Ladders in awkward spot

[Colin Blackburn]

I need to cut back the ivy on the back wall of my house. Unfortunately there is a pond just off this wall making the siting of a ladder less than straightforward---I suspect this is why the ivy has become overgrown prior to me moving in. The rough dimensions are below.

House height to eaves 5m Pond (irregular shape) width 2.5m Space between bottom of house wall and boundary wall: 4m The space between the pond and the two walls is variable but there is at least a foot at the boundary side and at least two feet at the house side.

Something like this (fixed width font):

@ @ @ HOUSE BOUNDARY @ WALL WALL @ @ @ @__ ____@ \______/ POND

I'm not sure how deep the pond is (not very) or what the base is like, though it looks butyl-lined.

So far my thoughts are:

1. Some sort of base-board put into bottom of pond and ladders rested on this.
2. Some sort of plank/ladder placed across pond and ladders rested on this.

I can see lots of problems with, some messy and some dangerous. Any thoughts from ladder experts?

Colin

[Serial Bodger]

You would probable be safer constructing a scaffold tower to span across the pond then building it up from there. It's going to be much safer than anything you can lash together with boards and ladders.

[Brian]

Colin

As Serial Bodger says, the safest way is hire a tower scaffold for a couple of days and erect this so that it spans over the pond.

The knock on effect of this is that if the ivy has damaged the building you can repair this damage quickly and safely off the scaffold - and whilst it is there, why not take the opportunity to paint any fascias, soffits, bargeboards and windows that would otherwise be inaccessible and also clear out any debris that is in the gutters.

OK so it take a bit longer but you won't have to worry for a few years about those items.

One other thought, if you are unable to get a modular tower scaffold near the site, a scaffold company can erect a tubular scaffold on that side of the house for a fairly reasonable cost and that usually include two weeks hire as well.

Believe me, if there are situations where ladders can slip, no matter what you do to stop them they probably will and the ground is a damn site harder than you are.

Bri

[Michael McNeil]

The trick is not to damamge the pond. It may be worth a lot of dosh, depending on what is in it:

the ivy is a host to all sorts of song birds. Everything from Wood Pigeon down to wrens feed on or by the berries that only come from mature 4 to 5 year old ivy. Perhaps that is why it was left growing. Check out what was nesting in there a few weeks back.

sooooooooo do wish people would cut their replies to the bone. There is no need for a repeat of the whole message in most replies. Can Do It One's Selfers be so bone idle? This is by far the worst site for such a lack of etiquette.

[Brian]

Michael McNeil

Sometimes needed for the reply to make a little sense as there must be a number of posters in the group who ARE rather busy and may not be able to spend the time looking through a very long thread to try and make sense of the answer(s) that have been given.

This reply has been cut to the bone and beyond and a reading of other postings will be needed to make sense to anybody else other than you or I.

Oh! and the proper term is netiquette of which I am aware and which also includes the leaving in of sufficient detail to make sense, links to other posts, bottom posting of replies, spam, advertising and unnecessary signatures.

Thank you for your time in pointing this out.

Brian

[Simon Avery]

Hello Colin

Ick.

In that case, don't go for:

Even with thick carpet, there's bound to be stones in the base and any pressure will probably push 'em through.

Possible, but not great. Maybe a plank with a stop nailed on to prevent the ladder sliding, and some stability planks (think of a giant H, the crossbar going over the pond). Not exactly ideal, though.

Grownup scaffolding is probably the only "safe" option here. Another is ropework (rope over roof, abseiling/ascending gear) - not recommended unless you have experience.

The "normal" tower (mini) scaffolding is generally only four feet square, so ain't gonna be a lot of use here unless you can find one at least 3m so it can span the pond safely.

[The Natural Philosopher]

It will go brown and fall off leaving a scarred mess behind it. :-)