Extension Ladder pulleys?

[Glen Williams]

Hi Guys im wondering if a pulley system can be used with any extension ladder. I have a 3 part ladder from b&q, not the best but does the job. Can a pulley be used to fully extend? Thanks

 

["H"]

I made my own years ago.

Same as you I was using a triple extension. Heavy duty one too as I used to do a lot on roofs.

I also added some wheels to the top of the first section. Made life so much easier. Instead of leaning the ladder back and balancing on the point of falling forward and bouncing off the customers house and falling back behind you, I just ran it up the house walls. Just make sure the wheels are clean if it's a fair colour painted wall. Tyre marks on the wall don't look to good.

A couple of sack cart wheels bought from B+Q or somewhere and 1 of those pulleys that people use for clothes lines and a roll of nylon rope.

Quite straight forward to do. You'll should be done within an hour and that includes stopping for a brew half way through. /emoticons/smile.png

 

[Glen Williams]

Hi H. Great idea about the wheels for rolling up the house, ill be looking into that. Im actually away to job on a roof which 3 stories high and intend to use a standoff which sits on the roof for stability because itll be fully extended and think itll bounce a bit too. Did you use a seperate ladder with a hook for when up there, if so how did you get that up

 

["H"]

When I had to use a wall stand off I would fix it to the ladder and turn the ladder upside down and roll it up the wall that way. Just then flip the ladder over and stabilise the ladder, as you do, before you climb.

I would not go on a roof without a roof ladder unless it was a very very shallow.almost flat pitch.

When using a roof ladder I used to lean that parallel to the right ,I'm right handed, of my extension ladder. From there I would climb the ladder and carry it up with me.

Quite safe if you take your time.

Just keep 3 points of contact on the ladder as much as possible.

When wheeling the roof ladder up the roof I used to put my left arm through the rungs and feed the ladder up and over the ridge.

Might sound obvious but when doing that, you should be no higher than chest high above the edge of the roof. That way you are not over extending you balance. If you do it's very easy to have a dizzy moment and fall backwards. (Have seen it before. Fired him there and then as he knew it all and would never listen to the very basics. First and last time on the roof with me.)

You will naturally lean forward to the roof.

Just do the same in reverse when taking down.

One very handy tip, get a ratchet strap, or something similar, and make sure that the roof ladder is tied off to the extension ladder.

I had 1 experience where a customer decided, when I was on the roof putting a new chimney pot up for him, to take down my extension ladder as it "looked ugly" against the side of his house. I kid you not.

I was on the roof screaming for him to put it back but he shouted in reply that he was watching the Grand Prix and he would be out when it finished.

Thankfully for me another of my customers down the road heard me shouting and came and put the ladder back up. When the customer came out to complain I heard a "Ouch!"

Climbed down and the customer was holding his eye and my other customer walking away laughing.The muppet whose roof I was on started shouting at me.

He didn't get to watch the end of the Grand Prix as funny enough, both of his eyes were swollen over. Odd that.

Now if I had tied the roof ladder off, he would have had to climb the extension ladder to undo it and I would have had the chance to throw my trowel at him or something. /emoticons/biggrin.png

 

[Glen Williams]

Thanks H your advice is much apprieciated as this is the first time ill have been on a roof. Its quite a steep pitch and quite high (for me) so naturally a bit nervous. As for your customer taking the extension down what can I say, carma at work there tho haha.

Do you have any tips for when im up there, ill be removing moss from the roof so will have to move around a lot so saftey is my main key. Sorry for going off topic but id rather get 1st hand advice.

 

["H"]

When I was doing roofs I was fitting pots,cowls and bird guards so I didn't really deviate from the chimney stack. Replaced a few slates and ridge tiles but that was mostly off the ladder. I wasn't really scrambling across the roof as such.

There's other bods on here who can hopefully help you a bit more on that line. Personally I'd be using a garden hoe , drill a hole in the top of the handle and loop some string through it and put it around your wrist. You don't want that slipping off the roof when you sneeze and landing on someones head on the ground. You'd probably be eating porridge for breakie for a long time.

I would look at it that I would have at least 7-8 feet working space each side of the roof ladder. I would then move the roof ladder/extension accordingly to cover beyond that.

Others on here may have more proven methods.

The only thing will say is take your time. Natural being nervous, that's what keeps us alive. I've been on hundreds of roofs and each time I had slight nerves. That was just me being aware of what could go wrong and doing it all methodically.

Fell off a roof once but that was and proved to be a fault with the roof ladder. Still bloody hurt though. /emoticons/unsure.png

Good luck. /emoticons/smile.png