[Darranvps]

Many many years ago........

I had my arm in a pot as I had broken my wrist......

I went window cleaning in snowy conditions, went up a ladder which was used to gain access to top floor windows situated above a sloping roof.
Ladder slipped, I came down, breaking the guttering with my nose, and I ended up tangled up in the ladder on this guys pathway.
He came out and complained about his guttering, which I later repaired.

ALL FOR £1.25 a month! Those were the days

[Sean Dyer]

I had a ladder fall last week, knocked my confidence right out of me, was trying to earn through the bad weather with wfp freezing up, there are 2 of us so had someone to foot, but had been ok as was just snow, and i have big spikes on ladder, however the morning after a really bad frost last week i think it was friday i put it in snow, but underneath was an inch of sheet ice and the ladder just shot out, i was ok thankfully think ive got 9 lives, but haven't worked in the snow again since, thankfully its all washed away now....but it really knocks the confidence out of you...

cant wait to go fully wfp but dont have the capacity to carry enough water yet but will be sorting it out in the new year and turning pretty much 100% over, i must say that the work i have i do already wfp all the stuff i can and only trad easy stuff and never have an incident it was just the ice, daft mistake really and im lucky to be ok, not even a bruise , but i wouldnt advise it!!!

[bobby p]

i read on this forum about using pipe insulation slid on the top of ladders instead of using those proper ladder mitts.  ive since put this insulation on my own ladders ,fixed with velcro ties.  i can really recommend it for several reasons

1- it grips  great onto plastic windows sills (reducing sideaways slip to near nothing)

2-mitts are in my opinion too short ,whereas you can cut the pipe insulation as long as you want. ive got mine reaching almost to the 2nd top rung
3- its cheap as chips,a length of pipe insulation is about70p  

[birdymiller]

Bob can you sepeate your ladders with the foam on. This is a problem with ladder mitts i find, you have to take them of if you want to seperate your ladders ie to get over a gate or fence

[bobby p]

Bob can you sepeate your ladders with the foam on. This is a problem with ladder mitts i find, you have to take them of if you want to seperate your ladders ie to get over a gate or fence

no, you cant seperate the ladders with them on.   but its no big deal to get the foam off and  the main benefit of a strip of foam (rather than the mitts) is on upper window sills .  9 times out of 10 i want the top ladder rung to be ABOVE the sill so i can reach the top of the window but still be standing no higher than the 3rd rung from the top -the longer foam strip allows this to be done safely

  BnQ  HOMEBASE etc sell 2 different thicknesses of pipe foam, i chose the thinner as i fits really snugle on the ladder.

[birdymiller]

Sorry to hear that stan, I dislocated my shoulder about 15 years ago playing 5-a-side. Its popped out a couple of times since, its definatley weaker than my good shoulder but doesnt stop me shining. Hope you get back to work soon mate

[dmlservices]

I think it's even more dangerous to use ladders when you have been WFP for years.
Your average trad guy spends more time practicing his ladder skills than a circus tight rope walker.
What I'm trying to say is you can lose your edge, a newbie compensates for this to some extent by being extra carefull, but for those of us that spent years working off ladders in the past, Ok we have the experience, but are sadly out of practice, and need to take extra care.

spot on that 



daz