Renting a cherry picker to paint the house?

[HardDrive]

Our new (new to us) home has vinyl siding on most of it, and a stone front. But it does have eves and detail areas that are wood. It was last painted 8-10 years ago, and could use fresh paint and caulking. The home is 3 stories, and the areas along the roofline are a good 35 feet up.

I am done with ladders over 12-15ft. I personally know too many people who have fallen and ended up permanently messed up. I could use scaffold, but that would be an epic PIA to assemble and move something that tall, and you're still climbing to the height of your work site.

The obvious answer here is, "hire someone and sip Mai Tai's in the backyard while they work." But its a new house, and I would like to get my nose into the spaces and look for issues, and also get a closer look at the roof.

Has anyone ever rented a cherry picker for this type of work? I've found them locally for about $600 for a week. I figured that (weather permitting) would give me plenty of time to get the top 20 feet of the house done.

Yard access is good and mostly flat.

This is what I had in mind.

[dad911]

Are you ok with heights? It is going to sway, many are not comfortable with that.

I'd make sure you have a spotter, help, very stable hard soil, and the lift has outriggers/stabilizers, if you really want to do it.

Frankly, having been in construction for 30 years (damn I'm getting old ;( )I'd hire a handyman I can trust with a long ladder to do the peaks and make repairs.

Or cover the wood with vinyl/aluminum & change the details to Fypon, and be good for another 20+ years.

[genrex]

Does Columbus have a company similar to the Home Owners Club in Seattle? For about $50 per month, you get established companies that provide great service at a reasonable cost, and any disputes are handled thru the Home Owners Club, which holds the companies to a very high standard. I've called the H.O. Club for everything... plumbing, electrical, new driveway, new roof, and bathroom and entryway remodeling. I've never had any problems, and the workers always show up when they say they'll show up.

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[Shaun @ Tru6]

just fly dipso out. done. and think of the fun you'll have!

[Eric 951]

Use them all the time. Depending upon your access, and where you need to get, there are almost unlimited options available--everything from electric narrow-carriage models to 150' booms (not reccomended for your application)

If you do rent one, make sure the driver has a suitable place to off-load the machine and most places can give you a basic run-down on how to operate it (and they should).

Controls are pretty straight-forward, and there isn't much sway in the smaller booms--especialy articlauting (like your photo). To be extra-safe--wear the harness and lanyard which are (usually) supplied with the machine and tie-off to the approved point in the basket.

Practice away from the home (and any obstructions) until you get the hang of it--keep it in SLOW(turtle icon) and make note of any power lines going into the house and keep away from them (15' minimum)

Have fun with it--clean your gutters while you have it and maybe even check your chimney flashing and brick mortar. Trim pesky branches, etc.

[porsche4life]

Do you have space to back a trailer around the house? A towable lift rents much cheaper most pales and will do what you need to do.

And yes, they do sway and bounce a bit. The more fluid you are with your controls the better. Just imagine being at the tip of a fishing pole, there's some flex in the boom.

[GWN7]

Having two two story houses I bought three stages and a safety stage of scaffolding about 10 years ago. It was less than your weeks rental. I bought the big rubber wheels with leg adjusters so I can use it on uneven ground. They do sway a bit being up that high but I solved that by attaching some pipe strapping to each end and screwing it to the building. You can probably rent scaffolding for a 1/3 of what the lift would be.

[porsche4life]

But scaffolding is way less cool...

[Hugh R]

Wear a body harness, its the law per OSHA if you hired a company to do it.

Think of it as a catapult if you hit a dip. In general lower the boom when you move the base.

[Mark Henry]

Originally Posted by GWN7

Having two two story houses I bought three stages and a safety stage of scaffolding about 10 years ago. It was less than your weeks rental. I bought the big rubber wheels with leg adjusters so I can use it on uneven ground. They do sway a bit being up that high but I solved that by attaching some pipe strapping to each end and screwing it to the building. You can probably rent scaffolding for a 1/3 of what the lift would be.

I painted my last house with scaffolding lashed down to my trailer. I had an old P/U that I didn't care about and just left it hooked up to it.

