I am painting my foyer which contains an 18ft ceiling. I have a 20ft Gorilla ladder and a 16ft 2-piece ladder, neither of which will put me even close to the ceiling. Other than renting a scaffold, I cannot come up with a means to access this fixture. A jet pack would be perfect. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Matt
Do you have industry-oriented rental operations in your area? Any of those should be able to come up with an electrically-operated man lift that will easily go 20+ feet and still fit through a standard doorway. Not a cheap rental but when you need one you need one.
I had a jet pack, but before I knew it, I hit my head on the ceiling and fell back down to the floor, breaking the new lightbulb.
What do your neighbors do? Maybe you can borrow their device, or at least find out what they use. Maybe 3 of you can buy something together.
Rent scaffolding and while you are at it put in a power lift for the lamp so you can clean and change bulbs. They make electric devices that have a motor that will lower the light for service. Do it now and you will not need to go back up there to service the light.
The neighbors paint from a ladder and around the existing light. And of course, hire a pro to paint (I just cannot bring myself to pay over
1k for paint). One neighbor built scaffold out of lumber, painted, then disassembled and used the wood to build his deck. I just climbed up my Gorilla ladder, scaffolding is the way to go.
My thoughts are to buy one of the larger sized Little Giant ladders. It is easy to get through doors when it is in the retracted position. I have a model 26 which extends to 11' in the "A" position. You would probably need the next bigger size. Just be aware that they can be very heavy. It will come in handy when you need to change light bulbs.
The other option is to rent a Genie Lift or something similar. You can get one that will fit through doors and once it is set up is very easy to move around. I would suggest that you put sheets of Masonite down on the floor if you rent a lift as it may cause some damage to your flooring. Go down to a local contractor rental yard and see what they have.
Scaffolding! About a year ago I hung a ceiling fan in our 2-story family room (about 18 ft ceiling). Did a little touchup painting while I was up there. Two 6 ft sections of scaffolding with safety railing set me back about $40 for a full-day rental. With your feet 12 ft above the floor, if you're something close to 6 ft tall, the ceiling is a pretty comfortable reach. Plan your work to minimize the number of trips up and down the scaffold - that climb gets old after a while. It's good if you have a helper to move the scaffold - you sit down and hang on, they unlock the wheels, roll the scaffold, and relock the wheels.
That said, and remembering all the work involved with the scaffold, the other poster's suggestion about an electric man-lift sounds pretty good - no idea how pricey that is though. If you're spending that kind of money, maybe paying a painter starts to sound better.
Jerry
Yes
Last time I rented one it was about $150 a day for the week we had it. I think delivery and pickup was extra. This was a more industrial sized one that would not fit through a door.
would setting your 16 ft ext. ladder up on a sturdy table or a couple of saw horses with a couple of 2x? and piece of scrap osb/plywood work?
There's always another option. You just haven't looked hard enough.
How big is this foyer, anyway? Any windows, balconies, or stairs?
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