Here is a ladder modification I did a few years ago. Put a 1/2 piece of plywood on the base of the ladder to prevent on the legs from sinking in soft soil. I used wing nuts so that I could easily remove it but it works so well I never take it off. There are also a screw on each side so that when I use this on my deck I can screw the plywood into the deck for even better stability
Ladder Injuries
- Thread starter mountainsoft
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Out-to-Lunch
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I have one of these (and even use it sometimes! 
):
):
I have a ridiculously large house with some insanely high ceilings. One time one of the vanes on the overhead fan in the living room broke, and (being much younger and stupid) I decided to fix it myself. I rented the tallest A-frame ladder I could find (15'?), but I still had to stand on the "do not stand here" step, reaching over my head. I was terrified but I escaped without injury, in spite of my suicidal behavior.
But this year I had to replace a light fixture over my stairway. Directly over the middle of the up&down stairs, no way you could put a ladder there. And no way was I going to get ON a ladder there. I found a crazy electrician (also in his late 60s) with no fear of ladders, and we McGyver'd an insane platform to put an A-frame ladder on. These pictures don't fully express how crazy this was, but the light is fixed now ...
Oh and before the electrician got here, I got out my 24' extension ladder and replaced a light at the right end of that walkway, about 12-14' above the walkway which is 9' in the air. It's an LED light so I'll never have to do it again. But there are other lights at the left end of that walkway, without a convenient wall to lean against. I have no idea how you'd get a ladder up there. My crazy electrician is coming back to change those bulbs.
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Sunset
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Those are crazy ladder ideas.
There are poles that can extend a very long distance to change light bulbs. Available at home repair stores.
skyking1
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I have an elevator shaft with a wrap around stairway, and you can bet we won't be building anything in like that. I'll aim some sconces up that can be reached from a stepladder sitting on the 4x4 landings.
They will be high enough to not be head knockers, that is about it.
Oops!
I brought this up for a laugh and she reminded me that it was six blocks under each foot, not four.
No, I have no idea how or why I survived that.
skyking1
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and she will Never let you forget it. I can hear it now....."It was SIX blocks high, SIX!!"
Midpack
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I don't know about you, but at my age my balance/equilibrium is not what it used to be. I haven't forgotten ladder safety...was fundamental in my career.
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GalaxyBoy
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I figure hiring someone to do these tasks that require tall ladders is cheaper than co-pays and PT.
skyking1
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
^ I have noticed it. just a dash of vertigo when you are between grabs on the ladder can be chilling. I have slowed my roll considerably because of that. I still use them but do not expect any speed records, and I learned how to load a bucket and climb with just a rope, and bring my tools up after I get secure and established. I don't like a heavy toolbelt with every darn thing I might need or want.
The bucket thing came from working on the water and needing to grease the crow's nest every week. 61' above the deck.
It put me eyeball to the cruise ship bridge when I got up there.
The bucket thing came from working on the water and needing to grease the crow's nest every week. 61' above the deck.
It put me eyeball to the cruise ship bridge when I got up there.
I certainly agree that ladder work is not for the old.
When I was in my 30s, I was active in the local ham radio community and many of us had towers supporting our antennas. Typically, they were from 30 to 50 feet, but one guy had an 80 foot tower. The older ones knew they could call me when they needed an antenna adjustment, and I would happily clamber up their tower and take care of it.
I hasten to add that I always wore a safety belt when I did that. I had done a lot of rock climbing in high school and college, so I had pretty much lost my fear of heights, and they really appreciated the help. I don't think I'd like to do it now.
When I was in my 30s, I was active in the local ham radio community and many of us had towers supporting our antennas. Typically, they were from 30 to 50 feet, but one guy had an 80 foot tower. The older ones knew they could call me when they needed an antenna adjustment, and I would happily clamber up their tower and take care of it.
I hasten to add that I always wore a safety belt when I did that. I had done a lot of rock climbing in high school and college, so I had pretty much lost my fear of heights, and they really appreciated the help. I don't think I'd like to do it now.
skyking1
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
There is a freestanding 100' tower at work that has to come down in April. I look at it but I would never try to climb those angled braces as ladder rungs. It hurts just to think about that.
I told the boss I can rig it high enough from a 65' boom lift to get it picked, and there is a crane company a few blocks away that won't be too pricey.
that said it will be near $2000 to take it down and be able to re-use it.
I think it will get toppled by the demo guys for free, and trashed.
I was involved with moving a guyed 100' many years ago with the ham guys, but that is another story.
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Over forty years ago I knew a guy who changed the light bulbs on top of radio and TV towers. Those things are incredibly high, and he would nonchalantly climb up, do his five minute job, and climb back down. He used a safety belt of course, but still it looked like a terrible chore. He charged $1 a foot, which would be around $5 now based on inflation.
athena53
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
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Neither is our ability to heal. My granddaughter was 3 when she fell off a kitchen stool. She broke a bone in her upper arm and was out of the cast in less than a month.
