# Roof hook alternative



## daArch

I can't find my roof (ladder) hook. :cursing:  










and I got some work on my own house to do from a (low) roof. Any ideas for a SAFE home fabricated alternative ?
(NO, I will not use the 36 footer laid on the roof & anchored to the ground)

thx

-Bill


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## vermontpainter

Roof brackets and a plank with ladder laying on the roof, footed into the plank perhaps?


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## bikerboy

I gotta admit I am stumped! Am a tool junkie, and have no idea what that is or how it works.

Please elaborate.


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## JNLP

How about a 32 footer laid on the roof & anchored to the ground? :thumbup: 

I've used stabilizers before, but they're alot more unsafe being they don't hook the peak so well. Not bad with a small pitch. Worse comes to worse, shell out $20 and get yourself a nice new hook.


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## timhag

JMCP said:


> How about a 32 footer laid on the roof & anchored to the ground? :thumbup:
> 
> I've used stabilizers before, but they're alot more unsafe being they don't hook the peak so well. Not bad with a small pitch. Worse comes to worse, shell out $20 and get yourself a nice new hook.


Three more posts cuz......yous gots a shirt.


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## HomeGuardPaints

before i had bought hooks, i used a rope thrown over the peak and tied to the ladder, then it was tied to a tree/post/light pole/heavy guy. 

"60% of the time it works everytime"


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## timhag

HomeGuardPaints said:


> before i had bought hooks, i used a rope thrown over the peak and tied to the ladder, then it was tied to a tree/post/light pole/heavy guy.
> 
> "60% of the time it works everytime"


What about the other 40% Homey?


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## JNLP

I've done that, and even more without the ladder, just rope tied around my waist. Been there with extension cords too. Not something I'd tell another to do, but only did because I felt safe with the situation.


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## JNLP

Another way I've done it is with little giants opened up & fully extended down each side of the peak. If you got one & depending on your needs, it works well.


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## vermontpainter

This style of bracket with ladder laid down into plank


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## [email protected]

I have a brand new one. That all I have done is put it together. if you are interrested. I think I paid $ 35 for it.
David veith


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## NEPS.US

I have 8 of them... drive on over and get one


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## MAK-Deco

daArch said:


> I can't find my roof (ladder) hook. :cursing:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> and I got some work on my own house to do from a (low) roof. Any ideas for a SAFE home fabricated alternative ?
> (NO, I will not use the 36 footer laid on the roof & anchored to the ground)
> 
> thx
> 
> -Bill


You going to be papering the roof??


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## slickshift

daArch said:


> ...SAFE...home fabricated...


Houston, we have a problem....


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## daArch

Problem should be solved. I've figured out what happened to it. I lent it to one of my painting buddies - no, he did not ASK for it, I PUSHED it on him when I saw how they were painting the siding above a garage roof (36 footer to the ground !!). After I remembered today, I called and he said he still has it. His wife is getting together with my wife tomorrow and I should have it back.

Yah MAK, I'm papering the roof :thumbsup:























no NO N0. I'm doing something MUCH more insane. I've been using three coils of 1" black irrigation pipe for the past three years to make a solar heated outside shower. This year I wanna put the coils on the roof of our kitchen el, which is single story and is attached .......

Oh heck, one picture's worth a 1,000 words.
I wanna put them where the red arrow points.









OH, and thanks NEPS, if my buddy's wife don't bring it, I may take you up on the offer. I'm driving down to Duxbury as often as possible to visit my mother in re-hab and shovel out her house. I assume you're not far from rte 3.


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## daArch

bikerboy said:


> I gotta admit I am stumped! Am a tool junkie, and have no idea what that is or how it works.
> 
> Please elaborate.


Biker,

It attaches very solidly to one end of a section of ext ladder. Ya throw the hook over the peak, the ladder rests on the slope of the roof and WILL NOT SLIP, and you got a very safe situation to stand on and work the siding above a garage.

Don't tell OSHA, put I've made a platform that sits on the ladder so that it is level and one can place an 8-16 ext on it to get those high peaks above the garage. First couple of times using it, the pucker factor is high, but ya get used to it.

I'd set it up and take a picture, but that would create incriminating evidence


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## bikerboy

I can picture it now. Thanks.


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## johnthepainter

no ladder hook in the van????

no problemo,,,,,,,,,take apart an extension ladder

take a rope and tie the two ends together,,,,leave about a foot of slack in the rope,,,, and lay them over the peak,,

you can walk up and down either side easily

i did many dormers that way before i had ladder hooks

check out chicken ladders used by slate and tile roof guys,,,,


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## Tonyg

JNLP said:


> Another way I've done it is with little giants opened up & fully extended down each side of the peak. If you got one & depending on your needs, it works well.


The Little Giant isn't so little! It would take longer for me to heave that sucker up on the roof then to paint it. If mine wasn't given as a gift I wouldn't have one.


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## Tonyg

I have used heavy guage rebar bent to an S-shape with a piece of 2x6 to protect the roof. Kind of a home made ladder hook. I originally made them for hooks in the shed and trailer but it worked in a pinch.


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## JNLP

Tonyg said:


> The Little Giant isn't so little! It would take longer for me to heave that sucker up on the roof then to paint it. If mine wasn't given as a gift I wouldn't have one.


Yeah true that! :laughing: 
A customer bought me the Gorilla one from HD for $99. I like it alot for exterior ground work though.


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## ProWallGuy

JNLP said:


> shell out $20 and get yourself a nice new hook.


The Cubs will win the World Series before that happens. :laughing:


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## timhag

JNLP said:


> Yeah true that! :laughing:
> A customer bought me the Gorilla one from HD for $99. I like it alot for exterior ground work though.


If you are doing ground work, I don't think you'll need any type of ladder.:tongue_smilie:


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## daArch

johnthepainter said:


> no ladder hook in the van????
> 
> no problemo,,,,,,,,,take apart an extension ladder
> 
> take a rope and tie the two ends together,,,,leave about a foot of slack in the rope,,,, and lay them over the peak,,
> 
> you can walk up and down either side easily
> 
> i did many dormers that way before i had ladder hooks
> 
> check out chicken ladders used by slate and tile roof guys,,,,


Well, my friend's wife (who is also my wife's friend), didn't bring the hook today. John, your idea sounds easiest and safest. If you don't see my byline again, it warn't so safe and I'll prolly be at Leonard Morse Hospital in Natick. I'll welcome visitors. 

Is multiple loops of sash cord strong enough ?


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## ProWallGuy

JNLP said:


> shell out $20 and get yourself a nice new hook.





ProWallGuy said:


> The Cubs will win the World Series before that happens. :laughing:





daArch said:


> John, your idea sounds easiest and safest.
> 
> Is multiple loops of sash cord strong enough ?


See, I told you so. Gonna risk life and limb by not coughing up a measly $20. :no:
Share a room with Priscilla maybe? :yes:


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## daArch

Hey,

I almost stopped today at my local HD, but why should I buy something I already own ??? I been dealing with someone lately who thinks NOTHING of having duplicates, nay, 1,000 duplicates of EVERYTHING she owns. Gotta fight what's in the genes. 

She's already collecting styrofoam trays from re-hab and hiding them in the bottom drawer of her bedside table, "no no, don't throw them away, I have a good use for them" OY VEY ! and I thought she'd a learn. 

BTW, there's almost a path through the liv room now. Progress pictures soon to come.


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## daArch

OK, time for a little show and gasp. But before I do, I gotta warn you, I'm a little sensitive about judgements here. Be kind, you have a mother also, you love her despite her little "quirks". I love mine, which is obvious by what I have been doing in my spare time - cleaning out the house. 

She's in re-hab now after a month or so in the hospital. My bro and I found her on the floor a week after Easter. She had finally passed out from suffering from a "perforated appendix" for two weeks. At 87 everyone is amazed she still with us. So, again, be kind. We are all human with our strengths and frailties, her downfall (literally) is her inability to throw ANYTHING away. 


Anyway, here is the living room. The first shot is how it was when she went off to the hospital. The second shot taken today is after about 24 hours of work. Progress. Slow progress. Every single piece of paper has to be inspected to make sure it's not an important tax or financial record or sentimental letter or card. There is trash intermixed with treasure. OH, and just to make sure we do not indiscriminately throw EVERYTHING away, she has informed us there is a "Russian Icon" in a small envelope with my grandmother's writing on it. The estimated value is enough to slow ya down as you stuff a handful of plastic bags in the trash !!!

