A custom-made robot vacuum ramp for a Northern Beaches customer.
This customer in Davidson had recently purchased a robot vacuum online. What they didn’t realise was that the laundry floor had previously been retiled over the top of the original tiles, creating a significant lip at the doorway. While it wasn’t an issue for people, the robot vacuum couldn’t climb over the step, meaning it skipped the laundry entirely during its cleaning cycle.
Although the homeowner could manually lift the vacuum into the laundry each time, that defeated the purpose of having a robot vacuum doing the work automatically.
They reached out to handyman Peter for a solution.
The ramp had to built to accommodate imperfect dimensions
After inspecting the area, Peter measured the doorway opening and the height difference between the hallway floor and the laundry tiles. As is often the case in older homes, the doorway wasn’t perfectly square, so an online robot vacuum ramp wasn’t going to work.
Back at his workshop, Peter was able to use a piece of timber he had in his stash to make the ramp to fit the space. It was important the timber was the right depth and profile so it would blend naturally between the timber flooring in the hallway and the tiled floor in the laundry. Importantly, it couldn’t be a trip hazard. To achieve a perfect fit, Peter planed the timber to suit the slight variations in the floor levels and doorway opening.
From his collection of paint tins, Peter was able to colour matched the ramp to the grey laundry tiles. The colour match was exact!
Because this is a high-traffic area of the home, Peter applied several coats of paint followed by a durable clear lacquer top coat. The lacquer provides additional protection against wear and makes the ramp easy to clean with a quick wipe over.
The finished result is a practical, unobtrusive solution that allows the robot vacuum to move seamlessly between rooms and clean the entire home without assistance.
CONTACT PETER
If you’ve recently purchased a robot vacuum and discovered it can’t access certain rooms due to floor level changes, door thresholds or raised tiles, Peter can help. He also designs and installs custom ramps to assist with accessibility and mobility needs throughout the home.
Peter is a local Northern Beaches handyman who services clients from Palm Beach to Manly, Terrey Hills to Balgowlah, and everywhere in between. No job too small.
Get all your home repair jobs fixed at once. Prepare a list of all those annoying property maintenance and home repair projects that have been bothering you and get Peter to fix them in one go.
Peter Mitchell, That Handy Guy
Handyman Northern Beaches