The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:20 pm**

Hi there,

I've been doing up my house for the last few years and I am almost at the stage where I will be able to make a start outside. After over spending on the inside I need to make some savings.

So, I am looking into making my own flags as not only am I skint, but im a Yorkshireman and it hurts to put my hand in my pocket.

I have read a lot of things online and I think I have a grasp of what I should be doing but have any of you made your own flags? Are they easy to do? Did you make a big saving as opposed to buying ready made? Any advise on the moulds? pigments? And where can I buy the moulds/pigments/releasing agents and other bits and bats? I have found one or two places but they are more bulk orientated, when I only really need small amounts.

I know making a few flags at a time is going to take a while but I am not in any great rush but I would like to make a start.

Thanks in advance for any help given,

Col

Posted: **Sun Apr 03, 2005 11:18 pm**

Make a sentence from the following words ....

Money Waste And Time Of

... Home-made flags are always a great big steaming pile of doodoo, and bloody useless soft doodoo at that. You cannot replicate the vibration and curing conditions for wet-cast flags, and you cannot achieve the hydraulic pressures required for high-strength pressed flags.

By the time you've bought the moulds, brought in the aggs and cement, worked out what mix you need, taken all the skin off your hands with cement burns, and pissed off all the neighbours with the racket and the dust and the stacks of imperfectly cured rejects, you'll wonder just how B&Q manage to sell a 450x450mm flag for less than a quid.

Try Armcon in Stockport or Thermovac in Huddersfield for moulds and accessories, but be advised that they are not keen on buying back used kit when you realise you've over-reached yourself.

Posted: **Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:49 pm**

stop being so tight and put ya hand in ya pocket and buy from a good manufacturer ........trying to make ya own is a right pain in the pocket and by the time youve got everything you need to make em it would of been quicker to buy the buggers

Posted: **Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:20 pm**

Alternatively drive round looking for people ripping up perfectly good flags to put in block paving or <spit> decking, and offer to take their flags away free and gratis.

Posted: **Thu Apr 07, 2005 1:30 pm**

Cheers for your help fellas. I have a sneaking feeling, I just can't put my finger on it but I sense you are not fans of home made?

Back to the drawing board as I really cannot afford a big outlay at this time. The area that needs flagging is approx 90m2 so its a bit of a bigger job than I first indicated.

Thanks again

Posted: **Thu Apr 07, 2005 3:14 pm**

Hello,
Suggest you also ring garden/landscape designers, they regularly come across clients who are changing their paving and who would be more than happy to have someone else remove what they are replacing. Usually, someone has to be paid to remove and tip servicable paving simply because no one else wants it.

If you did do this, you may not get enough for the whole area, but you would then try to design what you have, into your area, possibly having one area separated from another where you might sit perhaps? Be wary of mixing different paving, lay it out and look at it on the ground first to see if it works. You could also try putting an ad in a local shop window. Someone might have some paving lurking in a corner they haven't been able to remove?

Good luck.

The Brew Cabin

Questions from a diy'er...