What about some really tall stilts the drywallers use? 
Do you really need a collection though? 6’ step and 24’ extension should cover 99.9% of everything a homeowner might need to do. And you can knock that down to a 16’ extension for single story houses.
If you had more ladders you could build a bigger shed to store them in.
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I have this ladder. I hardly ever use it, but when I do I’m confident in it.
In the process of getting my old house presentable for sale, removed an area of floor and got down in the crawl space and replaced a 12 foot long 2x8. Actually about 139 inches in length. Lol took me hours and I used a car jack and sledgehammer to assist with encouraging it home.
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I’ve put millions of miles under my heels, and still no closer to presentable I feel.
not true. 
Finally put down the one line of caulk I asked about several months back. Took maybe ten minutes to get it smooth and presentable looking. This morning there was no draft coming from it so I guess it was a success!
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Just venting here:
I hate owning a home. I hate all the minor-to-moderate irritations that I have no ability/inclination to solve. For example:
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Our HVAC ducts (I assume) are rattling. To the point where my wife will sometimes turn off the heat/AC rather than deal with the noise. I would be happy to throw money at this problem, but not if it means people have to rip out walls to get to the ducts. And that’s in the fictional world where contractors are available.
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Our brick front porch is crumbling. More accurately, the mortar in between the bricks is crumbling and a few of the bricks are cracked. I assume this is water damage. We don’t really use the front door that much (we always come in through the garage), but this is still an irritation to me. But since we don’t use it that much, repairing it isn’t a priority over other things (like the rattling ducts).
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We should probably have our kitchen floor re-grouted. But my wife is opposed to this because she doesn’t like the floor, and she doesn’t want to spend additional money on making the existing floor better (in my eyes) or more permanent (in her eyes).
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We’d like to replace a few windows that are huge air leaks. But if we do, the question is do we keep the same style we have now (which my wife isn’t crazy about), which is easier but makes that style more permanent? Or do we get windows in a new style that would force us (“force us”) to do something like paint the entire downstairs interior trim a different color. Which costs some preposterous amount.
The easiest course of action is obviously to not come to any decision, and let these deferred maintenance items build and build, and get progressively more and more irritated with the house until we just sell it to some poor sucker.
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I’m with you buddy.
I don’t get this whole American dream of owning a home. It’s just a giant pain in the ass.
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our furnace is close to 10 years old. considering replacing it with geothermal pump. is this a good idea or bad?
i only have a 10yo bid on hand, which was like $12k to drill what looks like 4 300ft holes for the ground loop. and the unit itself looked to be 2x more expensive than a replacement furnace (not cheapest, but mid-tier). it’s tempting to go “green”-er. independently, going to insulate the house as well.
I would venture the value of a geothermal pump varies very much based on the variability of your weather.
Also, I’d just get new bids. Prices are likely quite different and some of the bids will probably help you evaluate the benefit better.
10 years is not old for a furnace or are you just interested in replacing it for other reasons?
I think a lot will have to do with climate and size of the house. Im getting ready to build my house in area north of Seattle. I briefly entertained the idea but to me its just not worth it. The install cost is so much more expensive and there is not a lot of HVAC contractors that do these systems. I don’t think you would ever recoup the cost of the install plus having it serviced will most likely cost more. The best thing you could do is properly insulate and seal up your house. That would make you a lot “greener” and save money on heating/cooling. Is there anything wrong with your furnace? Or you just want to upgrade?
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What are your thoughts on guys who “tool” the caulking with their finger?
furnace almost failed this year, apparently heat exchangers have a coating inside that eventually peels off and it blocked the line taking the moisture away. it will probably be fine for another few years now thatbwe caught it, but if i can find the right replacement for the right price in the next year or two, i might go for it.
insulation is getting done hopefully in next six months, but to do it all requires to deal with the siding, which is yet another annoyance.
value add of the heat pump is of course a/c in the summer, which is becoming important in seattle. i’m resigned that cost will probably not recoup itself, it’s like a green vanity/FPS project. from a quick online search, a lot of hvac cos around do geothermal maintenance, but i didn’t think about that one before. 
Well today is d day for me about to start a reno of my old 1970’s style bathroom. It’s my main bath in the house and is small 5x9 and no practical option to go bigger. Took next week off to get her done and hopefully make it look better. Never tiled or grouted before so this should be a learning experience
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Good luck. If you get it done in a week I forbid you to post about it here. I’m on year 2 of my 70s bathroom reno
I would happily poop there. Fuck redoing it.
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No, it’d be a pointless waste of lumber and you don’t need headers on any of those windows except the center one. The rafter carries the load from ridge to wall. All you have to do is get the ridge load to the ground.
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