satellite dish and ugly lean-to

[Juju]

OK this is probably a naive question - if you have a satellite dish on your house and loads of associated cables going all over the house, can you just remove the dish and cut the wires? It was left by a previous owner, we don't need it, we hate it and we haven't been able to get at it because it's above a lean-to that probably wouldn't take our weight. Now the lean-to is leaking, the guttering above is blocked and leaking and the windows above it need painting, we think we'll dismantle the lean-to (well take off the plastic roof) and get all these jobs done. We've got rid of the box etc that was associated with the satellite dish so presumably these cables and dish aren't 'live' as such? I think in my last house the aerial man just took the redundant dish off the house and pulled out the cable... Anyway, advice needed to rid our house of this monstrosity...

Oh and is there any alternative to a plastic roof on a simple lean-to structure? It's a basic structure but a useful space for coats and shoes and my potting bench and also in winter is a buffer between the cold outside and the kitchen door. So it's a bit like a glorified pergola with a wooden structure attached to 2 sides of our house and the garden wall, with timber cladding of some sort and 2 random windows (1 is upvc - grrr) at the front, with a plastic sheeting roof. It seems to be sealed maybe with lead although it's leaking round the sides. Just wondered if we could improve on its aesthetics without too much expense! Actually now I've written all this, I remember Joce asking a similar question about this type of roof so I'll do a search but opinions welcome.
Juju

 

[Feltwell]

Not much knowledge on satellite dishes - but you say "loads of cables", how many are actually coming out of the dish? AFAIK there should only be one - which you could certainly cut, it's just carrying the signal. If there are others do they actually go to the dish, or is the cable from the dish just ran alongside them? Be careful before you get the wire cutters out! Or is just that you've one cable coming out of the dish, then more around the house as the signal was split to go to different rooms?

For a roof on your lean to, it's dictated as much has anything else by how strong the structure is. A tiled or slated roof is best but is heavy - it would need to be a good structure below. Plastic obviously lets the light in but goes grotty after a while and the corrugated type collects muck in the "troughs", which as you can see it from below makes it look even grottier. Plastic twinwall sheeting is better. Corrugated bitumen roof (Google Onduline or Coroline) is cheap and light, comes in green, red or black and fades quite quickly and gracefully. Corrugated iron, or "wrinkly tin", is cheap, lightweight and durable but it's aesthetics are questionable - some think it looks good, others (myself included) aren't keen.

 

[TheForge]

The only cables connected to a satelitte dish would normally be coax cables from the LNB (the little box in front).

These just carry the signal to the decoder and SHOULD be fine to cut. Depending on how the installation was set up you could have muliple coax cables coming from the LNB to feed different rooms/decoders.

The only potentially different scenario I could imagine would be if the dish was on a motorised bracket to enable it to move and rotate to receive incoming signals from different satelittes. In such a case there could be mains power running to the motor. Having said that it would be extremely rare!

 

[AMc]

The wires to the satellite dish are powered by a the satellite decoder box. You (generally) need one per decoder - unlike a TV aerial which can feed multiple points from a single feed. If the previous owner had Sky+ then they will have either 2 wires to one room or a single wire with a figure 8 profile - which is two cables connected. If you have no decoders plugged in there is no chance it will do you any harm to disconnect the wires.

If you are removing the installation completely I wouldn't cut the cables I would trace them back to their respective wall points inside. Disconnect them from the faceplates inside and pull the wires back out the way they came then fill the holes left behind so it is all gone. I'm not a fan of leaving random unattached wires of any sort in the house, eventually they will confuse someone trying to fix/install/remove something else.

FWIW I have a Freesat TV and a satellite & freeview based PC for recording TV. You get more channels on Freesat then Freeview but I agree the dish isn't pretty. My dish is completely hidden unless you have a helicopter

If you are looking for a roof for your lean to then toughened glass and then Capex from Equitex to hold it in place is a very good but not cheap option. The capex system is powder coated aluminium so is maintenance free. http://www.exitex.com/Capex/default.aspx The website makes it look terrible but in practice its very unobtrusive. I'm sure there are other similar options.

 

[88v8]

This stuff is good
http://www.cembrit.co.uk/Show%20Products-22522.aspx?PID=12012&ProductID=PROD88
Mind you so are corrugated iron etc. It depends how 'rustic' you want to be.

Be careful about dismantling your lean-to too much. You can repair it without attracting the ire of officialdom, but I have a recollection if you take it down beyond a certain point it counts as a new building?? Then you would be sunk.

Ivor

 

[JoceAndChris]

I really can't add anything to the excellent range of answers you've had here Juju.

A year on and the twin wall polycarbonate roof we had put on our lean-to is going strong, and given that we just brushed the edge of that tornado last week and windows were smashed and garden furniture flung about I'm pretty impressed! And it didnt even leak. I seem to remember it costing around £1400 to have done, which we thought expensive enough. Not pretty, but in our case to make a more integrated and harmonious structure would be 50,000+, as it would require a diminished course Collyweston slate roof above a polygonal bay with 3 sashes and a bathroom within to match the protrusion on the South side and restore the house's symmetry - all too much just at present. The other nice idea would be tO restore what was there originally which I'm pretty certain was one of those Regency styled iron porches or verandahs, with the sweeping pagoda shape. The marks are still there where it was.


In your case, without seeing what the building looks like at the back it's hard to advise. I guess a lot of people put conservatories on or fairly modern looking boxes?

 

[jocelyn plummer]

we just brushed the edge of that tornado last week and windows were smashed and garden furniture flung

Jeepers creepers--are you recovering?

 

[Juju]

Thanks for suggestions - I'll have a look at the roof ideas. I'll post some photos shortly...The lean-to was put up by the previous owner and it's about 10 years old. He claimed the council told him he didn't need LBC! The previous owner to him got LBC in the early 1990s to demolish a lean-to and old loo in the same position. If we put anything more robust and permanent in its place then obviously we would put in for LBC etc. I think we're probably looking at just repairing what's there or replacing the roof which is the worst bit.

The satellite dish has 4 cables from it - which I think probably go to the 4 rooms which have aerial sockets as on a quick inspection, they trail round the outside of the house to the kitchen and attic as well as through the cellar to the 2 living rooms. I don't think they're chased into the plasterwork so that's probably good news. We'll investigate further before just cutting them! The back of our house will look much better without all these trailing wires...

Talking of satellite dishes, where I volunteer for the National Trust, a member of staff who lives on site has his dish in the back garden at ground level. Because it looked a bit incongruous with our lovely Jacobean and Edwardian gardens, the handyman recently made a timber cover for it and visitors who spot it think it's a beehive! He didn't set out to make it look like that but what a good result...
Juju

 

[JoceAndChris]

What a sweet transformation! Clever idea.

Yes it does sound like replacing what's there is the best way forward if it's leaky and unsound, and if it doesn't make a big impact visually then all well and good. These unattractive lean tos certainly are a useful half way point from in to out for us gardening types. Mine's always full of parasols and wellies and gloves etc.

Have you ever considered doing a green roof anywhere Juju?

And yes Joss, thanks, all OK now, but it was very frightening.

 

[Juju]

Joce - yes I'd love a green roof. I've been thinking about it for one of the sheds (just seen in one of the photos)...

Here are some piccies of the lean-to which doesn't look too bad actually - it's the leaking roof that's the problem really.