Help me! My Frying is stuck on the window ledge

[Helpmylecreuset]

Okay this isn’t a wind up.

Have name changed for this, penis beaker, Mexican house thief etc etc.

My DH put my favourite cast iron pan on the ledge outside our flat window as it was smoking, and he didn’t want to set of the fire alarm.

Well it was so hot it fused it’s self to the window ledge. We had a friend over at the time who it quite possibly the most musular man I know, and even he couldn’t get it off.

We rent so the last thing I want to do is tear it off along with the covering of the building.

We have one idea so far which is to use the cream brûlée torch to heat up the pan again. Would this work??

The next idea is to keep it there forever and turn it into a bird bath, but this risks the wrath of our landlord when we eventually move out.

I’m really upset as it cost ££££. Please wise MN, tell me what to do!

I have enclosed a photo hopefully showing the material on the building ledge it’s attached it’s self to.

@Sideorderofchips

Put some plants and a plastic fish in it and call it an advert if it's a fishmongers underneath

That's not a bad idea! Add a fishing gnome. Get the fishmonger to rename his shop to something wittily gnome-y. The landlord will not be able to resist a smile and forgive you of all your sins.

You could always go into the fishmonger's and tell them that they aren't going to believe this, but some pesky teenage trick-or-treaters shinned up there on Halloween and superglued a frying pan to the roof...

Are you overlooked by neighbours, op?

fill it with rubbing alcohol and light it on fire heat the pan and remove when it’s melted the roof membrane....

heat up something heavy and put it in the pan to melt the membrane underneath. Piece of a train rail would be ideal....

get a car battery and some booster cables and create a short across the pan...

They're in for a treat 🔥

The thought of your hopeless husband going anywhere near a felt roof with a blow torch fills me with dread. I have visions of the whole building going up in smoke and your husband walking out of the smoke grinning and holding the pan, all pleaded with himself!

Going against the grain here, I wonder if liquid nitrogen could cool the pan and the melted felt to a point where the solid cake of melted felt is brittle enough to break when you yank at the pan (wearing oven gloves obviously). I have a feeling the cast iron pan should remain whole despite being at a temperature that may make it brittle, whereas solid cake of felt (being the approximate thickness of roofing felt) has fewer molecular bonds to shatter.

Sorry for the lack of scientific language. I have played with liquid nitrogen a lot in lab work. However I’ve not tried it on melted plastics / felt.

My DP once did this with a barbeque. He did eventually manage to prise it off with a crow bar, but the felt was damaged. Not badly enough to leak, but it marked the surface. It didn't get picked up on when we left the property. Maybe when you eventually leave the property it won't get noticed. It's such a random thing maybe leave the curtains drawn.

@gnomeisland

Weirdly, long ago I spent a long cold winter repairing crappy ashfelt flat roofs. The felt should be okay if you can remove the pan. But reckon the pan will never be the same again.

I would suggest putting a layer of charcoal in the pan - pan BBQ. The heat will be fairly even, and you can keep checking the pan until there is just enough heat to pull it off the felt without tearing it.

I don't think setting fire to the building will improve things!

@Honeyroar

The thought of your hopeless husband going anywhere near a felt roof with a blow torch fills me with dread. I have visions of the whole building going up in smoke and your husband walking out of the smoke grinning and holding the pan, all pleaded with himself!

PMSL

Have you attempted any of the suggestions?

Birdbath/wildlife micropond.

Dump a few slabs of green roof/plants around it (like Sedum), couple of pots, some taller plants, a feeder or two and nobody will realise the problem until you've moved away.

“fill it with rubbing alcohol and light it on fire heat the pan and remove when it’s melted the roof”

“heat up something heavy and put it in the pan to melt the membrane underneath. Piece of a train rail would be ideal....”

“get a car battery and some booster cables and create a short across the pan...”

Holy fuck.

Can you give us notice if he tries these, so we can all leave the area/country?

@duvetaddict

Have you attempted any of the suggestions?

No, not until we have the cash for a roofer. 😢

imagine if you leave it there til the spring, you might* get ickle baby tadpoles and a heron in your own wildlife pond. flocks of migrating swallows stopping over. seagull chicks paddling. just get some rushes and mud. It'll be lovely!

Heat up an iron in it?
I can't see how else you will get it hot enough.

The iron will give you much more heat than hot water (boiling water will cook so quickly) or a small blow torch in this weather.

If the roof ledge faces south then in the summer when we have a hot sunny day the frying pan will probably get hot enough to remove?

This is amazing!

I am sadly invested in this thread @Helpmylecreuset - any update?

@liky

I am sadly invested in this thread *@Helpmylecreuset* - any update?

Sorry no. I’ve decided to pretend it doesn’t exist and get a roofer in before the next inspection.