[GWN7]

This is three stages and the safety stage. It's about 25' to the peak. I took out the 105 year old window at the top and rebuilt it.




And I wore a safety harness

[dennis in se pa]

I recommend you get the painted areas wrapped/covered in aluminum. That should be good for 25 years or so.

[porsche4life]

Hugh, that takes all the fun out of it!!

[lane912]

well-


from a class I teach....
homeowner hires painter... painter rents boom lift and uses it to paint the house in record time-
leaves the lift for pick up at the curb-
with the key in it, not disabling the machine and hiding the key-

homeowner come home and sees the machine....
thinks about the branches that rain bird poo on his Porsche....
goes on a forum and get some encouragement....
goes out and fiddles with it and finds that it amazingly simple to operate-
so he goes for it-
and he finds his septic tank------


well since he had not been through the OHSA required class and did not know about needing a harness at all times as a operator of this type of machine; HE WAS THROWN FROM THE BASKET-
severely inuring himself, but was successful at suing the rental company, and the painter for negligence-




yes this is a fabulous idea, please do it right-

[lane912]

do you want more photos and bad stories?

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Do you have space to back a trailer around the house? A towable lift rents much cheaper most pales and will do what you need to do.

And yes, they do sway and bounce a bit. The more fluid you are with your controls the better. Just imagine being at the tip of a fishing pole, there's some flex in the boom.

This.

I owned a Manlift for years when we first moved here...sold it for what I bought it for. It can be a bit dicey...take a look at my sons face many years ago. It was an essential piece of gear for many years as I struggled to get the house and property in order.

[mgatepi]

I rented a pull behind lift for the same purpose. The unit had legs that would automatically deploy when you started it up. The thing worked flawlessly and I had absolutely no issues!! Yes it had a little bounce to it, but it was easy to get used to it. Looking back I wish I had rented a self moving lift for it takes awhile to re-hitch and move this type of unit. I believe I spent $180 for 2 days???
I would not hesitate to do it again myself.
Good luck!

[dyount]

As far as I know in a basket you can wear a belt (provided by the rental co) w/a short leash to keep you from climbing up on or out of the basket.
Just go with it and make sure to read and follow the directions for use etc and you shouldn't have an issue. "IF" OSHA does happen to stop by just pull out the directions you were following and they should either give you advice otherwise or a big OK.
Lifts are a quick way to cover alot of ground and work well if you don't overload/reach out of them for just that extra foot/ operate them on terrible ground.
Had OSHA show up at a building I was inspecting a couple years ago. Stucco guys didn't have enough scaffold so they used a lift and planked between the lift and the scaffold. That didn't go over all that well with "O"

[2porscheguy]

HardDrive coincidentally that was our summer project last summer!

We rented a bucket truck though, something like this:



It was great! I was able to drive across our field to get to the back of our house with no problems negotiating rough terrain. The total extended length of the boom was about 45' if I recall and even when fully extended it was fairly stable. It took about 1/2 hour to learn the controls...a little tricky at first but you soon get the hang of it. It cost me $700.00 for 5 days.

We applied an elastomeric stucco "paint" to our two storey home:





All-in-all it took us about 2 weeks...the biggest PITA was taping though....that was not fun!

I bought a pre-owned industrial airless sprayer for $1000 off of kijiji.ca which made the job fairly straightforward. The total cost to me was about $4000.00.....before I undertook the project I got several quotes, all in the $15,000.00 range! Now my neighbour wants me to put in a bid on his place .....I'll have to think about that for awhile!

As others have pointed out, if you do decide to take this project on, make sure to use a safety harness when you're up there. Ask me how I know?...I was spraying the top of one of the chimney stacks when suddenly a huge gust of wind hit me and almost catapulted me out the bucket at 35'...close call!

Cheers!

Alex

[gr8fl4porsche]

Most rental companies won't rent big lifts to the public. You need proof of equipment insurance which you probably don't have.

The tow behind lift is your best option. Most reach 35' or 50'.

The $600 a week turns into $900+ when they add in delivery, pickup, fuel and taxes.