A new impossible problem

I need to clean and repaint the back wall of the house. The wall is about 4 metres high and 2 metres off the ground. It's 6 metres wide.

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Below the wall is clear plastic roofing that cannot be walked on or ladders rested on. I need to put some scaffolding up somehow. Preferably using whatever equipment I have lying around!

Reply to
Matty F
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The proper way to do it is with a gantry between two towers, youwould have to get someone in.

You might try filling the corrugations below with cement /above the roof supports so you could lay a plank directly on the plastic & then use a ladder. Bit dodgy though. Things could slide, it would all have to be carefully lashed/ supported.

You would want a safety harness.

Reply to
harryagain

I notice some sort of timber/metal bar coming from the wall over the top of the plastic from the middle of the house. Is this cable of taking your weight?

If so, you could build up from the left hand side of the roof with the plastic on it, and on the right, and then put boards across - so the weight won't be going on the plastic.

If not, can't the plastic roof take weight without cracking if you spread it out with boards and putting soft packing underneath them? Looks like a load bearing wall under the roof in the middle. I can't really see what support the plastic has, or how old and brittle it is.

I have a vaguely similar problem where I have to paint the gable end of my house above another pitched (slate) roof. In my case I think I can either use a roof ladder + roller with long handle, or in extremis a cherry picker, but it looks as though a cherry picker may not be accessible for you.

Reply to
Piers

Remove the plastic roofing sheets, paint wall off ladders, replace plastic roofing sheets - simples !

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

ders rested on. I need to put some scaffolding up somehow. Preferably using whatever equipment I have lying around!

The bar coming down from the middle is a plastic downpipe. Today I removed that, and screwed a 120mm bolt into the framing and attached a bracket that clamps around a ladder. I was thinking of attaching another ladder on one side of the house and putting a plank between the ladders, with a handrail. All I need to do now is to support the bottom of the ladder. I could screw it on to the wall, or build a platform for it somehow.

Reply to
Matty F

I'm astonished that this extension was created without any thought being given to painting the wall above it.

Reply to
GB

Would some large (eg, 8x4ft) sheets of ply spread the load enough to put a ladder on the flat(ish) roof?

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

Yes. All I can say is that it was architect designed. I put the weatherboards on 20 years ago and painted them. I can't remember how! And I replaced the plastic roof 10 years ago. I don't really want to remove it. Besides it might rain on my kitchen.

Reply to
Matty F

Brilliant! I have a lot of 8x4 sheets of ply. I will certainly use them somehow.

Reply to
Matty F

Stand at a distance with a long handled stiff brush/whatever to clean off and a paintbrush on a stick to paint. As an alternative to a paint brush have you considered spray painting?

Reply to
Roger Chapman

What setup do you recommend for long distance applications?

Jim K

Reply to
Jim K

hire a cherry picker......

Stephen

Reply to
Stephen

A cherry picker can't be got around that side of the house. There's an 800mm wide path between the house and a very high bank.

Reply to
Matty F

There are some very nifty spider platforms around these days, though I don't know exactly how small they get.

Chris

Reply to
Chris J Dixon

In message , Matty F writes

Does this mean it is Spring in the Antipodes?

How about creating *softeners* by moulding a strip of expanding foam to your roof profile and positioning these along the roof supporting timbers. Then use rigid crawling boards to support your ladder. I think the 8x4 will flex too much under the point loading of a ladder but you could stiffen it by screwing two sheets together spaced by three 4x2s.

Reply to
Tim Lamb

On Saturday 07 September 2013 05:29 Matty F wrote in uk.d-i-y:

What's the green corrugated roofing either side made of?

Would it and the central "bar" over the transparant roof support 2-3 scaffold planks on blocks on spreader sheets of ply?

I'm thinking if you could span the platic with 2-3 planks bolted togther and tied to the house so they cannot slide backwards, you may have a base for a ladder.

What sort of span are we talking about? I cannot tell from the photo, but I suspect the planks would need to be stiffened too.

Reply to
Tim Watts

There's corrugated iron on each side of the plastic, and a tiny bit of iron in the middle that I can walk on. The plywood can rest on the iron in the middle. All I need to do now is to rest the ladder on something about a foo t high, as at the moment the ladder is dangling from a clamp up the top. I'll make a box and attach it to the plywood. I'll attach another ladder an d a plank and a handrail, and use a harness when I'm up there. I don't think the architect knew that I decided to put plastic roof there. Being the south side of the house, of course it gets no sunlight!

Reply to
Matty F

There's an

Think they'd go through 800 mm, wether they would have enough side reach at the required heights is another matter.

Personally I'd not faff about with home brewed solutions with ladders, 8x4, brackets etc. Just get some proper scaffolders in, they'll have the proper trusses to span the plastic roof, provide stable working platform(s) so you can get to any part any time without having to move anything.

Over here scaffolding is cheap, the bulk of the cost is labour erecting/removing, you normally get 4 weeks or long rental in the price and then a small (few tens of pounds) weekly rent after that. A very rough guesstimate for this would be less than £500 and well worth it for easy and safe access everywhere.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

That is exactly what my neighbour did.

Mike

Reply to
Muddymike

I need to put some scaffolding up somehow. Preferably using whatever equipment I have lying around! How difficult would it be to take out a few of the plastic sheets? We did that one time for an aerial install, because the sheets were very easy to lift out. Otherwise, it's a scaff tower at both ends and a wide platform between the two. Scaffolding hire/erection is not all that expensive. It doesn't look as if you could get a cherry picker in there.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

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