Advice on taking down 30year Sattelite Dish

califano · 13-03-2021 10:49am #1

I'm planning on taking down a sattelite dish that was the original sky dish on the market. Must be 30 years old.
Its located on the back of the house drilled into a concrete wall just under the bedroom window sill.
I'm looking for any helpful advice for the best way to tackle taking it off. Like what size wrenches would I need?. I have a feeling the screws are probably well rusted.
Just asking here before I get up to assess as its between 2 houses and I would need to climb and scale the adjoining wall to get at it as I cant access it by ladder as a conservatory is in the way.

punisher5112 · 13-03-2021 10:52am

Angle grinder, hacksaw, Drill to drill out screws, if it's bad.

If replacing be aware it's not permitted to fit on a front of a dwelling.

Tokyo · 13-03-2021 10:53am

If it's below the windowsill, can you unbolt it from the window and lower it? They aren't particularly heavy. More than likely it will be bolted on with wall anchors, which could be anything from 10mm to 13mm bolts, but without photos it's hard to tell.

Dish and bracket will also be separate - might be easier to unbolt the dish, and then deal with the wall mount afterwards.

califano · 13-03-2021 10:54am

punisher5112 wrote: »

Angle grinder, hacksaw, Drill to drill out screws, if it's bad.

If replacing be aware it's not permitted to fit on a front of a dwelling.

Thanks, no i'm not replacing.

califano · 13-03-2021 10:57am

Tokyo wrote: »

If it's below the windowsill, can you unbolt it from the window and lower it? They aren't particularly heavy. More than likely it will be bolted on with wall anchors, which could be anything from 10mm to 13mm bolts, but without photos it's hard to tell.

Dish and bracket will also be separate - might be easier to unbolt the dish, and then deal with the wall mount afterwards.

Thanks. Yeah I just really want to unbolt the dish and may leave the wall mount as taking that off will expose the hole in the wall?. The wall mount would be a lot more stubborn I assume.

Melodeon · 13-03-2021 10:57am

At 30 years old, I'd be amazed if the original fixings were in any condition to be removed by the same tools they were installed with.
The dish bracket is probably rotten enough to be flexed a bit and just pulled off the fixings.
Tool wise, I'd be thinking along the lines of hammer & chisel, prybar, visegrips, cordless mini-grinder, or some combination thereof.

califano · 13-03-2021 11:00am

Melodeon wrote: »

At 30 years old, I'd be amazed if the original fixings were in any condition to be removed by the same tools they were installed with.
The dish bracket is probably rotten enough to be flexed a bit and just pulled off the fixings.
Tool wise, I'd be thinking along the lines of hammer & chisel, prybar, visegrips, cordless mini-grinder, or some combination thereof.

The ideal scenario!.

califano · 13-03-2021 11:09am

Here is a picture of the setting.

KaneToad · 13-03-2021 11:12am

califano wrote: »

Here is a picture of the setting.

I'd be amazed if you couldn't pull that down without tools - albeit leaving the bracket behind.

Back and forth movement should be enough to break the u bolts.

califano · 13-03-2021 11:13am

KaneToad wrote: »

I'd be amazed if you couldn't pull that down without tools - albeit leaving the bracket behind.

Back and forth movement should be enough to break the u bolts.

Ah great im encouraged by this. I will report back, just waiting for a less windy day and one the neighbour is out.

mickdw · 13-03-2021 11:16am

Nice roof to work on.
I take a grinder up there and just chop the clamps

califano · 13-03-2021 11:22am

mickdw wrote: »

Nice roof to work on.
I take a grinder up there and just chop the clamps

It looks like it but its not as secure as it looks to stand on. I wouldnt be standing on it anyway id have to be standing on the narrow adjoining wall. If necessary I would fall back on sticking a foot on.

punisher5112 · 13-03-2021 11:26am

If you have access to a ladder, could you ask the neighbour if they wouldn't mind you using their back garden to access, as in no using of roof and a small wall not great to be trying to stand on.

Some silicone for the holes would be the job if you remove the bolts....

If I remember right I'd say 13 to 15 size spanner but it's a guess on that.

Tokyo · 13-03-2021 11:28am

califano wrote: »

Here is a picture of the setting.

