lead lining a box (to be watertight)

[gasket]

Hi folks.

My first post here - I'm restoring a 1906 terrace and could do with some advice.

First off - this is to do with a toilet cistern, but as it will need to be lead lined I thought that the skills involved would be closer to those of a roofer so hopefully no one will object if I post in this section.

I've bought a 100 year old high-level cistern to fit my period house. I'm completely confident in stripping and servicing the mechanism and fittings/adding a float valve - however the cistern is a dovetailed pine box lined with lead.

I'd like to reline it with new lead.

Could anyone tell me whether I should use a single sheet and use blunt wooden tools to gently press it into shape or should I aim to use flashing sheets and join them. Should I use heat to help form the liner or just gentle use of wooden tools?

Also, I'll require a sheet 80cm-square - is it possible to buy lead sheet that big? If so where would I find it?

Finally -the suspect areas are in the corners, they hold water at the moment but I don't want to have to worry about it - is there an acceptable roofing method of sealing these/reinforcing the existing lead - e.g. by melting a bead into the corners - if so that would be much easier. I'd prefer not to use modern materials and sealants.

Many thanks indeed for any advice offered.

Untitled

• gasket
• 11 Dec 2014
• 2

Untitled

• gasket
• 11 Dec 2014
• 2

Untitled

• gasket
• 11 Dec 2014
• 2

 

[Alastairreid]

To make the new box will require lead welding which i consider to be quite a specialised job.

There used to be a poster on here called justlead1 who would be the man to ask.

Here is some of his videos from u tube. https://www.youtube.com/user/justlead1

Never met a lead welding roofer btw...more likely to be a plumber... like //www.diynot.com/network/Nige+F

 

[footprints]

I might be committing a mortal sin suggesting this, but as the lead will not be visible why not lay up a suitable thickness of glassfibre matting and resin in the original box?

 

[gasket]

Thank you both very much for your help and for the links.

Given it is a specialist job (and the difficulty I'm having in finding a suitable lead sheet at a low price) - I think I'll finish cleaning up the box and rebuilding the mechanism. Then I'll properly inspect the lead and do a leak test (fill it and leave it for a week - v.scientific).

If it all looks good I'll use it as is.

If not I'll go down the fibreglass route - at £12 for a suitable kit from a boat builder, and being fairly guaranteed to work, the fibreglass would give me the guarantee I'm looking for.