Making a ladder stand off

That is possible, but it sounds insanely dangerous - unless you live in a bungalow, maybe.

It might be safer to make a 12" box that you screw to the house, just under the gutter, then lean the ladder against that?

I have a stand off you can borrow - pick up from N London.

Thanks very much for the offer that is very kind of you. It is a bit far for me to come but the offer is much appreciated.

Wet the box idea yeah that sounds safer but the house is rendered so would damage the wall

Thanks

Lee.

Make sure you have somebody standing by to call the ambulance if it doesn't work.

If the ladder isn't long enough to rest on the gutter it isn't long enough. But to make a stand-off, use a length of timber of about four foot. This sits on the wall and is horizontal. The following is fixed centrally to that timber. Fix two lengths (A and B) spaced apart the distance between the side rails of the ladder. Fix two lengths (C and D) spaced apart slightly less than the distance between the side rails. All four (A - D) are pivoted vertically using bolts and angle brackets, not door hinges. Make four U bolts; use two of these to attach A and B to the ends of a rung. Use the other two to attach C and D to the ends of the next rung down.

Bill

As an ageing weakling I'd just add that it could end up significantly heavier than a commercial, metal one. I find even a couple of kg makes a difference when at the end of 8m of ladder.

The ladder is long enough the problem is that the guttering is made of plastic so didn't think that it would hold the load. It did give me another idea. I wonder if I can get up close enough to remove a piece of gutter then rest it on the soffit. I am not 100% on ladders so don't fancy standing up vertically on the ladder without being able to hold on. I have seen others stand on them as if they were stairs

One thing to remember is that gravity is very unforgiving. I hate working at heights.

If you haven't done it before, the easy bit is getting off the top of the ladder onto the roof. The hard bit is getting back down the sloping roof and then getting a secure footing onto the ladder. I've seen and heard of instances where someone has got up onto their roof to sort a problem out, then had to call fire & rescue to get them back down again.

Yep, I did it 16 years ago to fit TV/FM/DAB aerials, but won't do it nowadays.

Just wedge a length of timber inside the gutter to support its wall.

Bill

What a great idea. I will probably need to put some timber between the gutter and soffit too so as to not snap a bracket but that definitely sounds doable.

Thanks

Lee.

It's a square gutter then, not half round?

It is an ogee shaped gutter so has a nice ledge for the timber to sit on too ?

That happened to my Best Man's father (preventing the Best Man from attending our engagement party) - only in his case, it wasn't fear of falling, but the fact that he died of a heart attack up there!

I was thinking of relating that tale made real. An aerial rigger (who should have known better) got caught out on the high roof opposite me.

He had a mate with him fortunately so emergency services rescue wasn't needed. He went up the ladder OK and got onto the roof which has a misleading dual slope - shallow initially and then much steeper.

He quickly bounded up it only to reach the top and then look down again. He ended up sat on a ridge tile clinging to the antenna bracket he had gone up to adjust.

Apex of the roof must be 45' off the ground and the gutter line at 30'.

It is a hell of a long way down and going up is much easier than coming back down under control. His mate had to get a cat ladder off the van and then run it up to the ridge to rescue him. It is bad for the clay pan tiles to have people stomping on them in heavy boots anyway.

It's standard practice in the aerial game. Incidentally most decent plastic guttering is surprisingly strong. It's only the cheap s**te that gets affected by sunlight. That stuff shatters into a million bits as soon as the ladder touches it.

The worst thing with gutters is when they're cast iron. You look at it and it seems fine. But when the ladder touches it a long length falls to the concrete and shatters.

Bill

It works with any shape.

Bill

done that before, trivial to make. Just be thorough :)