Not sure why you can't just sit on the porch roof and have at it with a hammer.

califano · 13-03-2021 11:42am

punisher5112 wrote: »

If you have access to a ladder, could you ask the neighbour if they wouldn't mind you using their back garden to access, as in no using of roof and a small wall not great to be trying to stand on.

Some silicone for the holes would be the job if you remove the bolts....

If I remember right I'd say 13 to 15 size spanner but it's a guess on that.

What the bush obscures is a boiler down below on the other side of the wall in the neighbours so thats not possible. Thanks ill bring a variety of spanners and borrow my brothers angle grinder if necessary. Ill climb up to assess first and have a go at shivvying it off then ill concentrate in the fixtures and plate.

califano · 13-03-2021 11:43am

Tokyo wrote: »

Not sure why you can't just sit on the porch roof and have at it with a hammer.

Yeah looking at it I dont think accessing it will be a problem and I can put a bit of weight distribution on the roof.

califano · 13-03-2021 12:14pm

Here's a shot from the window. That's a wing nut for tilt and just standard bolts underneath so hoping it's an easy job.
I'll get it done over the next couple of weeks hopefully.

Sleeper12 · 13-03-2021 12:23pm

As Punisher says, angle grinder. It's doubtful you will get many of the bolts open after 30 years

swoofer · 13-03-2021 2:56pm

Here's a tip. Put a rope around the dish ie lasso it from window because if it falls it will break something.

The 4 walls bolts will be dry so try those, if they shear then job done, hammer in bolts flat and paint over.

Or try u bolts, use wd 40 first, that dish is in a perfect shady area, the bar holding dish looks brand new. Bolts on u bolts may shear as well. Just use correct spanner.

When done post a pic.

good luck

califano · 13-03-2021 3:11pm

Thanks for all the good advice and tips. Will post a pic and let you know of any 'I should have done this and that!'. Good idea tying it as its kinda precarious for me. Yeah I think I will leave the plate and just paint over it. The other stuff im hoping will be ok to get off.

Harry Palmr · 13-03-2021 3:16pm

I'd soak the bolts you choose to loosen in lubrication for a day and then fit the appropriate socket attachment to a drill and put it in reverse on a low speed setting and yes tie it so it doesn't crash to earth.

Zardoz · 13-03-2021 4:01pm

A spanner and WD40 should be all you need to remove the wall bracket.

theguzman · 17-03-2021 4:00am

I would say that dish is hardly 15 years never mind 30 years old, it certainly isn't an old Sky Analogue dish anyway.

califano · 17-03-2021 3:50pm

Thats strange. I wouldn't know one dish from another but there was never another one there and I remember getting a sky dish when it first came out so that has to be it.

Will be tackling it within a couple weeks.

EDIT: Just found the ledger entry. Got it installed Oct 2000. But in my mind I was sure we got sky when it came out initially. Unless this dish here was a replacement for the original but if so I cant remember it and mustnt have took note.

califano · 16-09-2022 12:05pm

It's been a while but I've finally got around to doing this today. Despite the rusting I was actually able to loosen the dish pole from the base plate with a 10mm wrench lift it up and that was it.

The base plate remains in the wall as you can see as I would like to put silicone in the holes. The base plate seems loose enough to be able to screw out as they seem in good condition protected by the dish and being on the wall unlike the 4 x 10mm screws that fasten into it.

I spent a bit of extra time taking out the rusted 10mm screws from the loops as I didn't want them rattling from the wind.

I just need to daub a bit of paint on the wall to hide the stain from under the boiler flue.

califano · 16-09-2022 1:54pm

As a footnote of sorts if it might help someone with an old build with concrete sills. This is part of a window sill on the other side of the window that broke off as it was further weakened by an installation engineer drilling into it to secure cable for another dish on that side. A few years after he did this a crack emerged at that point that worsened and was liable to fall down so I plucked it off before that happened.

With hindsight if we would have realised the sill was likely weakened over time already and he was going to drill into it we would have said no drill into the wall just underneath it. I would suggest asking where the installer intends to drill and stand on to keep the burdon off the sills.

Advice on taking down 30year Sattelite Dish

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