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I occasionally haul a load of gravel in my pickup truck and some of the gravel inevitably gets caught in the gap between my truck bed and open tailgate while I’m unloading it.

When I wasn’t too careful about cleaning out the gap, the bits of gravel left behind chipped the paint and sometimes dented the metal. So I installed a protective shield to reduce the damage.

It’s a simple fix:

• As shown in the accompanying drawing, I made the tailgate gravel shield from a length of aluminum coil-stock flashing.
  
  
• After cutting it to length, I placed the flashing over the gap between the tailgate and the bed liner, anchoring it under the liner.
  
  
• When I don’t need it, I store the flashing under the liner.

— Clyde Kennedy; Rushville, Ohio

Tips & Techniques provided by Fine Homebuilding.
©2010 The Taunton Press

To contact Fine Homebuilding, email Christina Glennon.

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The NAHB 2010 Publications Catalog from NAHB BuilderBooks is available online.

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