It’s been sunny, so I’ve been trying to button up the outside of the new house I’ve been building (seemingly forever) before the good weather ends, which may be this morning from the looks of it. How to get up to the peak, to paint those barge rafters? My longest extension ladder just won’t quite reach. I’ve used my truck for a lot of things, but never before as a ladder platform. Stepping off the porch roof and back on the ladder the first time was a bit disconcerting though, as the springs on the truck eased down. Every ladder should have a suspension.
Did the same thing once to put up Christmas lights on the house. Disconcerting is a very apt word.
Disconcerting is the word. I used my ’87 Dodge 3/4 ton as the platform when painting. With it’s having several more leaf springs it didn’t move very much – a welcomed outcome.
Glad you didn’t do like this weekend’s time change: spring forward, fall back.
I am getting too old for this kind of stuff….the guy I had working for me who was doing the majority of the hard work went AWOL a couple of months ago. I need to find a replacement.
Ain’t being a bossman awesome? My kid brother has a home restoration business….good, reliable, useful help truly is hard to come by…
A car jack under the rear truck frame might have made things a bit more stable. We have already got snow here … sigh.
Sorry if you’ve answered this before, but what caused the rust lines to be so straight down the side of the bed?
The cheap hardware-store tie-downs screwed into the bed by a former owner. They’re either rusting away or falling off.
Wow, a new house that fits the character of the old neighborhood. What a concept, you should franchise that idea Paul.
As for the ladder, Mr Engineer / Safety Committee member is not seeing that.
I’ve pretty much run out of good weather here, VW is going back in the garage this weekend…
I woulda rented a hydralada from an orchardist while the high work is being done.
My house has a similar situation – the gable peak is 8 metres from the ground. My porch roof is 3.5 metres from ground level, below the peak and usefully flat. Nowadays I have an 8m ladder to get up there but in years past I had to make do with a 2.5m A-frame ladder and a 2001 Mazda E2000 van.
I’d lie the ladder on the van roof, and would then clamber up using the front tyre and door’s window sill (window wound down!) as footholds. The Mazda’s roof had longitudinal strengthening ridges, so once up there I’d wedge the ladder’s base against one of the strengthening ridges, and climb the ladder to the porch roof. Then I’d turn around and pull the ladder up to the porch roof, open it up and climb it to the peak. Worked a treat! Getting down was a reversal of the procedure, and yes, it was disconcerting when the van’s springs eased down…!
I have done that but did it with a trailer with a wooden deck. Screwed door handles to the floor of the deck and tied the ladder. Can’t say I recommend making it a habit but sweeping chimneys made me do other things I liked even less.
I had a piece of barn roof tin blow loose last year – hanging on by one corner. Same deal, it was halfway up the 12-12 pitch roof, and my long extension wouldn’t even come close. I parked the F150 next to the barn and put the ladder in the bed. Fully extended with me standing on the top rung, I was just barely able to reach the top of the tin to resecure it (in 25-35 mph wind, just to make things *really* interesting).
Ed, the next time that happens, I have a suggestion. You can either take a trash piece of ladder or make one. Weld a T and bolt a wheel to one side of the T. The vertical base of the T is bolted to that ladder.
You can stand on a ladder on the edge of the roof. Run the ridge hook ladder up the roof on the wheel. Flip it over and pull back till the ridge hook catches. Tie the two ladders together and walk up the ridge hook ladder. I did many a job that would have been terrifying without this. Fear made me come up with that although others have probably made something similar. I have no idea where the idea came from. Some of the roofs in the rich sections of Houston required screwing one ladder to a roof and running the ridge hook ladder up from there. Laziness made me come up with other things. Unless you are a mountain goat there are just places you should not go without technology.
Too soon old and too late smart. Today I avoid even stepladders for fear of the wife’s wrath. She says I set off too many metal detectors already.
Just the “pickup” you needed.