High level lifting

[The Medway Handyman]

Load is pretty well spread. A 4 metre awning will have 4 brackets, each with 2 x 14mm sleve anchors.

[Matty F]

This is a very strong design that will lift some ten tons up about six feet:

has a big screw thread.

[Unbeliever]

Stuart,

With all due respects, changing a lightbulb is not the job in question - but the lifting, manoeuvring and fixing of any heavy weight (as described by TMH) requires a little more thought and something a little more stable than a couple of step ladders.

As for the aforesaid lightbulb, I agree that the HSE rules can be interpreted a little more sensibly by a number of public and private bodies - but in this day and age, fault must be attributed to anyone else rather than the individual concerned.

[The Medway Handyman]

SNIP BOLLOX

Not according to H&SE shit for brains. Up to a 4 metre awning has been check & approved by them.

Sound of another bollock being dropped.

This is going to really piss you off, you being one of lifes failures, ex foreman & council house dweller.

I get paid to change lightbulbs! £45 for the first hour, £20 per hour afterwards - and a 200% mark up on the bulbs!

Just think. If you had the wits to do that one morning a week - it would be more than your Giro!

You could afford a puncture repair kit for your girlfriend!

[Owain]

If TMH's prostate was on the ground, where would the rest of him be?

Owain

[The Natural Philosopher]

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Owain saying something like:

[John Rumm]

Now that's a dangle grinder accident one does not want to think about! ;-)

[John Rumm]

A friend of mine is a retired builder, frequently used to have to manhandle large awkward loads into position. The favoured approach usually being incrementally lifting each end in turn, and then propping it, move to the other end rinse and repeat etc.

I would guess a similar trick could be done here. If you made up a couple of tripod style constructions (that could knock down to go in the van), that had a Acrow style column that you could peg at different heights, You could place your awning on a pair of them, then both of you could lift one end and raise the prop and peg it. Then repeat at the other etc. Perhaps I will see if I can draw what I have in mind...

[John Rumm]

[dennis]

All you need is to stake a couple of ladders so they don't slide, as you would if you were going to actually climb them! Hang a block and tackle from them and use them to lift the thing up. Then you can drill and screw to your hearts content while standing on a couple of step ladders.

Of course a professional might have a jig that they can use to locate the holes and studs and then just lift the blinds onto the studs and put a nut on.

[John Rumm]

So long as the clients don't mind you staking ladders to their patio or decking...

You may need to fashion a C frame hook of some sort to enable the unit to be held without a rope passing behind it.

[The Medway Handyman]

stones at Stonehenge.

[The Medway Handyman]

A professional would know that brackets are fixed to the wall & the awning located into them. It was mentioned in the OP.

Geoff - slap this boy!

[The Medway Handyman]

My original thoughts were along the lines of a ladder + block & tackle, but my concern was slipping.

There is enough clearance for a rope or strap.

[John Rumm]

They probably used a rocking see-saw method for those - placing a fulcrum near the centre of a long stone, and then loading one end with weights (or more likely water in containers). The other end is then "up". and a new taller fulcrum can be slid almost up to the first. Shift the weight to the other end to swap "up" ends, and insert fulcrum from there etc. You could imagine lifting a large stone one huge pile of timber sleepers.

[dennis]

Sandbags, screw eye in wall, etc.

[John Rumm]

There is the minor point that another couple of extending ladders, plus a pair of block and tackle setups probably cost 5 to 10 times the price of a couple of jigs made for the purpose, that are also smaller and fit in the back of a van. The ladder approach also carries more risk of a sideways slip.

[Cicero]

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If you're considering making your own version based on this design have a look here for telescopic (round) steel tube:

would work like a scaled up version of a basic axle stand.

Cic.

[stuart noble]

Can't help thinking this problem must have already been sorted. Big domestic awnings may be new here, but they're common in warmer climes. I wouldn't reinvent the wheel without researching a bit further afield

Probably this link has already been posted?