PWG, don't let Sara see these without an empty five ready. 



B-4










Today: for won, oh ate


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## JNLP

Man that looks like alot of work! Me & Tim have been clearing out a huge garage that looked almost like that. Took us just about 2 weeks to finally get it clean. 3 or 4 20' dumpsters & 3 or 4 truck loads of scrap.


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## vermontpainter

Bill

That picture looks exactly like my house when I bought it. House is 100 years old, I am 3rd owner. Little old lady lived in it for 50 years (widowed for the last 15). She was hauled out one day and put in a nursing home...no family to come and clean the place out. Her insurance agent let it sit for a year, food still in the cupboards and fridge, and cat litter boxes full, before putting it on the market. 

On cleaning it out, we found the 15 years of senility everywhere. Each years set of Readers Digest special editions unopened, sets of kitchenware still in UPS boxes, in the cupboards was bread so old it liquified right next to, say, a license plate and a set of mittens. In the master bedroom closet, we found (seriously) the top of her wedding cake. I'll see if I can scan some of the pics, its quite a similarity. I can appreciate the randomness of your chaos.


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## daArch

YUP.

as I wade through the "randomness of chaos" I think she is unique, but when I describe or show to others the magnitude, I hear that this is NOT something only She is good at. 

It's an all too common infliction, and I would love to know what the causes are. I would love to know, because I know this apple fell perilously close to the tree, and do not want to leave the same for my son. 

But, I wonder if "randomness" is the right word. The master mixing of trash intertwined with treasure seems at best, deviously diabolical.

She is one Master of Mess. 

And this is realized with the ultimate love that we all have for She that brought us into this world.

Isn't Mothers Day coming up soon ? :thumbsup:


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## vermontpainter

Bill

Seriously, I will scan some pics of what I bought with my house. You wont believe it. 

When I cleaned mine up, along with lots of help from friends and family, we concluded that people whose lives were deeply affected by the Depression (and not the one that Zoloft serves today) have a hoarding tendency that when observed by unaffected folks seems more than just a little bizarre. 

To give you a sense of the magnitude, my house is about 1200 s.f. and I couldnt move into it for the first 6 months I owned it. Sleeping in a job site trailer in the backyard and cooking by campfire was the more attractive option. I borrowed a backhoe from a friend and shoveled stuff out the windows into the bucket, and transported to two roll off dumpsters which were filled. Oh, how I miss those days.


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## daArch

vermontpainter said:


> we concluded that people whose lives were deeply affected by the Depression (and not the one that Zoloft serves today) have a hoarding tendency that when observed by unaffected folks seems more than just a little bizarre.


Yes Scott, I thought that too for many years. My mother was born unto a wealthy family in 1920. They supposedly gave up a lot in the depression - but they NEVER went hungry. Maybe she couldn't wear a new dress to the Debutante Cotillion or couldn't spend extravagently, but they DID NOT suffer.

And then I hear of folks younger than myself who have the same habits or the Collyer Bros who had it BEFORE the depression 
From Wikipedia,


> The brothers are often cited as an example of compulsive hoarding associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), as well as disposophobia or 'Collyer brothers syndrome', a fear of throwing anything away.


I see my cousin with it, yet his mother (my ma's sister) is the opposite. And I can quickly fall into the trap. We call it the "defective gene". Then I read "Driven to Distraction". I think it's part of ADD. Those who know me can vouch I got a bit of THAT (one of my bestest paperhanging freinds gave me a T-Shirt saying, "They say I got ADD, but they don't understand ........OH LOOK, a chicken! )

My mother should be a poster child for Adult ADD and OCD

ADD is just one piece of the puzzle, IMO. I'm sure those who lived through the depression and then WWII rationing only had the inclination justified by the shortages, but there's a crossed wire that realy raises the havoc. And I DO speak from experience. I am constantly battling my personal demon, and not doing too badly .... I will never win the battle, but will also never be buried by it.


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