"stuart noble" wrote in message ...
David wrote in message . ..
(David) wrote in message
. com...
I'm repainting the outside of my pebbledashed house just now. Having
pressure-washed the whole thing, much of the old paint and pebbledash
is in lousy condition - flaking and crumbling - and needs sorting
before I apply more paint.

Question: what should I apply, a proprietary stabiliser or a PVA
solution? If the latter, what dilution?

Stabiliser is thinner and more penetrative but you can end up using gallons
of the stuff without any apparent improvement. Unless you have damp problems
I'd use PVA diluted at 1:4, which will stay closer to the surface and may
even form a film after a couple of coats.
Whatever gives you a surface that doesn't suck in the first coat of paint is
the one you need.

Thanks a lot for the advice, Stuart. Have duly drenched the house in
dilute PVA and am now well underway with the paint, which seems to be
taking well (although time will tell, I guess!)

Anyway... I now need to buy myself a new set of ladders, as the
current set (bought for a previous home) won't quite let me reach the
eaves, and at that height from the ground I'm not going to take any
daft risks. Question: given that the height of the eaves (ie the
highest point I need to get my paintbrush to) is 7 metres from the
ground, what minimum length of ladder do I need to buy? Just to be
clear, this is the apex of a 7m high, flat vertical end-wall of the
house.

Should I be going for a double or triple extending ladder? As far as
I can see, the disadvantage of the former is that unless you have a
megabucks trade version with pulleys, it will be too long to extend
safely and easily; am I right? Will it flex more than the triple?

I expect someone's going to tell me a need a tower to be safe; really
want to avoid the expense of that if I can! To be honest I don't know
how I'd install a tower either, given constraints of the location.

Second reason for the second ladder is that I also need a roofing
ladder at the moment; my plan was therefore to obtain one of those
gizmos you attach to a regular ladder, (eg http://tinyurl.com/nete)to
convert it. Two birds with one stone, if you will. Does anybody have
experience of using one of these attachments, are they safe and OK to
use? I know a proper roofing ladder would be a better bet, but it
will only be for very occasional use.

Yes, I've considered hiring, but I will use this kit again
occasionally in the future and it makes economic sense to buy. Also,
it will be very much for weather dependent use, and IME as soon as you
contact HSS to hire any fair-weather tool, it's a cue for the heavens
to open!

TIA
David