[Ben Walker]

i have double section ladders.
can i/ should i be able to gat the maximum height out of them.
how is this done?
do you get ladder stand-off with wheels. to allow me to push top section up the wall further whilst i climb up.
doesn't sound right, (body weight?).
do you only ever push extending ladders up the height you can reach from the ground.
 
just started, help much appreciated

Ben

[Davindo Cleana]

you should go and get some hands on practice with ladders with an experienced w/c
you basically stand on the ladder a little way up and bounce the extension up the wall - but to be honest it would be safer for you to be shown than guess your way - it wont take long for you to get the hang of it

[rosskesava]

Hi Ben

Purely from my own view point on the times I have worked alone, I wouldn't extend a ladder higher than I can extend it from standing on the floor.

I have seen people who had wheels on the ladder lean the extended ladder against the wall then climb up a few rungs and extend it further.

I think if the H & S people saw that they'd blow a gaskit. Most serious injuries and dare I say it, deaths, occur from accident under 9 ft.

Ladders are potentially dangerous enough already without increasing the risks.

As I wrote above - that is just my view point though.

Cheers

[Stephen@Belper]

why not just set yourself up with a wfp. Far safer and less effort. Remeber you should only be using a ladder if you have proved in your risk assesment it is the safest means of access. you should consider all other options first!

[Ben Walker]

thanks guys
just to put myself in context. i'm going into the trade seriously but part-time. thats why i'm going for it with ladders. looking to try and fill my days with easy-enough reaches but theres a couple of jobs with higher windows. i would diffinately get wfp if i wasn't just part time. One could say i should get it anyway.
 
what are the  wheel stand-offs desighed for.
is there not a divice on the market which you temporarily attach to the botton of the extending section to give you the ability to push up more whilst on the ground.

or, i could buy triples extension ladders. but i want to use pointers (lodging to top block into the window) as this seems to me safer.


thanks
ben-chan

[AuRavelling79]

Although 80% of my work is wfp, my ladder is a light triple. Before the pole I'd use it mainly as a double (which could just be extended to full height from the ground (generally at least 3 rungs overlapping). When I added the third section I would push the top section up and then the middle section which would lift the top with it so that I could reach third floor windows.

Grief, that was only nine months ago - I will never work so high again! (But out of choice I will use the double section on modern non-bay "rabbit hutch" type houses in the dry on level ground - just to use different muscle groups to lessen the chance of R.S.I.)

Unlike many on this forum I buy light domestic ladders and replace them every two years (may be three now I am mainly poling) - reading HSE regs - this is perfectly acceptable in my view. (It also has ladder mitts and lyte articulated feet too.)

[Sir Squeaky]

why not just set yourself up with a wfp. Far safer and less effort. Remeber you should only be using a ladder if you have proved in your risk assesment it is the safest means of access. you should consider all other options first!

Perhaps he hasn't got £1500 to blow on one, and doesn't want to upset half his customers...

[Ian_Giles]

To extend a large ladder you have no option but to 'walk' the ladder up the wall, it is the only way it can be done, without climbing the rungs as you extend it makes it a pretty short ladder, even a triple will only be a small one.

If you are not used to using a ladder, this bit is often a difficult thing to master.

Ditto the actual climbing of the ladder, most newbies to ladders climb them like limpets, scared to death that if they lean back it is going to topple over on top of them.
But after the first couple of rungs the centre of balance is in such a place that you could hook one foot under the rung above the other foot and lean out till you were horizontal and not topple (a good circus trick, but best done with a safety net )

If you know someone, another window cleaner, a painter & decorator and so on, get them to show you how to use the ladder safely.
That goes with carrying it too!

Ian

[rosskesava]

Hi Stephen

Remeber you should only be using a ladder if you have proved in your risk assesment it is the safest means of access

I don't think that is probably quite so.

A 'risk assessment' is a very broad term. The rules covering risk assessment are a bit muddled for resindentual work for the self employed. I have not read anywhere that a risk assessment for for resindentual work by the self employed is a requirment by law.

There is also the quailification for the person doing the risk assessment. If that person has a vested interest in the work being done ... need I say more?

It is more important to have an idea of the risks likely to encountered and to understand them taking into account the job being done, the customers requirments and the likely duration of the risk.

As for the 'safest method'? Current legislation only requires a window cleaner to have looked at alternatives and to have concidered them provided the total height is under 9m. There is no legal requirment to use wfp.

Anyway, Ben's question was about safely using ladders not about an alternative so the answer should really be along those lines with a 'maybe have you considered wfp' thrown in.

I think it is best to give advise about safely using ladders than to say don't use them in whatever guise that may be because the person is obviously, for what ever reason, going to use them anyway.

That's why he asked the question and ladders are not banned.

Hi Ian

most newbies to ladders climb them like limpets

That is so true.  I remember doing just that.

Cheers

[richie_tracey]

I am new (6months) to wc and i have a light triple until i get my wfp at the start of nov!!!!
I work alone most of the time and i extend the ladder as far as i can standing on the ground and that is as high as i go alone!!! If my brother is with me and footing the ladder i just bounce it up the wall to whatever height i need it.
This is scary the first few times you do it but after a while it gets 'normal'.

[Dick]

Don't exceed the height restriction as given on the ladder by the manufacturer, have at least a 3/4 rung overlap.
If you need to reach higher get a longer ladder or don't bother with the job.