On Sun, 22 Nov 2020 02:50:44 +0000, williamwright
wrote:

On 21/11/2020 21:54, T i m wrote:

The problem is, the top of the ladder gets dangerously steep when
there's too much flexing.

Sure, but I don't think they are made of rubber. Watching my
not-exactly-lightweight mate working on his CCTV camera at about 3m on
his telescopic ladder and I can't remember seeing it flex much at all?

Well that means it's alright then,

Well quite. ;-)

assuming he had it at a sensible angle.

It looked about right to me. No suggestion of him falling backwards or
the ladder coming away from the wall, but not so much of a lean that
it looked like the bottom would slip outwards (well, not past me
footing it etc).

Incidentally, most 'ladder guides' suggest angles that are too steep.
That's because they worry about the ladder sagging.

Ah, not the ladders you would buy eh, the ones you used could double
as emergency tank bridges. ;-)

But a decent ladder
can be put at more of an angle, which is very much safer.

Decent in that you can push it's design envelope further than you
should (by design). My point is it's not really anything to do with
how you personally use them but how they are designed to be used.

That said, you see some terrifying ladder work all over the place but
whilst they look terrifying, they may not be stressing the ladder as
much as if used by the official guidance.Like if you used one to
support a vertical load (like an Acrow prop) that may be far less
stress than your horizontal test.


You can't beat a good strong ladder.

Till you want to get it *in* the back of your hire van or in a lift?
;-(

Like I said, I have two telescopic ladder for restricted access situations.

Sorry, missed / forgot that. What lengths / makes are they OOI Bill?

It wants
to feel like you're climbing a staircase.

Oh, sure, but what if you don't have the storage options for a 'real'
ladder ... or enough of a predictable need but still have a
(especially domestic) need?

Surely you can find somewhere for a triple that extends to six metres?

Well, I do have an ally triple in the garden, only partially covered
and hasn't been used for years but the problem with it in use is how
much you lose on the overlap per section. And because I don't believe
it's long enough, I was thinking of replacing it with a telescopic
that I could store inside somewhere that was.

You can stand such a thing up in the corner of a room, and a domestic
quality one would be fine for you, and they don't weigh much, and you
can remove one section and it gives you a really useful double, and
there's no hidden 'works' and catches that can fail.

No room indoors to do such a thing and the workshop roof is full of
boat and steel stock etc.

That said, the workshop is ~240mm at the eaves so if I kept it inside
vertically, I might be able to get one of these in:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/werner-3-...ers-5-7m/133fv


Could (and this is back to the $100 question) a 'good' 5m telescopic
ladder give me useable access to a gutter 5m off the ground?

No because you need a ladder that extends well above the work height,

I think that depends on what sort of 'work' we are talking about Bill,
along with the frequency and duration of that work.

Eg, Say the ladder only reaches just under the gutter and I use a
standoff to bring it out level. According to the guidance I shouldn't
go higher than the top of the ladder past my belly button and so with
the case stated above, some of my upper body would be above the gutter
line. All I would need to remove the odd but of moss and part of a
slipped slate is my eyes and one arm?

and you need one that won't flap about like a big girl's blouse,

;-)

or
suddenly collapse due to a catch not latching properly.

I think if that's what they did regularly we would hear about it and
they would be pulled from the market?

Tim, all I'm trying to do is advise you from experience, in the hope
that you don't break your bloody neck.

No, I get it Bill ... and I'm just playing Devils Advocate with you
here to see *why* one of these telescopic ladders that they seem to
openly sell on the market and people obviously buy and use are so bad?

If you want to be stubborn about
it that's fine,

By 'stubborn' you mean 'not rolling over when you state how you used /
tested such things in your professional day-to-day job'. That's not
how I'll be using them. ;-(

but don't expect me to visit you in the spinal
rehabilitation centre.

No, and even if the ladder was to fail, I'm hoping it wouldn't come to
that as I've got some gear here I might also use (like an arrestor and
harness).

I will look into seeing what I could store in the workshop but space
*is* an issue here and I have to justify if I want to take up that
sort of space in the workshop (for the limited number of times they
might be used) compared with a hydraulic motorcycle bench. ;-)

Once they aren't being stored inside, they could be any length, if
they didn't need to be transported and didn't suffer for being stored
outside?

Cheers, T i m