[bobby p]

its good to have a variety of houses to do. a round thats 100%those double bayers is really only for true masochists !  my rounds got 10%of those , but in more recent times i have sought out the 3 storey victorian gaffs on the high street hill as theyre a challenge(seeing a double decker roof pass you nearby is weird) and nobody wants to do em= better price for me.  ive only took these on as ive now a helper who can ward off the disabled from nudging my ladder with their buggies

[ChrisOfNottingham]

its good to have a variety of houses to do.

The sort window I now can't see how to tackle is the non bay window above a ground floor bay. Some are OK but with many others the bay sticks out so far the ladder looks like it would have to be at very shallow angle and the bays are just wide enough to made access from the side look very awkward too. Even resting on the bay and using a pole doesn't look easy due to the guttering on the bay. This seems to be a real common Victorian style.

Sometimes there is a handy wall in front so it might be possible to go for the shallow angle but often it just turns into flower beds. I keep hoping to spot a cleaner round here do one but I haven't seen any since I started. Rather embarrassingly one of my own windows is like this! I have a suspicion that my cleaner just goes for the shallow angle and trashes as much of my flower bed as he needs to make the ladder feel secure.

[bobby p]

those type are a lot easier to do than the double bay .  i lean my ladder agenst the bottom bay centre top  and go up about 5rungs and from there use a short pole +swivel mop / swivel squeegee to clean the flat window above it .  i use a pole bought in BnQ ,A very light 3part alloy  8ft total length

 ive never had any probs leaning my ladder agenst the guttering ,having my ladder almost vertical means very little weight is on the gutter.



 

[ChrisOfNottingham]

I'm still having trouble with windows over bays, I think other than getting customers this is my biggest problem at the moment.

The Victorian ones seem to have the bay at a height such that the ladder section gets in the way of the pole - unless I were to climb quite far up the ladder but then I start to really worry about breaking the plastic gutter. It seems that you need your shoulders to be near or over the top of the ladder or it is always getting in the way but that puts your head above the gutter and it start to bend rather a lot.

I found using my step ladder was actually pretty good to get round all this but sadly most of time the ground in front of the bays isn't suitable for placing a step ladder and going up 5 or 6 steps.

Then I did another Edwardian(?) house with really tall stories and two side by side windows over the bay. The bay had walls round most of it such that the ladder had to be crazy steep. The bay roof itself was lead covered and at about 30 - 40 degrees, I really just wanted to get on the roof and work from there but it didn't feel like a good situation to explore the frictional properties of lead, so I wimped out. I managed to mostly pole one window from on one the side of the bay but even then messing about with 8 foot of pole standing 6 or 8  feet up the ladder just feels like bad weight distribution.

I think the answer is that I need to go higher up the ladder, then the ladder top is out of the way and the pole can be a bit shorter too but I'm too concerned about the gutter and toppling over backwards :-)

Interestingly, while I was messing around on this house (a friends, not a customer) trying to work out what to do, no less than three people from houses near by asked me if I would do their's - and I had to say "not yet!" but apparently no one can seem to find cleaners round there. It did make me wonder if other cleaners don't like those bays either because all the houses had them.

[dave0123]

if you can't afford WFP you may want to look and a double A ladder for the windows in question specially the second pic you are talking about alot safer

[bobby p]

chris-what size ladders are you using?   my main ladder these days is a 9 rung double (youngman) ,domestic model)  i saw the great guy WAGGA has one of these on his videos on youtube  and he recommends it and has used that ladder for years apparently . they are cheap at 61quid in wickes,another bonus . i sometimes use a ten rung ladder and that works okay too.  occasionally use a longer Harris pole from the ground, the great mywagga videos on yoube are worth their weight in gold  (mywagga) and they show how it can be done without using a ladder

  because a 9 or 10 rung ladder isnt too long ,its easy to pole above a bay while standing perhaps 4 rungs down from the top .   i hope you get those fresh customers that asked you chris,you know it makes sense

[ChrisOfNottingham]

chris-what size ladders are you using?   my main ladder these days is a 9 rung double (youngman) ,domestic model)  i saw the great guy WAGGA has one of these on his videos on youtube  and he recommends it and has used that ladder for years apparently . they are cheap at 61quid in wickes,another bonus . i sometimes use a ten rung ladder and that works okay too.  occasionally use a longer Harris pole from the ground, the great mywagga videos on yoube are worth their weight in gold  (mywagga) and they show how it can be done without using a ladder

  because a 9 or 10 rung ladder isnt too long ,its easy to pole above a bay while standing perhaps 4 rungs down from the top .   i hope you get those fresh customers that asked you chris,you know it makes sense

Thanks for all this. I have realised that my ladder is way too heavy. I made the mistake of watching a few ladder safety videos and was convinced into buying a robust "professional" wide triple. I don't even need the top section and leave it off now but even two sections is still heavy. The other mistake I made was putting on a Base Mate. It's a great product but it turns an already heavy ladder into something that is unbalanced and way too heavy.

I'm not sure how I'll get on trying to level a ladder without a BM but I'm hoping that a lighter ladder will be easier to jiggle around and find a level spot or choc up with those rubber block things. The trouble with a heavy ladder is that everything is harder and slower.

I guess I'll keep both but try to reserve the heavy one with the Base Mate for those crazy placements.

[bobby p]

sounds like youre out on the streets.good lad Chris 

[ChrisOfNottingham]

sounds like youre out on the streets.good lad Chris 

Thanks, but yes and no I'm getting back into it now but I've been off (if you can be "off" when you only have 4 customers!) with a succession of viral complaints. I did one days canvassing and got three customers - quite pleased about that - then was feeling crap for so long that their 4 weeks came round again! I have been doing a bit of practice on my own house just to keep my hand in. Anyway, feeling pretty good now and off to Wickes to get a nice light weight 9 rung domestic extension ladder.

[bobby p]

in the towns i work i see a few oldtimer cleaners using this same Youngman 9 or 11 rung double domestic too- these are blokes who dont mess around /a sure sign of a good ladder is that .

[ChrisOfNottingham]

I've got my Youngman 9er and it is so much easier. Apart from being about half the weight of my other ladder, which is a Titan triple, it is not so rigid. This sounds like a bad thing but in fact the problem with the Titan is that even if you only have a small gap between a rail and the sill/ground the ladder wobbles. It is too rigid to flex a bit and make four point contact. No one wants to climb a wobbling ladder, so you waste time trying to find a good placement.

One thing I do miss is the "locking flap" which prevents the two parts of the ladder sliding over each other when you carry it, I might try to fit one myself.

[bobby p]

you will find that your triple trade ladder,once extended out, flexes just right to always make good 4point contact. this is for WHEN  you decide to take on the high next floor up jobbies !  

 manouvering an extended  long ladder from window to window on a busy high street  sure gets the adrenalin pumping !!!

[dave f]

sounds like a billy smarts circus act any one available for bookings lol

[johnny bravo]

if it is unsafe   too high  just do not risk  trying to stretch that extra few inches,   if you fall  you may be stuck in a wheel chair the rest of your life,     leave them to the reach and wash gang, its so easy to fall   not so easy to get back up.