Dealing with height on ladders.

[SS]

I really need to paint the soffit board and sort some guttering problem is :-

A. Cant really afford a pro and I am capable of doing the work. B. beyond around 10 feet I am crap on a ladder, even if I got higher I would be hanging on rather than doing anything.

Ideally I would like to get the work done this summer although could probably wait til next year.

Anyone else got this `fear` of height/ladders and how did you overcome it. I just done feel safe or comfortable 20 feet up. Is there a better type ladder I could use thinking it may be cheaper to buy something, use it, then sell on ebay.

It is more working from a ladder than the height (I think) as I am currently painting the window above the front porch, it has a steep roof but I can access from the bedroom window, I just tie a rope around the bed hang it out and use that as a comfort thing. Strange thing is I cannot access the porch roof from a ladder, I tried and just got scared and backed off.

Any thoughts or ideas on this would be appreciated. thanks

[Clive]

I would sense if you are afraid of heights, which is a pretty sensible response IMO, or as Clarkson said "it's not speed that's the problem, it's hitting something hard and coming to a stop quickly is the problem", then how about hiring a scaffolding tower if you are determined to do it yourself? If you want to really go for it, rawlbolt some anchor points in the wall and get a harness - but that will restrict movement, you need to make sure the fixing is *really* secure. When you add up costs find out how much two days of a painter's time will cost and spend your time on something else IMO

clive

[John Rumm]

One thing (and this may not be applicable here) is making sure your ladder is man enough for the job. Being taller/heavier than most I find that "DIY" rated ladders can be quite scary simply because the flop all over the place when I get on them! A proper BS EN 131 trade rated ladder makes all the difference. Also make sure the ladder is tall enough to allow proper access. So if you need to climb onto something, it needs to sail past at least 4' so you can safely get on an off whatever. When working on a ladder, having a good standoff can make it far more comfortable. Also knowing its not going to slip etc helps. So make sure the feet are in good condition on suitable ground. The ladder is erected at the right angle. If in any doubt, drive a eyelet into something near the top (or find something suitable to tie onto), and tie the top of the ladder to it.

[ARWadsworth]

Once you have got a good ladder you will want to keep it.

I never really overcame my fear of hights, I am however a lot more confident than I used to be. Maybe just practice did it for me. Although I still cannot work out how some people are able to just walk off a ladder onto a roof and make it look as easy as walking through a door.

As John pointed out you can secure the ladder to the wall with an eyelet.

[tim....]

I don't have a fear of heights, just of the ladder "falling off" the wall.

Show me a fully secured ladder and I will happily climb it. Show me an unsecured one and I feel anxious about half way up.

Getting to the top the first time to secure it is really difficult :-(

tim

[Huge]

What he said. Except "height" rather than "hight" (which means to name or call something in Old English).

Me neither. I won't work on anything above gutter height.

[ARWadsworth]

Brown underpants also help:-)

[brass monkey]

Get a man in. A chap I knew was doing the very same thing, he fell off and the funeral followed.

[stuart noble]

TO say nothing of drilling holes and fixing eyes.

Your height threshold increases by about a metre per day IME. I thought I'd never get beyond the gutter, but after a week of painting a semi I got up to the apex, so I now feel comfortable at that height, but not beyond.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I bought a scaffold tower and even than I wasn't happy till I had laced it to the window frame, and built a wood platform that abutted the house wall.

It wasn't too bad after that.

Also if using ladders get a stand-off thing so you don't have to bend backwards to actually paint overhangs.

Scaffold tower is currently at mates house where he used it to rebuild a bay window 'roof'...

[The Natural Philosopher]

It's like climbing a rock face as 'leader' to get to the belay point. Frankly, I'll be tail end charlie every time. Then I only get to fall a foot or two.

[tony sayer]

In article , brass monkey scribeth thus

Well I avoided the funeral but a month in hospital with a coma c/w fractured skull and broken femur and some ongoing pains after all that;!...

Wasn't the ladders fault.. it was what it was tied and supported by that gave way .. long storey.

I reckon that if the OP isn't or doesn't feel confident then don't do it Either a hydraulic platform if possible or well secured tower or get someone in.

I am used to very tall structures and still climb those, differing fall arrest systems, but am now that bit more wary of ladders. Used to use 'em every day years ago up on rooftops etc but I suppose once bitten;!...

However some very good advice coming up here especially re securing as this I believe is where it usually goes wrong with gutters and suchlike the slide..

So if you can get a fix or something like supports that go out either side of the ladder and a stand off system?..

But if you don't feel happy .. then don't go up there...

[michael adams]

Make up a stout wooden frame with a crossbar to fit inside an upstairs window opening. Run a rope out of that window down to the ground. Tie the rope to the approopriate rung of the ladder, Erect the ladder. Go back upstairs and tightly secure the rope to the crossbar. If you have some rope, ideally climbing rope which has more give you can secure that to the frame as well. Harnesses for securing the rope, can be bought new or on ebay.i.e bosuns harnesses Securing ladders to furniture, beds etc isn't always a good idea as they can move around.

michael adams

...

[Andy Dingley]

Which is better than it used to be, Twenty years ago I would climb aluminium ladders OK, but didn't like wooden ones. One day - shortly after I re-enacted the Road Runner coyote scene where he slides down through the rungs of yet another rotten ladder - I chainsawed up all of Dad's ladders for firewood. I realised that climbing past some rungs you knew not to trust, and only relying on the ones with an iron reinforcement wire in them, just wasn't how it was supposed to be.

These days though I'll climb most things if they're bolted in place.

OTOH, windowcleaner's triangular ladders can get stuffed. I know they're more stable, but if I'm hanging onto something that narrow, I'm not.

[Andy Dingley]

Some of my ladder bolting eyes were installed by throwing a couple of rock climber mates out of a window and letting them use their gecko- like sucker feet to hang in place while the drilled it.

The hardest part was convincing them of the morality of bolting!

Another climber friend attached ladder eyes to the back of his house by turning it into a climbing wall and working his way gradually up it, drilling as he went.

[Andy Cap]

I *always * secure the foot of the ladder, either by banging in a stake, or I am fortunate, because concrete abuts the wall on two sides, I can jam a cold chisel in against the wall and tie it to that. Once the bottom's not going anywhere, the other thing is never to over-lean ! If you can't reach a point comfortably, move the ladder. It's never worth taking a chance. My cousin's ladder slipped away and it's absolutely ruined the rest of his life.

Andy C

[dennis]

Secure it at head height then.. a couple of eyes in the wall a few feet either side and some rope will stop it slipping.

I don't like ladders either. 8-(

[Dave Liquorice]

Or getting proper scaffold put up. Mine gets delivered and erected next Wednesday so I can finish painting the house now that summer appears to have finally arrived. Two risers along about 20m of wall and a single riser about 6m long =A3840 + VAT for four weeks. =A334 + VA= T per week afterwards. Proper, safe access to all areas, all the time, unlike a ladder which you will be up and down like a yoyo or a small tower that will be a pain to keep moving especially if it doesn't have wheels or the ground isn't suitable for rolling.

And think how you are going to get down once you are dangling in the harness. You don't have long dangling before blood starts to pool in your legs and nasty physilogical things start to happen, including death.

[RobertL]

Our neighbour fell off his ladder doing exactly what you describe. Similar result for him - not death, but a lifetime of disability.

Robert

[RobertL]

robably wait til

it. I just done

an unsecured one

With climbing rope you should remember that it is designed to save you in a fall but it will only do this once. As the energy absorbed it damages the rope and the rope gets longer. The rope will have its length marked at the ends. measure it and check the length matches the labels. if it has been stretched then bin it.