I've got a tight passage at the side of the house where a ladder cannot lean at an adequate angle for normal use. I'm thinking about fitting some kind of clamp or bracket on the side of the house to allow near vertical ladder position without the risk of the ladder falling away from the building. Does anyone make such things, or do I need to make one, or have one fabricated?
Thanks.
Bill.
Fred shows how to do it.
Climbing a vertical ladder is bad enough but working off one is even more difficult unless you can get hold of the type of harness the Openreach engineers use up a pole. Safest solution is hire a cherry picker or if the passage will take it a tower scaffold.
Richard
Whatever you do most vertical ladders have a tread at 90 degrees, if you use a normal ladder these days, the treads are sloped to accommodate the angle of climbing, so you need the kind of ladder which is meant to be mounted vertically. I've seen them on ships, brackets all the way up. I have to say it feels very odd climbing them though. You feel you need a safety attachment. Brian
Indians do it better
Could you not raise the ladder parallel to the wall and use proprietary support at the back of it. Not ideal as you would be working sideways on the ladder. We use a version of one of these to help cut a very tall hedge and find it very effective and safe especially on uneven ground as the supports are individually adjustable
You mention a tight passage, if this is between two buildings won?t the foot of the ladder be prevented from sliding away from the wall you are laying the top of the ladder against by the second building?
If you are careful, you could climb it and fix some Rawl Bolt eyes to tie the ladder to for extra security.
A safety harness clipped to the, secured, ladder may not be a bad idea if you are concerned- even if you are normally ok on a ladder you can get distracted and taking chances is a good idea if you aren?t 100% confident in the ladder etc.
Alternatively, consider hiring a platform.
I could watch Fred all day!
put a couple of expanding bolts into the brickwork.
NT
Expanding bolts are a good way to crack bricks. Better to use resin anchor or concrete screws - and a pair spaced across courses if the wall is at all suspect.
And fit a hanger which will take a karabiner and use that to secure the safety harness - not the ladder.
Do these even need to be at the top? Head height and a piece of rope may do it.
If you can fix the bottom so it can't move then fixing the ladder about six feet up should ensure its safe. You don't need to fix it at the top just two places spread out.
A eye bolt and strap at the bottom holding it away from the wall and an eye bolt and strap holding it towards the wall should work fine.
If its a big job hire a tower.
I don't recall the OP telling us the height he need to work at, so it could eg be 5 or 6 metres up an extending ladder. I'd be reluctant to climb that with just those 2 straps. At the very least I suspect a class III ladder would be a bit mobile.
And should you fall and be dangling in your harness who is going to get you down? You don't have long before the blood starts to pool in your legs and the brain starved of blood and thus oxygen.
Fair question.
In my case, me if I'm still conscious as I use a rope and descendeur.
If I'm unconscious then I could be in trouble. But then I can't think when I last used a ladder where there was a risk of something falling on me. And the risk of a fall due to heart attack, haemorrhage etc seems to me not unlike the risk of the same happening in a car at 70 mph and that doesn't stop me driving alone.
I fitted a scaffolding pole housing (the type that wouldbe fitted to a concrete/solid base with four expanding bolts, and allowing a vertical pole to be inserted) onto the side of the last house I owned.
Into it I inserted a 1 mtre long section of allow tubing, 2 inch diameter with another housing on the end and strapped the ladder sideways up the wall.
After use I just left the 'base' fitted to the wall, but sprayed it red to disguise it.
I would secure the bottom of the ladder to the other wall. and I would have two attachment points for the ladder, one about halfway up and one near the top.
When we had the roof done at our last house the scaffolders secured a large eye bolt to the house the eye being big enough to slide a scaffold pole through. When they dismantled the scaffolding I asked the guy in charge if they would leave it as it was in a handy place to tie a ladder onto to get on the roof. He said they were expected to bring it back even the bit that went into the brickwork, he did however leave the latter in place and would tell his boss they could not get it out. The only problem was that nothing else fitted the fixture other than the eye hook they took away!
Richard
Excellent.
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