Safety Tips from a Professional Painting Contractor
Before you undertake painting, the exterior of your home you may want to learn some safety tips from a professional painting contractor. You need to make sure you are prepared both physically and with the correct equipment before you begin.
Ladder Levelers
When it comes to ladder accidents the majority are caused by make shift props such as bricks and other construction materials. A leveler will fix this problem, they attach to the legs of the ladder providing more security. Painting contractors concerned with production and safety use them often. Using ladder levelers will greatly reduce your risk of being injured while providing stability. Even your production will increase, as you are not constantly searching for something to stick under the ladder legs. This is worth the cost of investment in itself.
You need the proper range of ladders to safely paint all areas
Standard equipment for a professional painting contractor will include a range of ladders. The recommendation from contractors is to have on hand a 6 ft stepladder, 20 ft, 28 ft and 36 ft extension ladders. You may not need the 36 ft; it all depends on the areas of your home you need to reach. Generally, if you have a range of ladder sizes like this you will not have to worry about missing anything. Keep in mind that the length of the ladder advertised is not the actual size. Your ladders lap will decrease its workable length by around four foot. This means a 28 ft ladder will only offer you about 24 feet to work with.
Also you have to consider that you are going to lose a couple more feet when you place the foot of the ladder out from the side of your house to give you a proper angle to safely climb the ladder. A 28 ft ladder will only give you about 20 to 22 feet access.
Drop Cloths
Canvas drop cloths are perfect for rough and tough materials such as hard surfaces, driveways, shrubs and bushes but they are much too heavy for things that are more delicate. If you have small plants or flowers around your home, you might want to use an old bed sheet as a drop cloth. This way the plants will be protected but the material is light enough not to crush them and allows airflow so the plants can breathe.
A big no-no are plastic drop cloths as they can cause permanent damage to your shrubs or flowers. There is a twofold problem with plastic, first your plants cannot breathe and second it can heat up under plastic in a hurry. All that is needed to cause damage under plastic is a few hours. You may find the tops of your shrubs or plants dead after using plastic drop cloths.
Do not forget to protect yourself as well, drink plenty of fluids such as cold Gatorade throughout the day to stay hydrated.
This cannot be stressed enough. You can dehydrate quickly when painting outdoors in the bright sunlight, particularly if you are not used to outside work. Dehydration can catch you by surprise so use caution. If you become lightheaded, you can lose your balance and be injured. Besides you can experience other long-term effects of dehydration, one very serious complication is heat stroke so be careful and use plenty of Gatorade. Hydration is important to your overall health.
Find yourself a shady resting place and do not over do it.
Painting the exterior of your house is time consuming and most homeowners try to pack to much painting into one day. This can be a huge mistake, Don’t allow yourself to get into trouble physically. This is easy to do if you try and stretch your physical limitations on hot sunny days.
What is Your Physical Fitness?
After climbing up and down, a ladder all day your legs may begin to cramp severely. You need to prepare the muscles in your legs for this kind of work. When your legs become stressed they may suddenly feel shaky or weak a dangerous position to be on when you are climbing a ladder. You will want to evaluate your physical condition before beginning this kind of work. If you have any physical limitations, it may be wise to consult your physician before you begin painting the outside of your home. Professional painting contractors are used to this type of work; they spend all day running up and down ladders. If you are not used to it, you could find yourself in trouble.
Beware of flying hazards as well; wasps are about the worst thing you can encounter while at the top of a 36-foot ladder.
Spray and then knock down all visible wasp nests before you paint. The end of your extension ladder is no place to fight a wasp. This kind of distraction could cause you to lose your balance.
Rent a roof ladder.
Does your home have areas that need to be painted above the roofline? Look into renting a roof ladder for the day. You should not take the chance of sliding off your roof! Roof ladders hook over the peak of your house and lay on top of your shingles. This allows you to safely navigate your roof and reach walls or soffits that are above the roof, most of the time they are reasonable to rent.
Never place your ladder on a slope that falls backwards and away from the ladder.
A very important tip that most painting contractors teach all their hands is to notch the ground with a pick and shovel. This way you can make a flat level area for each leg of your ladder. The ladder must lean against your house for you to be able to climb up and down. Combine that with a backward slope and you have a dangerous situation on your hands. It is better to dig the ground up and reseed it later than to work in a dangerous environment.
Your painting project needs to be carefully planned. To maximize safety you should be properly equipped. Consider the time this project will take and make sure, you are comfortable with it, and you do not want to try to rush the job. It may be that you do not have adequate time or are otherwise unable to do the job safely and in that case, you might want to hire a professional painting contractor. They will be able to do the job much more quickly than you can.
Nicky Taylor is owner of a Marietta painting contractor company. Nicky has operated the 27 year old Marietta painting contractor company and home repair company servicing all North Metro Atlanta Ga. Nicky shares his ideas on selectingMarietta house painters and other improvement topics relating to your home at the above links through articles and other resources. Contains helpful information for anyone planning their own projects.
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