Need advice on Extension ladder

[kurt]

Originally posted by Jerry Simon

[br

The ONLY time I ever stepped through a ceiling is when the Seller said "Now don't step through the ceiling".

Exactly. It happens from time to time, & I literally back away from the ladder, ask everyone to say absolutely nothing when I climb a ladder, then I & go do something else for a while before going back & climbing up.

It's kind of a superstition thing; people telling me not to do something like "don't fall & kill yourself" completely blows my aura of calm that is essential to performing the roof ballet competently.

Never fallen off a ladder, a building, put my foot through a ceiling, or otherwise blown it while up in the air. It's about focus & calm; when I ain't feelin' it anymore, I'm done going on roofs.

[Bill Kibbel]

It's about focus & calm

That's why I'm on the roof 30 minutes before the scheduled appointment time.

[kurt]

Originally posted by inspecthistoric

It's about focus & calm

That's why I'm on the roof 30 minutes before the scheduled appointment time.

Smart.

[Jim Katen]

And while we're talking about it, if you're taking a picture while you're up there, never step backwards to gain a better field of view.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[Jim Morrison]

Bill,

I once heard of a real estate agent showing up to an inspection a few minutes late only to find the home inspector cold and motionless on the driveway.

Since then, no one in my firm even pulls a ladder off the truck unless someone is there to dial 911 if something bad happens.

FWIW,

[chrisprickett]

Originally posted by Jim Morrison

Bill,

I once heard of a real estate agent showing up to an inspection a few minutes late only to find the home inspector cold and motionless on the driveway.

Since then, no one in my firm even pulls a ladder off the truck unless someone is there to dial 911 if something bad happens.

FWIW,

I always wondered why the back of your head was sooo flat! I, honestly, thought it was a deformity.

[hausdok]

That is a good point.

Not having someone watching me when I was up on the roof almost got me killed on April 18th 2000. I still don't know how it happened, but I went off a very high porch roof of a 4-square in Seattle on that day and was out cold in the garden when a kid passing by spotted me, knocked on the door, and alerted the folks inside to the "drunk sleeping in the gardent".

The realtor and client, who'd been inside measuring for carpeting, found me lying on one side turning a pretty shade of turquise blue due to 5 broken ribs and a collapsed lung. About another two minutes and I'd have been done for.

Yep, having someone there looking up might come in handy I'd say.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Bill Kibbel]

Good point, but it's been our SOP for 20 years (and 59000 inspections). Another advantage is that I don't have to argue with ardent buyers insisting that they come up there with me.

True story. Early in my career, when I was too stupid to strap my ladder to the gutter every time, a gust came out of nowhere and took down my 28'. It was a vacant 19th century farmhouse off a desolate sand trail in the New Jersey pine barrens. I was up there for 1-1/2 hours and not one car drove by.

The wife shows up an hour late to just stop by to give me a check and explain that her husband couldn't make it. She was dressed for work including heels. I was impressed and relieved that she stood it up on the second try.

[kurt]

Yep, been stranded on a roof when the ladder blew over. Kinda funny when it happens, then not so funny, then not funny @ all.

[Jim Baird]

Hey Kurt,

It's bad luck to be superstitious!

[hausdok]

Yeah,

That happened to me once too - before the fall.

I still remember it because it was a wood shingle roof - not shakes. It was just beginning to drizzle as I headed up to the roof, so I wanted to get it looked at and get down before the roof turned to grease on me. Well, after I got up there, the damned realtor grabbed the client and dragged him inside to sign some papers. Meanwhile, the wind came up and blew my (then) aluminum extension ladder over, so when I returned to the ladder it was lying on the ground.

I stood there on the edge of the roof hollering for all I was worth for the client, but he and the realtor were busy chatting away in the kitchen all the way at the other side of the house on the ground floor and couldn't hear me. Because it was now drizzling more and the roof was getting slick, I couldn't re-cross the roof to the back and yell down from there and I was trapped.

Finally, in desperation because the rain was beginning to come down in half-buckets, I slid down a leader to the porch roof below, where I could stand on a narrow band of dry shingles protected by the deep overhang of the upper roof. To this day I don't know how that gutter or the leader held my weight. I worked my way over to the second floor windows and began pounding on the glass. After about five minutes, the realtor and client walked into the room looking puzzled and opened the window to let me in.

It was after that when I bought my first L-G look alike. These things are heavy and don't blow over in the wind - at least none of mine has yet.

Still, I wish that I'd established my rule then for someone to remain outside and watch me from the ground. If I had, it might not have prevented the fall in 2000, but at least I would know today how it happened and I might not have almost died (I was knocked unconscious and have no recollection of anything between climbing onto the porch roof and waking up with what felt like a truck on my chest, unable to see and with someone trying to force a plastic airway device down my throat.).

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike