was thinking of a large stone or something but i kinda ran out of ideas 

  • Arthur1Arthur1 Posts: 542

    Agricultural suppliers sell metal animal drinking troughs in a variety of shapes and sizes.  Not a cheap option though.

  • You'd be able to drive through a metal trough and take it with you  ;)

    Metal field troughs aren't cheap either.  They range from between £90 to £150 depending on their size and how heavy they are.

    How's about asking the highways department for a solution if it's a serious safety risk?

     

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117

    If you're any good at DIY Paul, it's relatively cheap to buy timber from a timber merchant and build some raised beds. I know that the ones I've done recently for my apple trees would have cost £50/60 each at least, (they're about 70cm square and about 45cm high) but they've cost nothing like that. You'd need some 2"/3" timber for the legs and they could be free-standing if you can't concrete them into the ground. A 3.6 m length of 100 or 150mm  x 22mm fencing timber would only be a few pounds. They might cut it to a better length for you so that you can get it in the car, or you can take a saw!

    Just a thought....image

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • artjakartjak Posts: 4,167

    I have just had timber delivered free from a nearby merchant for a project. Some pieces are over 4m long, so less wastage.image.

    Paul, are you worried about visitors driving through your door? Or other road users? If it is visitors on your drive, you could just paint a few large stones/pots white so that they see them.

    There is a house not far from me; I think they have rebuilt their front wall 5 or 6 times in the last 13 years. Drivers (I'm thinking of drivers who have had a drink and perhaps 'borrowed' a car) do not realise there is a T junction there and just drive straight into their front wall. The latest reconstruction had big steel girders within the brick. This may sound harsh, but their house is only a metre or so behind the wall. Who wants a drunk uninsured driver in their sitting room?

    This house now has a load of small reflective arrows on their wall pointing in the correct direction. Hope this helps.image

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