Non-penetrating Roof Mount alternative?

[Rich-G]

Hi,

I'm trying to install my 95cm dish + motor on a roof terrace. I don't want to drill into any walls etc so it needs to be a non-penetrating installation. I did this previously by attaching to my old flats balcony railings. My new flat doesn't have balcony railings and just a concrete wall for the balcony.

Non-penetrating roof mounts seem to do the trick but they are expensive. The cheapest I've seen is £85 including del.

Theres pole mounts for patios for £15, but they require drilling into the ground / brick of the patio. I saw on one of the other boards in this forum that someone had drilled it into a free standing slab not part of the actual patio floor. This would work for me!

Where can I get such a slab? Do I need a special drill to drill into the slab and what fixings would I need? would a setup like this be ok for a 95cm dish + motor.

You can see the other members setup here...

http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/.../183808-my-university-setup-pretty-basic.html

 

[Channel Hopper]

A couple of kerbstones (each 40 kg average weight ) and four 10mm rawlbolts should do the trick.

Make sure you have gloves and a good back before carrying upstairs.

 

[Robbo]

You'd need an SDS drill and bit to drill into those I imagine, I expect you'd struggle with a normal hammer drill.

Normal slabs can be bought from a builders yard or garden centre.


Presumably kerb stones too?

 

[Lazarus]

You'd need an SDS drill and bit to drill into those I imagine, I expect you'd struggle with a normal hammer drill.

Normal slabs can be bought from a builders yard or garden centre.


Presumably kerb stones too?

Took me half a day to drill four holes through a paving slab for my own patio mount! Vibration White Finger was the order of that day.

 

[satelliteman]

Dead easy with an SDS drill and a shiny new bit. I laid two together and drilled them at the same time

Much stronger especially if on a balcony.

 

[rolfw]

Not sure I'd want to put two full kurb stones on a balcony, that's an awful lot of weight.

 

[Rich-G]

Yeah I'm not sure the kerbstone approach will really work. Providing its safe I don't mind if its a botch job.

The thing with the kerbstones is I live in London and don't drive. I don't fancy trying to get that amount of weight on and off the tube etc.

Drill wise the only one I've got is a cheap Argos thing. Again don't really fancy forking out for a drill just for the one job.

I have an ikea shoe rack - hear me out... _www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/40140065

that whilst I waited for Sky to be installed I connected a very light weight camping dish and added a heavy plant pot filled with compost. It worked.

I'm wondering if I could bend the bars of the shoe rack to squeeze through the 2" diameter of the patio mount, then either side of the bar put plant pots and on the bottom 'shelf' two bags of sand. A DIY non-pen roof mount... Like I said its a botch but should do the trick? PS my balcony is more like a terrace with wrap around wall, so if it fell over it just falls onto the terrace floor it can't come off the roof and hurt anyone...

Is this a bit mad?

Unparsed URL [Admin]

 

[aceb]

Two would equal about 80Kg so no heavier than a typical adult male plus the load would be spread over a larger area than two feet so I'd not be too worried about it if it were me. My 1.2pf used to be on a flat roof over looking the English Channel and was successfully held in place with the post mount being fixed to three kerb stones.

 

[satelliteman]

You need something like two small slabs with a patio mount, ideal and pretty strong.

 

[Lazarus]

Yes, two much better than one, having just had a single-slab base fall over in the wind!

 

[hexah]

I seem to recall someone putting a patio mount into a large plastic box a few feet wide and deep, and filling it with bag of ready mix concrete. It was easy to keep the mount vertical with bits of wood and string. That was for a small 45cm square Technisat Multytenne.

With the weight needed for a bigger motorized dish, then how to move it from the balcony is another matter.

A jackhammer might be needed!

It might be better to glue the patio mount into a plastic box, drill a few drainage holes then put slabs plus sand bags into the box.

Also consider using a perforated (mesh) dish as it is the lightest dish you can get, or an aluminum solid dish. Steel would be way too heavy.

Perforated dishes are also the easiest to camouflage.

 

[Robbo]

How about a big wooden box, and fill it bags of sharp sand, gravel, get them delivered.