fix shed roof that's hard to reach

[TimR]

The edge of my shed roof has rotted. It's a standard shingle over wood deck, about a 4/12 I'd guess, only one story. I think I just need to cut out a strip of the end of the deck and replace.

It shouldn't be hard, but there's nowhere to put a ladder. The shed is on the edge of a steep hill, more like a gully. I've got only a foot or two before it drops off sharply.

This must be a common problem with an obvious solution but I'm not seeing it. I can get up from the other side but I'm not confident I can work head down like a bat.

How is this usually done?

[dpb]

"Usually" is dependent on the actual site details that are only so generically described as to be unable to say much precisely...

Much depends on "how steep is 'steep'" and what the ground makeup is and such. Generally one would be able to use a longer ladder, make a couple little landing places for the feets and tie it off to prevent it moving out from the house and thus, down the slope.

In severe cases, one may drive stakes or the like...in really, really severe cases, building cribbing may be required altho one would rarely do that extreme for anything but a long-term, major effort.

[TimR]

So basically build someplace for the ladder to rest, and of course tie it off. Yeah, that makes sense.

[DerbyDad03]

Rig up up something like this, anchored on the opposite side of the shed from where you have to work...or just hire this guy...

[DerbyDad03]

The block of wood to level the ladder would need a secure place to be positioned. If there is no place to securely position the legs of the ladder, then there is no place to securely position the block of wood. Since it sounds like some type of landing spot needs to be built anyway, I'd make sure the landing spot was level in the first place.

[DerbyDad03]

If the slope it too steep, even your extender won't help. I believe that that is the whole issue that the OP is having. Picture a shed on the very edge of a sheer cliff. Where are you going to put the legs of the ladder if you need to work on the side of the shed near the cliff?

You'd need to build a platform into the side of the cliff so the ladder would have a place to land. Of course, you would need a ladder to build the platform to hold the ladder to fix the shed.

Chicken...Egg. Egg...Chicken

[Don Phillipson]

The one time I employed a carpenter to put in a window 15 ft. above (level) ground he brought with him a skeleton scaffold, which reached

4 or 5 feet high in each tier, and was up at the worksite in less than ten minutes, with a solid platform 4 x 6 feet to work from. Of course he had done this before . . .

[clare]

Rent a sky hook? Hang the ladder from the peak of the roof?

[Guv Bob]

wood deck, about a 4/12 I'd guess, only one story. I think I just need to cut out a strip of the end of the deck and replace.

is on the edge of a steep hill, more like a gully. I've got only a foot or two before it drops off sharply.

seeing it. I can get up from the other side but I'm not confident I can work head down like a bat.

Check this out... Just an idea. Essentially build an extension with

2x4's and 3/4-in plywood. If you do something similiar to this idea, be sure everything is fastened down good with screws and be sure not to include a guard rail. I'll probably get yelled at, but the sketch is posted at alt.binaries.pictures.autos. Subject "ladder.gif". I could not find any place to post it on the web. I know that group is active and free of nekkid photos.

[Guv Bob]

Correction below....

wood deck, about a 4/12 I'd guess, only one story. I think I just need to cut out a strip of the end of the deck and replace.

is on the edge of a steep hill, more like a gully. I've got only a foot or two before it drops off sharply.

seeing it. I can get up from the other side but I'm not confident I can work head down like a bat.

Check this out... Just an idea. Essentially build an extension with

2x4's and 3/4-in plywood. If you do something similiar to this idea, be sure everything is fastened down good with screws and ** be sure to include ** a guard rail. I'll probably get yelled at, but the sketch is posted at alt.binaries.pictures.autos. Subject "ladder.gif". I could not find any place to post it on the web. I know that group is active and free of nekkid photos.

[clare]

Only if you get a good one. I've installed something in the neighbourhood of 200 LED replacement bulbs - MR16 and GU10. I've replaced at least 50 of them due to failure in about 2 years. Many have not lasted 6 months. These are Chinese manufactured units using Cree LED elements. My suspiscion is there is a heat transfer problem between the LED and the heat sink ans virtually all have had LED failures, not driver failures.

The Philips and Ikea E27 bulbs I have installed have not had any failures (yet) - less than 6 months of service. The 7 MR16s in my basement office have yeilded 12 dead bulbs so far (2 years)

[(PeteCresswell)]

ePer TimR:

How big is the shed and how much level ground do you have moving away from the gully?

Me and another guy moved his 21x14 shed over a hundred feet last year using 4" PVC pipes as rollers and a pry bar for leverage.

Maybe move it over six feet to get some room, fix the roof, and move it back...

Sounds like a big job, but what's a half-day's labor compared to the risk of getting killed or maimed falling off a ladder whose feet slipped out from under it?

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per (PeteCresswell):

... and a sixty-dollar floor jack from Tractor Supply to raise it up on to the PVC pipe.

[TimR]

It's a big shed, hard to move, but this is exactly the kind of idea I'm looking for - the stuff I won't think of on my own.

[Stormin Mormon]

of idea I'm looking for - the stuff I won't think of on my own.

Fire departments use a roof ladder, which would get you onto the roof. Hooks onto the ridge pole.

But that would not make it easy to pull out some shingles and sheathing.

Sounds like you need to custom build scaffolding, and bolt onto the side of the building. Maybe long bolts through the wall, so you can get better strength.

I like someone else idea to move the shed out and put it back.

[TimR]

Had another idea.

Rather than find something for the bottom of the ladder to sit on, which is going to be difficult, maybe bend the ladder 90 degrees and tie it off on top.

The base of the ladder will rest against the wall, the top of ladder will be roped to a sturdy tree on the other side of the shed.

I can even nail a 2x4 to the shed wall for the legs to rest on.

They make ladders with joints, my brother has one.