A previous correspondent to the Tips & Techniques column described a cart that he’d created for moving toilets around during renovations. That rig (see Toilet transportation) consisted of a plywood base about 12 in. by 18 in., 2×2 curbs and caster wheels mounted below. After lining the recess of the cart with newspapers, you could kick this cart under the base of a raised toilet and then push it out of the way. Good idea.
As shown in the drawing, I’ve refined this basic buggy by using the sort of casters with stems that fit into plastic sleeves. By drilling right through the curb, these sleeves can be slipped in from the top or bottom. With a piece of foam or carpet on the flat side, I’ve got a great cart for moving vanities and the like. It also makes a dandy mechanics-type crawler for accessing the underside of sinks or lavatories. It’ll scoot around for low-level work on outlets or baseboards.
With the recessed side up, I drag my compressor around, lug paint pails and move buckets of drywall mud. And with a cradle made of 2x scraps, the cart can wheel heavy exterior doors from my workstation to their locations, just to name a few other uses.
—Peter Blackmore, Salt Spring Island, None
Edited and Illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #128
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Another option is that these types of carts are often in stock or readily available from a lot of sources: HD, Lowe's, Sam's, etc. and are made of oak in most cases. What I've done is bought a couple of them and made a removable deck insert that's carpet padded - you can either make it a snug-enough fit or use your choice of clip/bolt/bungee-fob to secure it (from the bottom). Same w/o padding which I use for tile or bagged materials for moveable storage or moving around a work area so I only have to lift or carry twice. You can cut-out a handle to carry or hang the deck for storage. Also, depending on how you decide to pad the deck it could be flipped from plywood to padded side up. As Peter points out, utilization of these carts is quite versatile. One thing I'll note is that for long-term heavy storage, such as ceramic tile, many caster wheels can/will develop a flat spot.