I need to replace the guttering and clad the facia boards on my house. I plan to attempt this using a ladder. I've seen ladder attachments that keep the top of the ladder about a foot or more away from the top of the wall, so that you don't have t bend backwards while working on the guttering. Is there a name for these attachments? What are they called, and where can I get one cheaply?
Thank you,
Al
Stand-offs or stays.. Around £40 from Wickes.
Others sell them too
ladder stand-off
all over the place for ~£25. Try your local supplier (eg where you are buying the gutter etc) or the search engine of your choice : eg
Ladder stay, or ladder stand-off.
There are a couple at Screwfix - see:
You say you want cheap - have to say that I think ladders is one area where economy is not necessarily the best plan... personally, I havea "Laddermax" which is brilliant - it's very easy to put on and off (unlike most ladder accessories, which are a right fiddle); but best of all it has a work-platform in front of you where you can put your tools etc. It's really sturdy too, and you feel much more secure than when at the top of a conventional ladder.
See
- Google may come up with a cheaper supplier?
David
Stand off as others have said. I rarely go up a ladder without using one, they make a huge difference.
I'd also suggest you get one of these; >
Useful to have a shallow tray on top to hold parts and tools etc.
regards
>
IME, that needs two people and two ladders. A length of guttering is a difficult object to hold at the top of a ladder.
Colin Bignell
Agree - I use that one when clearing the gutters etc. Only problem we (+wife) find is that it adds quite a bit of weight right at the end of a long lever arm so moving the ladder is 'interesting'.
I put up a loop of rope to hold the other end. Temporary supports is the 1st rule of doing jobs on your own. Simon.
Ditto, Geo. To the extent where I can barely lift the ladder sometimes. I'm not tiny (5'8", 11stone, pretty fit), but I struggle with this.
When I do get manage to get the Laddermax up, it's great, but I find it very hard to (a) put the ladder up in the first place and (b) get the Ladder Max in *just* the right position in some applications. (Having said that it's been great for gutters)
I've even been thinking of buying a different one, which is lighter (Screwfix have one at 29.99).
John
Yup, I've got the ladder mat as well (after a recommendation her from Dave), works well.
Re the standoffs. Cehck how deep your soffits are. I had to buy a deeper one, as we have deep soffits on our current house and the old one (which is the size most commonly sold by Screwfix etc) wasn't big enough
If it's a one-off job, just hire one, or preferably two and a second ladder as you'll probably need another bod to give you a hand.
A few tips if you've never done this type of thing before:
use polytops (white pvc headed, stainless steel nails) to affix the fascia, and be carefull with them - they bend and snap very easily and getting them out is practically impossible without mangling the face of the board. keep lines of fixings straight and neat as they are visible from down below.
Also when hammering them home, stop when the head is a few mm away from the face and lightly tap it just so the head touches the fascia - the surface of it pulls in and it looks hideous if you rattle the nails home.
once your fascias are on, screw the outlet where it needs to be (in relation to the downpipe) and position it as low as possible on the fascia without it looking ridiculous. then screw on the bracket (or jointer if it's a terrace) as high up the fascia as possible - even if it''s touching the tiles/slates.
tie a string line tightly on top of the bracket, and through the outlet of the outlet, so that all the other brackets between can be offered up to the stringline.
Don't guess distances between brackets, cut a marker about 30 - 35 inches and screw a bracket on (don't use pen or anything else to mark the fascias as it won't come off)
there's 3 holes in each bracket, you only need 2 screws max, and I'd use stainless if possible, everything else rusts and it stains the fascia below each bracket.
Don't use 5m lengths of guttering in full lengths unless it's white - brown and black absorb so much heat on hot days that they twist, and in winter they shrink, often pulling themsleves out of joints etc, cut 5m lengths into
2.5s and buy a few extra straight jointers
then screw on the farthest away bracket (or jointer if it's a terrace) as high up the fascia as possible - even if it''s touching the tiles/slates.
rule of doing jobs on your own.
To my mind, the first rule of working a couple of stories up on a ladder is not to do it on your own. I also have a problem envisaging a safe way to use a loop of rope to hold the other end of a six foot length of guttering when you need to go up 20 feet, holding the other end.
Colin Bignell
It's patently easier with 2 but I have just fitted fascia and refitted gutter alone when the helper had to cry off*. Admittedly I had 2 ladders which made life easier but I did not have problems with 5m lengths of fascia and 4m lengths of gutter. I used several loops of rope, temporarily looped around rafters, to slide them into. I also found that both would rest on the roof so long as the wind was not high.
One point I would stress since the OP mentions cladding the fascia was that I was (as a novice) surprised how floppy uPVC fascia was compared with wood. I couldn't raise a 5m length or slide it into the loops like a "pole" as it flopped about all over the place. I imagine the thinner uPVC cladding would be even worse. But with luck an expert will be along shortly to confirm/correct/tell us what I ought to have done.
*I did have someone in doors briefed to phone the FB if she heard the traditional FT :)"Robin" wrote in news:IWx0q.120$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe09.ams:
It's good to hear from someone who has done it single handed. Your input is very helpful. I do most jobs single handed, even when everyone tells me I shouldn't! It's surprising what one can accomplish with concentration. The main difficuly is that I donlt have much room to put the ladder, except by having it extremely steep. So I may be forced to hire some scaffolding at the end of the day. Not really my style, as it costs...
Al
"Phil L" wrote in news:CTw0q.37863$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe18.ams:
Many thanks for your tips and advice. Just what I needed! Yes, I will be using those white-headed stainlesss pins. I need to remove the old guttering and hopefully re-use it. It is the brown deepflow polypipe stuff, and you are right, it has got a little distorted. Perhpas I ought to ditch the old and use 100% new guttering. The old stuff has been up for 20 years. I'm not sure how long it is supposed to last...
Al
"Phil L" wrote in news:MVw0q.51220$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe28.ams:
Understood. Thanks.
Al
In article , AL_n scribeth thus
Bin there dun that and lucky to have got away with it;!..
Is it really worth the risk the fall I had the other year was a month in hospital and very very lucky not to be gibbering away brain damaged in a wheelchair...
Yes what's your health worth and life come to that?..
Much safer and much easier to do the job single handed.
Colin Bignell
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