alan_m wrote
Rod Speed wrote
wrote in message

I don't have one. I can't help thinking the folding multisection
ladders, which I do have, are a lot more useful.

Not as easy to put in the boot of the car or carry thru a house.

I used a friends good quality folding multi-section ladder about a month
ago to clear out guttering on a terrace house but I wasn't too happy with
its length - I had it leaning too much to the vertical to get the top 6
inches below the gutter.

Mine is a flat roof and the gutters are mostly literally
about a foot wide, so I only use the ladder to get onto
the roof and walk around on the roof and use a spade
to shovel whats in the gutter off onto the ground.

I'm not all that keen on getting off the ladder onto the
roof and back down again after I have done the gutters
and have been considering making a full fixed sort of
combination stairs and ladder with proper side rails to
use instead now that I am older but have never got
around to doing that.

It was the kind that folds up into 4 sections - 3 hinges. The smallest
width of the folder ladder was around 2/3rds of the width of a standard
doorway and it could fit into the boot of a family sized car.

I have one of those too and its easy enough to get from
the garage yard sale in the back of a small hatch, but I
normally have the back seats folded flat all the time and
essentially use it as a small station wagon, what you lot
call an estate. A Hyundai Getz, one of the small hatches.

In fact I have got plenty of full ladders home
from garage sales that way with the back
door left open. Not ideal when going far tho.

When climbing ladders I do recommend safety boots/shoes with a steel toe
cap and embedded steel sole. Although the sole plate is designed to stop
nail puncture etc. I find it also gives a great degree of comfort when
standing on a ladder tread for an extended length of time.

I dont normally stand on ladders for long. When I was building the
house on a bare block of land one of the first things I made was a
large steel workbench with a removable half length top frame out
of 25mm RHS with wheels and just move that around outside and
stand on it when doing the eaves and barge board etc.

If you are not into fashion suitable shoes can be purchased from, say,
toolsatan for £17 and possibly cheaper elsewhere (mine came from Aldi/Lidl
at around £12 when they had them in their until they are gone offers)

I only wear elastic sided boots and avoid steel capped boots.
https://www.totallyworkwear.com.au/m...-480_BLA_1.jpg