Great Goofs

No way out

by Justin Hewitt
From The Family Handyman
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I had to hang dry-wall on the ceiling of my basement. Since it was so heavy, I decided to use my 8-ft. stepladder to hold one end while I lifted the other end and screwed it to the ceiling joists. The ladder worked great, holding the drywall within an inch of the joists. I got all the drywall hung, started taping and then tried to take down the ladder. I couldn’t fold it or lean it—there wasn’t enough clearance. I struggled every which way. I finally decided to cut 3 in. off the legs of the stepladder rather than ruin my perfect drywall job. Now I’ve got a 7-ft. 9-in. ladder with a nasty last step.

From The Family Handyman - January 2005
 
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How exactly does hiring a pro save money? Not everyone can afford to pay someone else to do something he can do for himself.

By Becky S., on 2010-02-21 10:50:15.077
There were better solutions. He could have cut two legs, and spliced them back. Better, he could have removed two rivets from the center restraint, and opened the ladder out enought to tip it out sideways. It would have been easy to replace the rivets with self-locking bolts.

By Ken Z, on 2010-02-16 10:28:33.23
Since this guy is talented enough to hang drywall, then tape... he obviously just forgot he could rent the sheetrock hangers for ceilings. Plus, a lot of people enjoy doing the remodeling on their own instead of hiring everything out... =)

By Cindy W., on 2010-02-15 17:28:29.5
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