I am painting my foyer which contains an 18ft ceiling. I have a 20ft
Gorilla ladder and a 16ft 2-piece ladder, neither of which will put me
even close to the ceiling. Other than renting a scaffold, I cannot
come up with a means to access this fixture. A jet pack would be
perfect. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Matt

Matt wrote:
I am painting my foyer which contains an 18ft ceiling. I have a 20ft
Gorilla ladder and a 16ft 2-piece ladder, neither of which will put me
even close to the ceiling. Other than renting a scaffold, I cannot
come up with a means to access this fixture. A jet pack would be
perfect. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Matt


Do you have industry-oriented rental operations in your area? Any of
those should be able to come up with an electrically-operated man lift
that will easily go 20+ feet and still fit through a standard doorway.
Not a cheap rental but when you need one you need one.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

On 18 Apr 2007 09:12:58 -0700, Matt wrote:

I am painting my foyer which contains an 18ft ceiling. I have a 20ft
Gorilla ladder and a 16ft 2-piece ladder, neither of which will put me
even close to the ceiling. Other than renting a scaffold, I cannot
come up with a means to access this fixture. A jet pack would be
perfect. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Matt

What "fixture"? Are you trying to get at a light,
or paint the ceiling?
What does the foyer look like?

What "fixture"? Are you trying to get at a light,
or paint the ceiling?
What does the foyer look like?

Yes, I am going to paint. And yes, I have a light hanging in the foyer
centered in the room and the ceiling is 18ft up. I need to pull the
trim piece off the "receptacle" to paint, then I am going to switch
out the light for a new one. So, for paint and replacing the light I
need to get up there.

Matt

On 18 Apr 2007 09:12:58 -0700, Matt wrote:

I am painting my foyer which contains an 18ft ceiling. I have a 20ft
Gorilla ladder and a 16ft 2-piece ladder, neither of which will put me
even close to the ceiling. Other than renting a scaffold, I cannot
come up with a means to access this fixture. A jet pack would be
perfect. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I had a jet pack, but before I knew it, I hit my head on the ceiling
and fell back down to the floor, breaking the new lightbulb.

What do your neighbors do? Maybe you can borrow their device, or at
least find out what they use. Maybe 3 of you can buy something
together.

Matt

Matt wrote:
I am painting my foyer which contains an 18ft ceiling. I have a 20ft
Gorilla ladder and a 16ft 2-piece ladder, neither of which will put me
even close to the ceiling. Other than renting a scaffold, I cannot
come up with a means to access this fixture. A jet pack would be
perfect. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Matt

Rent scaffolding and while you are at it put in a power lift for the
lamp so you can clean and change bulbs. They make electric devices that
have a motor that will lower the light for service. Do it now and you will
not need to go back up there to service the light.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

On Apr 18, 5:28 pm, mm wrote:
On 18 Apr 2007 09:12:58 -0700, Matt wrote:

I am painting my foyer which contains an 18ft ceiling. I have a 20ft
Gorilla ladder and a 16ft 2-piece ladder, neither of which will put me
even close to the ceiling. Other than renting a scaffold, I cannot
come up with a means to access this fixture. A jet pack would be
perfect. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I had a jet pack, but before I knew it, I hit my head on the ceiling
and fell back down to the floor, breaking the new lightbulb.

What do your neighbors do? Maybe you can borrow their device, or at
least find out what they use. Maybe 3 of you can buy something
together.



Matt- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The neighbors paint from a ladder and around the existing light. And
of course, hire a pro to paint (I just cannot bring myself to pay over
1k for paint). One neighbor built scaffold out of lumber, painted,
then disassembled and used the wood to build his deck. I just climbed
up my Gorilla ladder, scaffolding is the way to go.

"Matt" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am painting my foyer which contains an 18ft ceiling. I have a 20ft
Gorilla ladder and a 16ft 2-piece ladder, neither of which will put me
even close to the ceiling. Other than renting a scaffold, I cannot
come up with a means to access this fixture. A jet pack would be
perfect. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Matt


My thoughts are to buy one of the larger sized Little Giant ladders. It is
easy to get through doors when it is in the retracted position. I have a
model 26 which extends to 11' in the "A" position. You would probably need
the next bigger size. Just be aware that they can be very heavy. It will
come in handy when you need to change light bulbs.

The other option is to rent a Genie Lift or something similar. You can get
one that will fit through doors and once it is set up is very easy to move
around. I would suggest that you put sheets of Masonite down on the floor
if you rent a lift as it may cause some damage to your flooring. Go down to
a local contractor rental yard and see what they have.

On Apr 18, 9:12 am, Matt wrote:
I am painting my foyer which contains an 18ft ceiling. I have a 20ft
Gorilla ladder and a 16ft 2-piece ladder, neither of which will put me
even close to the ceiling. Other than renting a scaffold, I cannot
come up with a means to access this fixture. A jet pack would be
perfect. Any thoughts would be appreciated.


Scaffolding! About a year ago I hung a ceiling fan in our 2-story
family room (about 18 ft ceiling). Did a little touchup painting while
I was up there. Two 6 ft sections of scaffolding with safety railing
set me back about $40 for a full-day rental. With your feet 12 ft
above the floor, if you're something close to 6 ft tall, the ceiling
is a pretty comfortable reach. Plan your work to minimize the number
of trips up and down the scaffold - that climb gets old after a while.
It's good if you have a helper to move the scaffold - you sit down and
hang on, they unlock the wheels, roll the scaffold, and relock the
wheels.

That said, and remembering all the work involved with the scaffold,
the other poster's suggestion about an electric man-lift sounds pretty
good - no idea how pricey that is though. If you're spending that kind
of money, maybe paying a painter starts to sound better.

Jerry

wrote in message
Scaffolding! About a year ago I hung a ceiling fan in our 2-story
family room (about 18 ft ceiling). Did a little touchup painting while
I was up there

Yes


That said, and remembering all the work involved with the scaffold,
the other poster's suggestion about an electric man-lift sounds pretty
good - no idea how pricey that is though.

Last time I rented one it was about $150 a day for the week we had it. I
think delivery and pickup was extra. This was a more industrial sized one
that would not fit through a door.

On Apr 18, 12:12 pm, Matt wrote:
I am painting my foyer which contains an 18ft ceiling. I have a 20ft
Gorilla ladder and a 16ft 2-piece ladder, neither of which will put me
even close to the ceiling. Other than renting a scaffold, I cannot
come up with a means to access this fixture. A jet pack would be
perfect. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Matt

would setting your 16 ft ext. ladder up on a sturdy table or a couple
of saw horses with a couple of 2x? and piece of scrap osb/plywood work?

would setting your 16 ft ext. ladder up on a sturdy table or a couple
of saw horses with a couple of 2x? and piece of scrap osb/plywood work?

Unfortunately that will not work due to the location of the fixture
(middle of ceiling). Scaffold seams like the only option, other than
hiring out the painting and the light installation. My wallet isnt fat
enough for the latter, so renting a scaffold is the only option, and I
will still save $$ compared to hiring it out.

Matt

On 20 Apr 2007 11:03:23 -0700, Matt wrote:


would setting your 16 ft ext. ladder up on a sturdy table or a couple
of saw horses with a couple of 2x? and piece of scrap osb/plywood work?

Unfortunately that will not work due to the location of the fixture
(middle of ceiling). Scaffold seams like the only option, other than
hiring out the painting and the light installation. My wallet isnt fat
enough for the latter, so renting a scaffold is the only option, and I
will still save $$ compared to hiring it out.

Matt

There's always another option. You just haven't looked hard enough.

How big is this foyer, anyway? Any windows, balconies, or stairs?