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My son, down in Devon where it rains a bit,  needs to reach gutters at 5.250 m high and clean them . I have an old timber extending ladder but it is quite heavy and is not that stable if you are working on your own. Can anyone suggest a lightweight aluminium ladder with some sort of stabilising legs at the ground level. It will also need to fit in his garage/store

He will not be using the new ladder often but it must be  strong, safe and easy to move.

We would be grateful for any help.

Thanks Richard & B

 

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9 years ago I bought my TR3 from somebody who had had his face rebuilt with titanium plates following a serious accident. It transpired that he had been working on a timber ladder when one of the rungs gave way and he fell quite a way to the ground. 
It makes me shudder to hear the term ‘timber ladder’ !

Tim

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Hi Richard,

get your son to look through the local paper. There are often people advertising just this sort of job.

Where I am in West London there is a chap that comes round every spring to do the gutters down our street.

£30 - easy money for him and no danger to me.  He must be onto a small fortune.

 

Roger

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Some 45 years ago I bought an inexpensive scaffold tower which has given me sterling service at every one of the properties which we have owned.  In addition, I bought a really big alloy ladder which has a rope to lift the second part and has a wide base.  Following a safety course run by Bucks County Council some 20 years ago, I bought an alloy safety plate to sit on the ground - it has an upstand in the middle to lock the ladder.

Such tools are a really worthwhile investment if you prefer to do things properly yourself.  On two of our houses, I replaced the leaking cast iron guttering with plastic - the scaffold tower was invaluable for that task.

On both our previous and current house I fitted Floplast Floguard to all the gutters - part 175633 from Wickes (£7.50 for 5 metres).  Black plastic, clips together and saves a lot of bother.

Ian Cornish

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1 hour ago, Drewmotty said:

Have you moved Richard? Where are you? 

We now live in Sussex , near Lewes, and have easy walks outside the house into woodland and farm land. It is difficult ,at my age , to stay in under lockdown but where we live it is easy compared with London. I can walk with my dog for two hours and not meet anyone or touch anything. All food is delivered and compared with most of the country we are very lucky. We watch netflix mostly and I gave up drinking 12 months ago, so quiet evenings, also no TR register expeditions. 

Richard & B

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I bought something like this - Werner 3-Section Aluminium Extension Ladders 3.96m | Triple Extension Ladders | Screwfix.com

https://www.screwfix.com/p/werner-3-section-aluminium-extension-ladders-3-96m/942FV?kpid=942FV&ds_kid=92700031521301148&gclid=f93db94f23b411e9479ae6b5d47cc2b6&gclsrc=3p.ds&ds_rl=1241687&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1243324&ds_kid=92700031521301148&msclkid=f93db94f23b411e9479ae6b5d47cc2b6&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PX_Shopping_Storage %26 Ladders&utm_term=4584276294104011&utm_content=G - Ladders

..a few years ago. Being a 3 piece extender it compacts down well for storage, and I managed to get it into a Mondeo hatchback for transport to and from France

Edited by Rod1883
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3 hours ago, RogerH said:

Hi Richard,

get your son to look through the local paper. There are often people advertising just this sort of job.

Where I am in West London there is a chap that comes round every spring to do the gutters down our street.

£30 - easy money for him and no danger to me.  He must be onto a small fortune.

 

Roger

Hi Roger,

He already has someone who charges £60.00 ,out in the country , for a full house gutter clean. He is planning to buy the ladder and in two years will be ahead financially and have a ladder for anything else that needs attention.

Seems like a good plan.

Richard & B

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28 minutes ago, Richardtr3a said:

We now live in Sussex , near Lewes, and have easy walks outside the house into woodland and farm land. It is difficult ,at my age , to stay in under lockdown but where we live it is easy compared with London. I can walk with my dog for two hours and not meet anyone or touch anything. All food is delivered and compared with most of the country we are very lucky. We watch netflix mostly and I gave up drinking 12 months ago, so quiet evenings, also no TR register expeditions. 

Richard & B

Shame. I thought that we may have gained a new Devon Group member. Side screen cars are a bit outnumbered down here :-)

I missed the original reference to your son. Note to self: Must pay more attention.

Edited by Drewmotty
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A 5m plus ladder is very risky even a good one. Father in law used to go up that height until one day the ladder base  slipped on the slabs, at 18 stone his ankle came off worst...... it’s a scaffold tower job or gutter cleaners job. Just not worth the risk in my opinion. What’s £60 compared with months off work and an injury that my never resolve properly?

Iain

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The device I use to stabilise my ladder is The Stopper by Rojak Design.  I have just spotted a second-hand one at about £25 on fleabay.

It is piece of alloy in the shape of an inverted T, with the upstand being 7.5, the base 62 x 22 (all in mm). It is covered with rubber on both sides and weighs about 3.5kg (7 lbs) - a substantial device.

It really is the piece of kit to give maximum security at the base of the ladder, even on gravel surfaces.

No connection (it was Bucks CC's safety expert who gave me the info) - just a very happy user.  Even Maddy is enthusiastic about it - perhaps because she believes it will prevent me having a stupid and avoidable accident (you might expect her to be greasing steps after some 42 years!).

Ian Cornish

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Ladders are class rated for their intended use. A class 1 will be much more stable than a domestic ladder but heaver. I would go for at least Class EN131 and get a helper to foot the ladder when using it

Regards Richard

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On 1/9/2021 at 10:00 PM, Drewmotty said:

Hi, Do you have any experience of this company.?Are the ladders as good as they claim. We are tempted by the 3 section extending ladder 6.26m at £165.00. I have spoken to them and it seems to be good quality but there a lot of 1 star reviews mostly about delivery and damage.. There are a lot of positive reviews also. I really need someone with actual experience.

Thanks so far. Richard & B

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My son recently had a satellite dish fitted at his house. The fitter bolted a permanent anchor point to the wall at ground level and attached the base of the ladder to it prior to starting work. 
His employers don’t allow the use of a ladder without an anchor even if footed by a second person. 

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I used to use the Zarges combination ladders when in the exhibition industry and they were excellent. Quite expensive but classed as Industrial. The only small issue is that when using them as a freestanding ladder and standing beyond the apex of the support elements it does feel as if you are flying! Picture shows ladder at a working height of 5+ metres

Atb

Tim

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