DIY

A few years ago - say less than five - we had the concrete strips of our front path and drive replaced, in the course of which there was some fiddling about with the three drain inspection holes and their covers. In a row from back door to road. Cast iron, some rust, particularly in the frames.

A few days ago, again say less than five - I noticed that the cover nearest the road had cracked, left in the snap left. This being the one that has to take load, the two nearer the house not usually taking more than foot traffic. The occasional wheel barrow.

Off to Bing to find that modern covers are a significantly different size - 600×450mm rather than 26×20 inches. Don't want to rebuild the holes just presently, so off to Ebay to find that I can indeed buy old style covers at around £50 a pop, buyer collects. From Derby, Romsey or wherever. The snag being that they seem to come in slightly different sizes and styles, with corners rounded or square being one confounding variation.

So up bright and early this morning to see what could be done. Lifted the cracked cover to find, to my surprise, that it came out in one piece. What I took to be cast iron had not simply cracked right across. So far so good.

Lifted the cover nearest the back door and put that one over the vacated hole. A touch too small for the frame, but it seemed to bed down OK. It was also a bit more substantial than the cracked one; maybe good for a few more years yet. Maybe see us out.

Tried the cracked one in the other hole and it was too big. Lifted the middle cover to find that the cracked cover did fit that hole. And that the middle cover fitted the remaining hole. Problem sorted out well enough to give us time to find a replacement for the cracked cover.

Catastrophic outcomes which had been flitting through my mind put to rest.

PS: with hindsight, should have had frames and covers replaced at the time the concrete was replaced. Not very heritage, but they would have still been in one piece - and easy enough to change should need arise.