By contrast, I fell while ice-skating and making graceful little Peggy-Fleming circles in my early 60s and tore my labrum muscle in my shoulder. It was a year before I had full range of motion again.
Good thought! The lights are 13' above the elevated walkway, but the poles might work. But I'll let Crazy Electrician figure it out.
Calico
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^^^^This
When we bought our current house with the vaulted ceiling in the family room I said to DW that I would never paint that ceiling, or the wall connected to the high end of it, which has the stairway to the basement, so it's a three-story drop if you fell. So I found a painter who would do it and paid him. Worth every nickle.
mountainsoft
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Nope, I never use ladders against trees. Without proper bearing at the top, it's too easy to lean to one side and cause the bottom foot to pivot and fall. In a very rare case I might use a free standing ladder with proper support underneath, but again I don't like using ladders around trees as the limbs can fall and hit the ladder.
Several years ago I bought a long pole saw set. It's comprised of multiple 5' aluminum sections that clip together with the blade at the end. I can reach up at least 30' with it, though anything beyond that the weight of the poles is too much to even lift off the ground.
I also have a rope saw but to date I have not tried using it.
Car-Guy
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
No this is not me or anyone that I know.... I'd laugh at it but when I was a "lot younger" .......... Hard to fix stupid, but it can be done....
Oh, and don't try this, anywhere.
Hard to fix stupid, but it can be done....Oh, and don't try this, anywhere.
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gamboolman
Recycles dryer sheets
One of my Senior Scaffold Supervisors.
He had been scaffolding all his life.
In his early 50's he fell off scaffold ladder about 2 feet but on metal deck on Offshore Platform.
Broken Hip.
A month later, back home in UK getting surgery on the Hip, he died in surgery.
Man was super fit and had been doing scaffolding all his life.
I'm very leery of ladders at age 64. What I did for decades don't mean squat now.....
I have accepted it is best for me to hire work at height for most things around the house.
Having said that, we just got this ladder with a work platform that you can safely and comfortably stand on. Very stable. it is excellent and do recommend. If I need more than this, I am calling the youngsters ...
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I remember giving all the old men Hell when they would carry on about what they used to do...
He had been scaffolding all his life.
In his early 50's he fell off scaffold ladder about 2 feet but on metal deck on Offshore Platform.
Broken Hip.
A month later, back home in UK getting surgery on the Hip, he died in surgery.
Man was super fit and had been doing scaffolding all his life.
I'm very leery of ladders at age 64. What I did for decades don't mean squat now.....
I have accepted it is best for me to hire work at height for most things around the house.
Having said that, we just got this ladder with a work platform that you can safely and comfortably stand on. Very stable. it is excellent and do recommend. If I need more than this, I am calling the youngsters ...
I remember giving all the old men Hell when they would carry on about what they used to do...
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In theory, I agree with you. But in the real world, only humans use ladders. And humans often make....human mistakes in judgment. One can go on a ladder being uber-careful, and then while in the midst of doing the chore forget for a split second that need to be careful. My career was in workers' compensation, and I have a ton of stories of injuries due to simple human failings.
gamboolman
Recycles dryer sheets
My brother gifted me a set of scaffolding. I have added to it. It has screw legs and wheel sets, and is the ticket for whatever we need to do up high. My friends and I use it on any construction jobs.
That said, it won't be enough to do the house job. I won't use jacks and planks to side the house, I can get scaffolding front and back for ~$1000 for a month and have a nice safe place to work off of for the siding, windows and paint.
If I need to I will rent one of these for a week, rather than anything sketchy with a ladder.
$975 a week and only 2 weeks money for 4 weeks, $1950
This is one place where I do not consider it BTD.
I can afford 5K on the house build to stay safe. I can't afford the alternative.
If any of you have some high job outside that "you just gotta do", rent one of these.
$284 for a half day and $379 a day.
What Skyking said !
I have rented both of these (similar) in the past. But nowadays I'm also inclined to hire the men along with the kit to do the work
Fermion
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Don't discount the jacks and planks. They are so much safer IMO than scaffold or ladders. We use the Alumapole system (made in the USA! USA! USA!...sorry, get excited when something is still made here).
It is super easy to use, just step on the pedal and up you go. Nice wide aluminum plank to walk on and a nice wide aluminum bench for tools and extra feeling of security. They even make a safety net so if you did somehow manage fall, it catches you. I just used a fall harness and roof anchors.
It is super easy to use, just step on the pedal and up you go. Nice wide aluminum plank to walk on and a nice wide aluminum bench for tools and extra feeling of security. They even make a safety net so if you did somehow manage fall, it catches you. I just used a fall harness and roof anchors.
