A few years ago - needed to paint the fascia boards on a small, pitched-roof, dormer window set into a steeply pitched house roof. No roof ladder to hang from the main roof but the dormer is ~1.5 metres from the side wall of the house (just a bit more than a single step across) and could just reach fascia if sitting/lying astride the dormer.
So set extension ladder up the side of the house (not fixed to the wall). Up the ladder with paint and brush. How to get across the roof to the dormer? One quick shimmy will do it, before gravity takes over - no problem. Got across with no bother and did the job. But how to get back? If shimmy back same way as I came, I'd push the ladder away from the wall and ....... perhaps not!
Sat there for an hour waiting for my wife to come home and hold ladder so I can get back.
So set extension ladder up the side of the house (not fixed to the wall). Up the ladder with paint and brush. How to get across the roof to the dormer? One quick shimmy will do it, before gravity takes over - no problem. Got across with no bother and did the job. But how to get back? If shimmy back same way as I came, I'd push the ladder away from the wall and ....... perhaps not!
Sat there for an hour waiting for my wife to come home and hold ladder so I can get back.