Cherry picker hire?

[Pete Zahut]

We have some work to do on the guttering of our house and also next door's but these are terraced houses and it's at the front, ie, on the street, and means that the method of access to the gutters has to be movable along the length of both houses. If we hire some sort of scaffolding or access tower it means time and effort spent in erecting/taking down the thing and may make the job span two days, plus we have to get a street permit from the council (£23).

So, I was thinking that maybe we could hire one of these van-mounted cherry picker thingies that you see guys using for street lighting maintenance. We should be able to park it in the place where I normally park my car and no time spent erecting/stripping down means that we could get the job done in the one day - much easier all round.

However, all the hire sites I've looked at so far seem to suggest that you have to go on a training course before you can use one of these things. The course (on successful completion) seems to give you a card that lasts for 5 years. In other words, it seems that they are training you for a career in using elevating platforms and looking towards future employment, which is obviously no good for someone who wants to hire it for a day while his mate goes and does some work on the gutters. Have I got this right? Is there really no way Joe Public can just hire one for a day?

TIA

[Jules Richardson]

What are the hire prices like there? They're ridiculously expensive this side of the Atlantic - it's more cost-effective to outright buy a used one and sell it again when you're done, assuming you have the funds and storage space.

(I suspect it might be more cost-effective to simply pay someone to do the work for you too, unfortunately)

cheers

Jules

[Jules Richardson]

What are the hire prices like there? They're ridiculously expensive this side of the Atlantic - it's more cost-effective to outright buy a used one and sell it again when you're done, assuming you have the funds and storage space.

(I suspect it might be more cost-effective to simply pay someone to do the work for you too, unfortunately)

cheers

Jules

[Pete Zahut]

Yeah but the problem with that is that my mate would need a hand to erect/take down the scaffolding. I can't help him because of medical problems so it means paying a second man, which in turn brings the financial outlay within the realms of the cherry picker hire prices which he could operate himself and it's a much easier thing all round.

[Huge]

Probably because of the liability insurance...

[BruceB]

We have some work to do on the guttering of our house and also next door's but these are terraced houses and it's at the front, ie, on the street, and means that the method of access to the gutters has to be movable along the length of both houses. If we hire some sort of scaffolding or access tower it means time and effort spent in erecting/taking down the thing and may make the job span two days, plus we have to get a street permit from the council (£23).

So, I was thinking that maybe we could hire one of these van-mounted cherry picker thingies that you see guys using for street lighting maintenance. We should be able to park it in the place where I normally park my car and no time spent erecting/stripping down means that we could get the job done in the one day - much easier all round.

However, all the hire sites I've looked at so far seem to suggest that you have to go on a training course before you can use one of these things. The course (on successful completion) seems to give you a card that lasts for 5 years. In other words, it seems that they are training you for a career in using elevating platforms and looking towards future employment, which is obviously no good for someone who wants to hire it for a day while his mate goes and does some work on the gutters. Have I got this right? Is there really no way Joe Public can just hire one for a day?

TIA

*************************

I have seen them for hire on ebay before. I doubt the vendors there are so fussy! Regards Bruce

[Pete Zahut]

Well, it seems that something around £100 to £120 + VAT and collision damage waiver of £25 would get us a suitable van mounted thing for a day (7.30am to

5.30pm. Weekend, pickup Friday drop off Monday is £198).

Pete

[Pete Zahut]

For hire on ebay?? Well, I'd never realised that - I'll have a look over there. Cheers Bruce!

[A.Lee]

I'd fit the supply and fit the gutter to 2 typical terrace houses for around £200. That'd include painting the fascia before fitting the new gutter. Material cost is not much above £40, so a good earner at £200. Much better to pay someone than hiring, buying materials, and DIYing.

Alan.

[Pete Zahut]

No good for us though. These are lead-lined stone gutters on houses built in

1874 and it's a problem with the lead. I posted in here a while back and someone suggested that we need a proper old-time plumber/leadburner to sort it. We contacted the Lead Contractors Association and found that the nearest one to us is about 50 miles away and he's not interested in such a small job.

For the record, the roof was refelted, rebattened and reslated about 5 years ago. The guys said that it would be prudent to reline the lead while the scaffolding was up, so they did. It was OK for about 3 years and then damp showed up in the bedroom. Got someone else in (a builder) who said that it looked like the joint between our's and next door's lead. He did something that seemed to work but again, we've got damp. So, a roofer and a builder have failed to sort it, hence someone's suggestion to get a proper leadburner in - but we can't. So my mate is now going to have a go :-)

[Phil L]

1) why can't you use a ladder?

2) if you go down the road of hiring cherry-pickers etc and going on a training course etc, it will cost more than getting someone to do the job for you.

3) what job needs to be done on the gutters?

[Pete Zahut]

Bleedin' elf n safely innit!! Mind you, I wouldn't be the one up there anyway.

Oh yes, I've already found that out.

See my reply to A.Lee at 17.12 :-)

[Nightjar]

...

Bignell

[Clive George]

Sling a climbing or caving rope over the roof and use that for safety (with an appropriate harness...)? Ok, slinging ropes over a roof can actually be quite tricky, but once done it's nice and secure (if appropriately tied off).

[andrew]

We used a Genie AWP 30 on a job last year -

cheap to hire, quick to setup and move around. Doesn't need a training course. Ours came from wouldn't want to use it outside if it's really windy, but it got up to the gutters on a 4 storey building quite happily.

A

[Phil L]

Ah, now I see.

If a builder and a roofer haven't managed to seal the lead, what makes you think your neighbour can do it?

Lead is funny stuff, it has a tendency to shrink quite a lot during cold weather, and if it has been fixed to something, IE nailed to the bottom row of battens or something similar, it will simply rip itself from these nails...your neighbour will probably find that it goes quite a way up behind the first row of slates, but it's unlikely that this is where the problem lies. You say it's probably the joint betwen the two houses? - I'd have to agree as this is a regular occurence and it's caused by using lead that is too long to begin with - shorter pieces should be used to prevent it coming apart when it contracts.

I've done a quick jpeg of how it should be done:

pieces covering the wooden 'ridge' should each be no more than 2ft long - and it should not be done in one piece.

All the other pieces of lead in the gutter should be no more than 6ft long and they should overlap at least a foot

[george [dicegeorge]]

I think the idea of a rope over the ridge for safety and a ladder (maybe with a standoff) is a good one. You can hire long ladders. You dont know where the water's getting in, even hiring scafolding or a cherry picker might result in a look and then no action whilst you figure out the next move (having posted photos here)

Or maybe you will find leaves blocking a downpipe and solve it in 2 minutes.

[g]

[Pete Zahut]

Nothing to be honest Phil, but we're getting desperate now. It's not my neighbour who's going to go up there but a mate of mine who I used to work with on BT. I was a cable jointer on 'locals' but he was a jointer on 'trunks and junctions' and the cables he dealt with were lead covered. He's very proficient at wiping lead joints on cables but we're also acutely aware that lead sheeting is a different beast altogether - especially where our new lead meets our neighbour's old oxidised and fragile lead - but hey, gotta be worth a go.

Thanks very much for that sir, very useful info.

[Pete Zahut]

Excellent, thanks very much Andrew.

[NoSpam]

george [dicegeorge] wrote: ... snipped

... snipped

I've done this when (rather foolishly) hanging over the edge of the back side and end of the roof to paint the soffits and barge boards. It was tied to a very substantial tree; it didn't get tested but it gave a lot of confidence. If you slipped and were left "hanging around" it would be interesting to see how long it takes for whoever finds you to stop laughing andstart to help ;-)