Submitted by: dgummow via Submit a Kludge!
Favorite Comment: Fixer narks says, “Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like the backup system is a baby’s car seat anchoring the cantilever on the right side of the photo. This only gets better if there is a baby in it.”
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That’s a lot of work for someone without a long enough ladder. Pretty well done, though.
I wonder if he’s going to patten that thing.
No, he will not.
He may, however patent it.
Korrecshun was kneaded. Thank you.
You’re both wrong…if he falls, I’m sure he’ll “Patton” it up better than George C. Scott did.
Remarkably many potential neck-breaking failure modes. My money is on the wall anchors holding up the wall board giving way (if he even used anchors…), but shifting weight taking ladder off a 2×4 is a odds-on runner-up, with breaking 2×4 coming up fast. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s re-wiring a light fixture with the power on.
He may have thought this through further than you think: note the nail to the side of the forward leg, definitely meant to prevent the ladder slipping off the 2×4. Whether those nails (presumably there’s one on the other side too) are sufficient is another matter entirely…
I’m guessing that nail is to “hold” the 2 by to the board on the wall. If nothing else fails, he’ll probably trip going back over the ironwork…
RT: those nails are sticking out quite a bit, and under an angle. Also, they’re clearly driven in where the legs meet the 2×4’s. Finally, they look awfully thin for a nail that would be long enough to go through the 2×4 (at an angle) into the board that’s fixed to the wall, and still stick out an inch or two.
I bet doen’t have his OSHA-10 card either
Is that duct tape I see? No ladder is complete without it.
The duct tape is what’s really holding the ladder in place, not that wooden rickshaw.
TIMBER!!!
I hope that the wood piece in the wall is screwed up, not nailed…
Oh, I am quite certain that it is screwed up.
A 16 penny nail has a lot more shear strength than a screw. It looks like a worthy setup to me, not nearly dangerous enough
What qualifies as dangerous enough?
You’d be surprised at what ‘professional’ solutions to this problem look like. If any of you have ever had to go out on a walkboard to trim out ceiling lights over a staircase, you know what I’m talking about.
I hope that piece of wood on the wall was screwed in, not screwed up!
Good gawd…
I’ve owned two split-entry homes and the entryways are a PITA to paint– but an articulating ladder works beautifully. Or I’m sure one of those extendable “Little Giant” types would as well.
You couldn’t pay me enough to get up on this thing…
It looks like the place is being remodeled. As long as the board is screwed into the wall studs, it’ll hold the weight, and since he’s only up 2 steps, his balance shouldn’t shift the ladder around. Not the safest thing, but not a bad rig job either. An extension ladder would be worse, he’d have to hang off it toward the center to reach the wiring.
Interesting how some kludges are so gender-specific. Guarantee that’s a man at the top of that, er…”ladder”.
don’t worry… Fate can’t touch him… Duct tape = fail-safe
Future Darwin Award winner…
Well considering that the image is from 2006, I’d drop the word ‘future’.
He may have survived this one, but I don’t doubt good ol’ Charles has a mortal kludge with this guy’s name on it brewing.
This is the last photo we have of Bob the sunday plumber.
Born 11.4.1981
Died 5.12.2006
Rest in pieces, friend.
He’s about to find out why it’s called a landing.
winner!
The picture must have been taken during the Summer. You know, before the Fall.
He tried using a ladder but ended up going in the wrong direction.
No, no, it’s perfectly safe…look, it has two or three strategically-placed pieces of duct tape holding it up! OSHA would be proud…
I sense an “OHHH **********!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” coming
I think we are exaggerating the situation. He’s used the ladder a million times. Most recently to hang the dreamcatcher that’s to his left. It’ll hold, dude!
… and he’s hanging a dream catcher.
Hopefully he already installed the dude catcher at the bottom of the stairs.
I like how he duct taped it to the wall.
Is he always alive ?
Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like the backup system is a baby’s car seat anchoring the cantilever on the right side of the photo. This only gets better if there is a baby in it.
On the contrary, the boards holding his feet up are safely nailed to the boards nailed to the wall. That baby is free to take a nap. It’s journy will be over shortly.
Boaks say Darwin Award… to bad that looks like a baby carseat in the lower right corner. Darwin award is when you remove yourself from the gene pool and don’t have kids already.
But it is nice to see I am not the only one that loves that site.
Darwinawards.com
Ah, looks like Darwin’s up to his old tricks again!
How did he reach up there to nail the initial board in place?? And I wonder if he’s trying to screw/nail in yet another board for a higher home improvement project.
An intriguing idea. Although if he is, he is too tall to use the metal railing for the back legs of the ladder and I see nothing else that might serve that function (other than stacking cubes of butter or something else of the sort)
J B Weld the ladder to the railing. It’ll be fine.
You guys are all wrong…he’s not using it to install a dreamcatcher, it’s a baby catapult!
im banking on a failure to get back off of it, hes gotta climb over the rail, and get immediately onto the ladder
Though it looks awful, it seems to be rather safe.
I’ll second RusFixer’s comment. The 2×8 looks like it’s nailed into wall studs; it’s not going anywhere. The 2×3s under the ladder are toenailed on to the 2×8 (a bit of a bodge-job, but not likely to go anywhere). I’d mainly worry about the ladder shimmying off the 2×3s (no single shift will do it, but if he has to change angle a few times while doing the wiring, it could slide).
Best way to do it? No. As suicidal as the best stuff here and most of the stuff on failblog? Unfortunately, also no.