I just found the one board I missed in a remodel that was almost complete. It is next to the chimney and all the other fascia boards that I repaired were rotted out on the bottom. This one is 39″ long but behind the trim board it was gone.
The situation is that all the scaffolding has been returned. The edge of the roof where is goes is ~ 20′ from the ground. The small section of roof there is only about 30″ from the wall to the drop off. There are two small trees in the way (so scaffolding probably would not have worked anyway) and my ladder on the site is only about 17′ long. The roof is a 4 in 12 and the ground where the ladder sets slopes more than that. I am thinking that just renting a 30′ ladder is my best option or maybe a 24′ since the 17′ comes pretty close. The main thing is that I sure as heck do not want to tumble off of that baby. BTW, the rotted board and its trim board are all ready removed.
Anything out there that I am missing?
John
Replies
I'm sold on the electric man-lifts. Like a bucket truck on a trailer. About seventy bucks for a day. Light enough for 2 or 3 men to push most anywhere you don't wanna tow it.
I'm gonna buy my own one day, it's so darn handy.
How much do they weigh? I have to cross a septic tank to get to this site or else move it by hand over some very rough ground. Just my luck that it wound up on the worst possible placement. Owner just called and okayed some more work so I will look into renting one if I can figure out how to get it in place. She okayed cutting one of the two trees down also, but I prefer to stay out of that stuff.
john
Rope and safety harness, then hang it all out.
Glad I had that once when cutting tree limb, limb fell, bounced off ground, knocked ladder away, at least able to swing back and shimmy down rather than DW having to cal FD to get DH down from hangin' out in a tree < G>
Because of the location next to the chimney I do not think that is a viable option. Thanks for replying though.
john
Instead of renting a manlift (The type with a bucket and boom arm) you could rent a vertical, sissors lift type. This type of lift is very small and not very heavy. It can raise you straight up into position. Most rental centers that rent the big manlifts also rent this type.
If it was me, I'd opt for a large, heavy duty ladder with an attached "stand-off" to it. This way, the ladder is not resting against the top gutter. To keep the ladder legs from kicking out, first, level them off so the legs sit solid, you may have to install some scrap wood to achieve this...then once the legs seem solid, drive in wooden spikes directly behind the legs into the ground to keep the legs immovable. If the house siding is wood, you could tie-off the ladder near the top. Tie some rope around top rung, drive two 16 penny nails into the siding, and clench the nails tight around the rope...or affix an eye screw into the siding and thread the rope through the eye screw.
LOL. nomatter what, if you still have apprehensions about "going-up" perhaps its time to sub out this part of the work.
Davo
yeah, but he scissor lifts only like level ground. Personally, I'm not comfortable on them unless on concrete, like a warehouse floor. I'd take the manlift anyday, any (almost) terrain.
FWIW
The siding is wood and the site sits on an incline. A carpenter who teaches at the same high school I do suggested building an A-frame out of 2x6s. He also suggested fastening it to the siding. A third suggestion was to build a "deck" above the first floor overhang with 2x6s going to the ground and anchored there. The home owner has decided to have me do some more work on the other side of the chimeny where there is about 20' of this kind of overhang (about 30"). I like the idea of the A-frame if I can figure a way to move it . I can use the scaffolding in most of that area except above the air conditioning compressors (2).
This problem is getting more complicated by the hour. Keep those suggestions coming. I want to read next year's copies of FHB too!
john
You could try a suspended scaffold, such as you see hanging over the side of highrises on davits. The trick would be to come up with a pair of frames (davits) that would rest on the roof slope and be guyed back over the ridge, or further and support the working platform.
The chimney would most liklely be in the way. This is shaped kike the small letter h. The tall vertical part represents the chimney edge at this point. The horizontal part of the letter (not curved of course) represents the edge of the roof where I am replacing the fascia board. It is only 39" long here. Then the first level of the house has its roof extending out over a screened in porch. The peaks of the roof are in line but it would be very difficult to hang a work platform and it also would come down over the fascia boar that I have to replace. Besides, this house was built about 30 years ago and that small roof edge is very shaky. No building standards obviously.
john
Nice diagram Ralph. I did not see it when I first posted. I am thinking of taking some digital pictures this p.m. and posting them. More than likely I will opt for the platform with two legs bracing it from the ground and attaching it to the siding and through the fascia board into the rafters for the first level. But I think I will post the pix to see if anyone has an even better idea.
A regular scaffold would work under ordinary conditions but the aforementioned problems with terrain, trees, and air conditioning might make it too difficult.
john
"More than likely I will opt for the platform with two legs bracing it from the ground and attaching it to the siding......"
You know, that arrangement sounds like the two legs and platform of a pumpjack system. Uneven ground and and A/C wouldn't be a problem and the trees shouldn't be that close to the house. You got one of them animals??? Climb aboard and get your exercise.<G>
I actually do not have one. I was getting ready to buy one and a friend told me that he stopped using his after a near accident. I am not sure it would work in this case since the second roofline is set back from the lower level. I have committed to the platform but decided on three legs. I think that big S on my tee shirts has began to fade rapidly.
john
Here is something that you might want to look at.
http://www.ameriquip.com/productsTacxT_40.cfm
A tracked manlift. The thing weights about 4,000 lbs, but the tracks should spread the weight out and it looks very manuverable.
I guarantee that thing would probably do it....but for some reason I think even renting that puppy would exceed my budget for repairing this fascia board.
I did not get the price on that one, but the price on a much larger unit that was just towable was $109 for 3 hours (or over night from, I think 1 hour before closing to 1 hour after opening) or $163 for 24 hours. The
Trax will probably be somewhat higher, but in that range.
While it is expensive I think that you said that you might have work on the other side of the house that could use help.
What is neat about this unit was that it looks fast enough to use that if you have high work in multiple areas and you can arragne do to it at once and have all of the material ready, etc, that you could quickly go from one spot to another.
While it was much too much for my job, I think that large step ladder on the deck will work fine, and the other places that I would like to use something like, some siding work, that take too long to use this.
But I am glade that I have this in my bag of tricks if I ever need something like it.
In fact I just realized that it would be perfect for some tree trimming that I want to do. Now if I can find a neighbor or two that wants to do some quick high work. Hum, thanks for making me thing about this.
Bill:
I live in a small town and I called my local rental yards. They don't have anything quite that elaborate available but one of them thinks they could get one. It definitely interests me. As a solo practioner I am always getting myself into situations where I could use the height and adjustability of that thing. I have another window "re$toration" project coming up and it is in an inaccessible area. I have already done some of them and the HO decided she wants them all done. It is a very interesting and challenging project. One the first one, a double hung unit, I removed the trim and the unit just slid out. Luckily I was able to pin it to the house and lower it to the ground (first floor). A lot of the joinery was rotted away and I just had to guess what was there. On one part, all I found was a corner of what looked like a mortise. I figured where there was a mortise, there must be a tenon and proceeded accordingly.
john
Well Saturday was D Day and all went well. I opted for the platform with two 2x6 legs reaching to the ground at the usual 75 degree angle. I used 48" 2x6s and put a 4' square of 3/4 ply on top and screwed it down. I also ran an 8 ' 2x4 underneath the platform and attached it to through siding into the studs with 4" Tek screws. I used 2x6 "legs" with the slope angle of the roofline cut on the bottom and screwed it to the first 2x6s. It was more solid than the roof at that time. About 2 hours of construction work for a 15 minute repair, but the good news is I get to use it on the other side of the chimney without the benefit of the siding to screw into except for joist hangers.
I hope I get to post that as a success also. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and talking an old "rookie" through this.
john